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It was a sudden and sudden Law & Order announcement: mainstay since Season 13 and fan-favorite character Amanda Rollins could be written out of Law & Order: SVU within the upcoming — and record-breaking — Season 24. When a beloved character departs, there may be typically a small quantity of consolation to be present in understanding the actor was the one who requested to go away, to pursue one thing new. But if early experiences are to be believed, that was not the case with Kelli Giddish.
Way again in Season 13, a fandom reeling from the contemporary, abrupt departure of Detective Elliot Stabler (a choice made by actor Christopher Meloni, a minimum of, although influenced by some behind-the-scenes hiccups) was launched to Detective Amanda Rollins. Freshly migrated from Atlanta, GA, Kelli Giddish’s Rollins introduced wit, persona and energy to the SVU squad room. Never one to draw back from talking her thoughts or following her personal inside ethical code, Rollins was a headstrong and proficient detective who organically grew to change into a beloved member of the unit and a detailed buddy of Captain Olivia Benson.
When information broke, Kelli Giddish released a polite and well-scripted statement relating to her departure:
“I wished to deal with the chatter I’ve seen on-line and let everybody know that this can, certainly, be my final season on Law & Order: SVU. Playing Rollins has been one of many biggest joys and privileges of my life. I’ve been so lucky to be part of the Law & Order household for the final 12 years. There is just no different character on TV like Rollins. She’s grown and adjusted, and I’ve as effectively. I began on this present after I was in my late 20s and I’m grateful I bought to spend so a lot of my grownup years with Rollins in my life.”
But hypothesis rapidly mounted that this was not the choice of Giddish. And although SVU‘s Season 24 is the primary with new showrunner David Graziano — introduced on to interchange Warren Leight — Graziano rapidly asserted that writing out Rollins was not his concept nor was it one thing he wished. The choices circulate from the highest, and it’s doubtless seeking to be the decision of Executive Producer Dick Wolf, who reportedly is seeking to maintain the present “new and contemporary” — and that wage negotiations had an element to play. Reportedly, Wolf felt Giddish’s tenure and significance to the present wasn’t sufficient to justify a paycheck, and {that a} contemporary feminine detective might be written in to shake issues up — with an actress whose wage prices the present much less.
It’s particularly odd contemplating simply how integral Rollins has change into to the present. Though her character was absent from a number of episodes in Season 23 to take care of her sick father, that previous season was additionally lastly and absolutely the long-awaited pay-off of the romantic pressure between Amanda Rollins and ADA Dominick Carisi. After years of longing, Rollisi lastly paired up, making the sudden departure of Rollins all of the extra unsatisfying.
In the following days for the reason that announcement, tweets and allegations have been making the rounds, with most of the fingers pointing to Dick Wolf because the perpetrator. Former SVU author David Matthews (who wrote Rollins into the Law & Order world), even tweeted a metaphorical smoking gun in assist of Giddish and towards Wolf:
Kelli Giddish’s departure will not be even the latest forged shake-up, with Deputy Chief Christian Garland and Detective Katriona Tamin being launched late in Season 21 solely to be rapidly written off within the first episode of Season 23. With all that change beneath one other showrunner, it is not exhausting to note a sample from the highest down. What’s most uncomfortable, maybe, is that the “shake-ups” proceed to have an effect on SVU‘s range, particularly, writing off ladies, individuals of colour and a queer character. While it is unlikely Kelli Giddish or these employed by the Law & Order franchise will ever spill the complete, precise particulars, it is trying increasingly more doubtless that this was a choice made out of Giddish’s management (and, allegedly, out of Mariska Hargitay’s management, too) and easily a case of protecting issues contemporary — and protecting prices down.
New episodes of Law & Order: SVU will return on Sept. 22 for its record-breaking Season 24 on NBC.
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