Law & Order: Special Victims Unit season 27

Development

Left to right: David Graziano and Norberto Barba vacated their roles as showrunner and executive producer, respectively, ahead of season 27.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit was renewed for a twenty-seventh season on May 8, 2025.^[1][2][3] That July, NBC announced the season would premiere on September 25, 2025.^[4][5]

Following David Graziano's departure at the conclusion of the twenty-sixth season, Michele Fazekas was named as his successor as showrunner; this made her the first woman to hold the position in the series' history.^[6] She previous acted as a writer-producer from the third to seventh seasons.^[7] Norberto Barba and Julie Martin exited as executive producers,^[8] while Brenna Malloy was subsequently named as an executive producer and directing producer for the season.^[9]

Speaking on becoming the series' first female showrunner, Fazekas described it as "crazy, in a way, that after 26 years on the air that [a female showrunner] didn't happen. Although not, I guess, totally surprising." She further cited Mariska Hargitay as reason for her decision to accept the position,^[10] and revealed her intentions to change things about the series, in an effort to freshen up the series, while keeping with its roots.^[11]

On January 12, 2026, the season's tenth episode, titled "Corrosive", which was due to air three days later, was removed from the schedule.^[12][13] According to reports, NBC removed the episode after arrest warrants were issued for guest star Timothy Busfield three days earlier.^[14][15] In response, the network advanced the eleventh episode, which was originally scheduled to air on January 22.^[16][17] The following month, it was announced Busfield's role was recast with David Zayas,^[18] and the episode was rescheduled to air on February 26.^[19][20]

Casting

Season twenty-six cast members Hargitay (Captain Olivia Benson), Ice-T as (Odafin "Fin" Tutuola), Peter Scanavino (Assistant District Attorney Dominick "Sonny" Carisi, Jr.), and Kevin Kane (Detective Terry Bruno) returned to the show for the twenty-seventh season. In May 2025, ahead of the season twenty-six finale, it was revealed Juliana Aidén Martinez (Junior Detective Kate Silva) and Octavio Pisano (Detective Joe Velasco) would depart the series.^[21] That same month, Kelli Giddish's return as a series regular was announced.^[22][23] Two months later, it was reported Aimé Donna Kelly, who previously joined the series in the recurring role of Captain Renee Curry during the twenty-second season, had been promoted to series regular.^[24] Pisano was later announced to have reprised his role,^[9] beginning with the season's premiere episode.^[25] He departed at the conclusion of the third episode.^[26] In February 2026, it was reported Pisano was spotted on-set;^[27] his return was later announced by Deadline Hollywood,^[28] and aired as part of the seventeenth episode.^[29] Pisano made an announced appearance during the twentieth episode, sharing scenes with Hargitay's Olivia.^[30]

Norma Kuhling joined the series in the recurring role of Cindy "CJ" Jones, who works with Carisi in the district attorney's office.^[31] She made her first appearance during the season's second episode.^[32] Corey Cott, who joined the season as Detective Jake Griffin, was promoted to a series regular, starting with the ninth episode.^[33][34] Previously, in the eighteenth season, Cott portrayed Ellis Griffin, a suspect in the sexual assault of an unconscious girl.^[35]

With Giddish's return as a series regular, Ice-T's minimum guarantees were lessened.^[36] He attributed his lack of appearances to budgetary concerns with Giddish's return and other new cast members.^[37][38] In March 2026, Ice-T revealed he was back on set and filming the final three episodes of the season.^[39]

Main

Recurring

• Noma Dumezweni as Chief Kathryn Tynan
• Norma Kuhling as Assistant District Attorney Cindy "CJ" Jones

Guest stars

In early August 2025, NBC announced former cast members Dean Winters, BD Wong and Dann Florek would make guest appearances as former Detective Brian Cassidy, former FBI Agent George Huang, and former Captain Donald Cragen, respectively.^[40] Christopher Meloni (Det. Elliot Stabler) made an appearance during the season's premiere episode.^[41] Tony Goldwyn, who stars in the flagship series as District Attorney Nicholas Baxter, will appear in several episodes throughout the season.^[42] In addition to Goldwyn, David Ajala (Junior Detective Theo Walker), Hugh Dancy (EADA Nolan Price), and Maura Tierney (Lieutenant Jessica Brady) featured in the season's ninth episode, which served as the second part of a crossover episode with the flagship series.^[43][44]

In addition to the guest appearances by former cast members, early episodes saw Molly Griggs, and Michael Cassidy guest star.^[35] On September 11, 2025, it was announced former Chicago Med actress, Norma Kuhling, would appear during the season in a recurring role.^[45] The sixth episode saw Drew Garrett playing Paul Ellis, who becomes one of two suspects in an investigation following an attack at a house party.^[46][47]

Greg Germann returned to his role as defense attorney Derek Strauss; he originated the role during the fourteenth season, making infrequent appearances since.^[48] His appearance occurred during the ninth episode, "Purity".^[49]

Ethan Cutkosky reprised the role of Henry Mesner during the eleventh episode, "Career Psychopath".^[50] He first played the role during the fourteenth season and reprised the role during the twenty-second season. Giddish expressed excitement about working with Cutkosky for a third time: "It was so good to see him. [...] And of course, doing the scenes, we've got that history and that's always so much fun to play with."^[51] Scanavino referred to the episode as one of showcasing growth with the characters involved.^[52] The return was teased on social media in December 2025.^[53][54] The following month, it was announced Sean Patrick Thomas would appear during the season.^[55] He made his appearance during the thirteenth episode, "Hubris",^[56] as a father attempting to reunite with his daughter (guest star Milan Marsh).^[57]

The season's thirteenth episode saw Zayas guest star as Warren Fels, a judge who is also a longtime mentor to Carisi.^[58] Ross Partridge and Dan Thompson also guest star as a father, Robbie Miller, who accuses Warren of sexually assaulting his son, Matt Miller, respectively.^[59][60] Melissa McCarthy made a surprise guest-starring appearance during the eighteenth episode as Jasmyn Jewell, a professional fighter who flirts with Hargitay's Olivia.^{[61][62][63][64]} Mark Rolston also guest-starred in the episode.^[65] The nineteenth episode saw Monica Potter guest=star as Talia Federov, the daughter of a former New York judge, who uses her father's name to avoid the SVU from searching her home.^[66] The episode also featured the return of Peter Hermann as D.A. Trevor Langan, a role he first debuted in during the third season and last appeared in during the twenty-third season.^[67]

Ratings

Political response

The season's premiere episode drew criticism from some in conservative media following the depiction of agents from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In review for Media Research Center's NewsBusters, Elise Ehrhard noted the depiction of ICE agents as "cold-hearted villains" who had hindered SVU's investigation in a rape case. She further condemned Hollywood for fueling the flames of the attacks against ICE agents and facilities, calling it "irresponsible".^[94] Katie Miller further accused the series for being responsible for the ongoing attacks following the episode's premiere. The Daily Beast noted comparison to Hargitay's character arresting a key witness in a rape investigation to the real-life arrest of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in March 2025.^[95] Megyn Kelly also found issue with the episode's depiction of ICE agents, calling it "propaganda".^[96]

The Trump Administration felt the series villainized ICE. In a statement to Fox News' digital agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security's assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said: "Not even a week ago, Our ICE law enforcement was shot up by a deranged lunatic who wanted to terrorize ICE and not even a week later Law and Order: SVU's releases an episode that further villainize our brave ICE law enforcement. NBC and Hollywood elites must stop fanning the flames of division. Our ICE law enforcement work night and day to protect Americans, including by removing rapists and child molesters from America's streets. Our officers are facing a more than 1000% increase in assaults against them. This is irresponsible and pathetic."^[97]