Kelli Giddish‘s former Detective Amanda Rollins will return for the Season 25 premiere of Law & Order: SVU, sources confirm to Deadline.
Giddish exited the series midway through Season 24 and last appeared in a guest-starring role in the Season 24 finale, which was part of a three-way crossover among Law & Order, SVU and Organized Crime. In that episode, Giddish’s character Rollins married ADA Sonny Carisi Jr (Peter Scanavino). Rollins also revealed she was on a new career path and had accepted a teaching job at Fordham University. When she returned, she surprised her former colleagues with news that she was pregnant.
Law & Order: SVU resumed production on Season 25 Monday following a six-month production shutdown due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
“Playing Rollins has been one of the greatest joys and privileges of my life,” she posted on social media last year announcing her exit. “I’ve been so fortunate to be a part of the Law & Order family for the last 12 years. There is simply no other character on TV like Rollins. She’s grown and changed, and I have as well. I started on this show when I was in my late 20s and I’m grateful I got to spend so many of my adult years with Rollins in my life.”
Dick Wolf is creator and executive producer of Law & Order: SVU. David Graziano, Julie Martin, Mariska Hargitay, Norberto Barba, Ken Brown, Arthur Forney and Peter Jankowski executive produce. The series is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, in association with Wolf Entertainment.
Law & Order: SVU Season 25 will premiere on Thursday, January 18, at 9/8c on NBC.
Deadline’s sister pub TVLine was first to report the news.