Law & Order: SVU star and government producer Mariska Hargitay explains the headline-grabbing loss of life that kicked off season 27. It is in the Law & Order season 27 premiere that the retired Donald Cragen (Dann Florek) is revealed to have died of pure causes. His wake is attended by lots of his former colleagues, together with Hargitay’s Olivia Benson.
Cragen is a significant determine within the crime drama franchise, going again to the collection premiere of the unique Regulation & Order in 1990. The character would later reappear in SVU, often making visitor appearances within the franchise even after his season 15 departure. Florek stays alive, showing in a video throughout Cragen’s farewell episode, which makes the loss of life really feel much more sudden.
Throughout a latest look on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Hargitay opened up about Cragen’s loss of life. The star and government producer underlined what made the scenes “stunning.” Hargitay additionally touched on a few of the returning actors who got here again for the pivotal episode, reminiscent of Christopher Meloni’s Elliot Stabler. Learn her feedback beneath:
That was so stunning about it’s these scenes, they nearly act themselves as a result of the circumstances are so highly effective, proper? And there’s such real love for the captain, for the actor, and simply having the outdated regulars. Having Dean [Winters] come again and having BD Wong come again. After which, doing that scene with Chris [Meloni]. These are so stunning. These scenes, they’re so earned that there’s simply an ease and an effortlessness to it.
As talked about by Hargitay, Cragen’s loss of life serves as a possibility for acquainted faces to affix the Law & Order: SVU cast briefly. That features B.D. Wong returning as Particular Agent George Huang, along with Dean Winters coming again as Detective Brian Cassidy.
Regardless that Meloni has appeared in SVU usually since his 2021 return to the franchise, Winters final appeared in 2019. As for Wong in the role of George Huang, he final got here again in 2015. Taken by that lens, and matched with Hargitay’s feedback, Cragen’s loss of life is a chance to rejoice the fan-favorite NBC collection by bringing again a few of the names which have helped to outline it.
But it surely additionally works to honor each Florek, who was let go from the unique Regulation & Order solely to make his return in SVU, and basically spearhead the spinoff in these early seasons. Cragen is honored, as properly. Benson and the group collect to observe one in every of Cragen’s retirement movies within the episode, providing him the chance to replicate on his profession and the folks he is spent it with. It has an atypical really feel as a result of his loss of life is not pressured by any exterior circumstance.
It permits the episode to really feel much less unhappy than it may need been in any other case, closing the chapter on the Cragen period that helped to make Regulation & Order: SVU what it was when it premiered in 1999. Virtually three a long time later, that contribution is thoughtfully spotlighted.
Regulation & Order: SVU season 27 airs Thursdays at 9 PM ET on NBC
- Launch Date
-
September 20, 1999
- Showrunner
-
Michael S. Chernuchin, David Graziano
- Administrators
-
Jean de Segonzac, David Platt, Peter Leto, Alex Chapple, Juan José Campanella, Norberto Barba, Constantine Makris, Martha Mitchell, Arthur W. Forney, Michael Slovis, Steve Shill, Alex Zakrzewski, Michael Pressman, Helen Shaver, Mariska Hargitay, Michael Smith, Ted Kotcheff, Fred Berner, Jonathan Kaplan, Holly Dale, Jonathan Herron, Jud Taylor, Adam Bernstein, Jim McKay
- Writers
-
Judith McCreary, David Graziano, Michael S. Chernuchin, Daniel Really, Jonathan Greene, Amanda Inexperienced, Lisa Marie Petersen, Allison Intrieri, Lawrence Kaplow, Jose Molina, Matt Klypka, Michael R. Perry, Samantha Corbin-Miller, Barbie Kligman, Robert F. Campbell, Candice Sanchez McFarlane, Gwendolyn M. Parker, René Balcer, Robert Nathan, Wendy West, Pace Weed, Ryan Causey, Chris Brancato, Christos N. Gage
-
Mariska Hargitay
Olivia Benson
-
Ice-T
Odafin ‘Fin’ Tutuola
