Kelli Giddish’s Law & Order: SVU exit was reportedly a decision made up top to keep show “current”
The long-time cast member's exit from the series was announced earlier this week
Aux News Kelli Giddish
The announcement of Kelli Giddish’s exit from Law & Order: SVU after 12 seasons sent shockwaves through the L&O online community yesterday. Giddish has appeared in the long-running crime drama series as the beloved Detective Amanda Rollins since 2011, but will now depart in the newest season.
According to a report from Variety, Giddish’s departure was not the actor’s decision, nor was it dictated by the newest series showrunner, David Graziano, but the order was passed down from someone on high to keep the series “the show as up to date and current as possible.” That’s right, to keep Law & Order: SVU “current” as it enters season 24.
Giddish took to Instagram to speak on her upcoming exit: “I wanted to address the chatter I’ve seen online and let everyone know that this will, indeed, be my last season on Law & Order: SVU. Playing Rollins has been one of the greatest joys and privileges of my life. 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.”
Graziano shared his own message about Giddish’s exit following a barrage of angry mentions and comments from social media users who thought it was he who wrote Rollins out of the show.
“You might take a moment to entertain the idea that things are more complex than they appear in a world of emojis and tweets. All I’ll say is Kelli has handled this with the most incredibly classy comportment,” he wrote in the comments section of Giddish’s post. “She is, without a doubt, one of the finest industry professionals I’ve come across in my 24 years of writing television. I’m saddened by her looming exit. It’ll be my lucky day if I ever get to write for her again.
Julia Martin, a writer and executive producer on the series, ensured fans on Twitter that Collins “will have a happy ending” as her time as a character on the show comes to a close. Season 24 of Law & Order: SVU kicks off on September 24.
82 Comments
To keep the show current!! Her character was the best part of the show.
“That’s right, to keep Law & Order: SVU “current” as it enters season 24.”
The way you wrote that makes me think you don’t understand what’s happening.
So ‘current’ is a fancy way of saying she’s too old, right? With both her and Mariska Hargitay people probably thought they tuned into Golden Girls by mistake. /s
I’m not so sure that it’s really age, though she’s 42 while Mariska is 58 so I hope your golden girls comment was sarcasm. I suspect it’s money. Pushing out a more tenured actress opens up both the possibility of bringing in new blood that’s cheaper (or eliminating the role entirely) or bring Christopher Meloni back on SVU and canceling Organized Crime.
The Variety article did mention salary negotiations fell through, but it still seems like a “why not both?” scenario.
Could be! Just thinking it’s odd on the basis that they just let a younger detective go. The Stabler of it all is the part I’m side-eying the most. I’m wondering if the real hope is to make SVU, the Benson and Stabler show again.
I certainly wouldn’t mind. Never cared much for Rollins. Don’t see what all the fuss is. Unless she IS a victim if ageism, then FTPs.But seriously – BRING BACK MUNCH!
I even put the sarcasm tag on it to be safe. But firing one of two 40+ women to be ‘current’ is hard to interpret any other way.
They literally put /s after the comment.
Your “money” hypothesis sounds about right. That’s been a particularly annoying Hollywood Habit for producers of long-running shows: they dump the established, expensive cast members and get someone young (and doubled-D’d, as @Yellowfoot not-so-subtly implied) and cheap to take their place.As for her “happy ending,” perhaps Carisi will marry her and stash her and the kids away in a little cottage on Fire Island or some such.
Well these young women should stand up and insist that their double-D’s be paid what they’re worth!
because they’re pert!
Maybe they should jump up ‘n down and insist.
Yeah, although I do like several of the characters, L&O:OC as a show isn’t great.
Same. The rumors of eliminating the 10pm time slot and cutting a seasoned (and likely expensive) cast member, could be setting it up, imo.Even if they keep Stabler as working on not SVU cases, it would basically make *every* episode a crossover.
Honestly, Rollins was never a good character. From the jump, she was supposed to be some white trash country bumpkin stereotype (despite having come from Atlanta). Every attempt to flesh out this character—by creating a storyline around her sister, her parents, and her Atlanta-based frenemies—fell flat. The Carisi romance was about the only thing she had going for her, but they clearly lost interest in writing for Rollins a couple of seasons ago.
Yeah this screams of ageism to me.Then again I never really watched these shows or know most of these people so I’m far from the authority.
It’s not an unreasonable first thought any time a longstanding female cast member is pushed out. I can’t say how much it affected the decision, but on the audience side I would expect most of the people watching any of the Law and Orders is going to be on the older side.
Old people also want to look at young, hot, blondes. She mentions that she was in her late 20s when she started, more than a decade ago. This SCREAMS ageism to me. Too bad she doesn’t have Hargitay’s star power and leverage.
This SCREAMS ageism to me.
Doesn’t mean that’s the case. They’re likely going to bring back Meloni.
I wonder if Ice T is still on the show?
… or producer credit.
The weird part is that they just let go of an actress who was a young person of color playing a bisexual character so I agree the ageism factor seems unlikely. I’m more convinced it’s because they’re planning to bring Stabler back to SVU. Just a hunch.
Good point, I imagine the audience does skew older. Ah, who knows. Network CEO’s make baffling, terrible, selfish choices all the time.
I mean, the show lead is older than Kelli by 15 years or so…Unless they decided that “one woman over 30 is enough”? Actually now that I think about it, that last one is probably what happened.BTW, can anybody believe Rhea Seehorn is freaking 50 years old???? She’s got those JLD genes—looking stunning into your 50s. And still a babe at 61!
BTW, can anybody believe Rhea Seehorn is freaking 50 years old????I can, if only for her hair style and color during the scenes in Florida. Both of those really aged her.
However, as her natural blonde self, I think most of us would have to take a very, very hard look.
Yeah I think Hargitay has a dedicated and vocal fanbase and producer credits at this point, so they won’t mess with her but Giddish is fair game to replace with younger eye candy. I do think two older women was too many, like that 30 Rock joke about NBC’s policy on Black people.
Probably not ageism, since Hargitay is more than 15 years older than her.
True, but she’s a much much bigger name/draw. She’s like a top five all timer from what I can tell. Like I says, I don’t watch but even I know Hargitay. I have never seen or heard of Giddish before.But it’s probably a pay thing. She’s been there so long so is making good bank, but she’s “expendable”. Make way for fresh, cheaper blood.
It could be because she’s a lesbian. It’s happened that way to other characters in the L&O universe.
I don’t know about Kelli Giddish, but her character is very straight, in a bad decision after bad decision sort of way
Rollins isn’t a lesbian. She finally started dating Carisi.
Referring to the notorious exit of Elisabeth Rohm.
The handwriting was on the wall when they resolved the “will they won’t they” with Giddish’s character and her former partner, now DA, Sonny Carisi. They hooked them up and changed the whole dynamic for the character. She was actually fucking happy. Rollins and Carisi will announce a baby is on the way and she will leave SVU mid season to be a stay at home with the two kids she already has (out of wedlock with two different fathers) with another on the way. Happy ending. Fans will be happy. They also killed off Kathy Stabler. The only thing keeping Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay from getting together. Thats the relationship the fans really want.
I’ve watched a lot of the recent seasons of SVU and don’t think its ageism. To me, it really does seem like Rollins is ready to move on as she’s overcome all of her personal demons and is generally in a good place now as a character. I’d rather see her have a happy ending and move on than see her retread old storylines again.I mean 12 years is a long run, even for Law and Order. That’s as long as Christopher Meloni lasted on SVU originally.
If they were trying to stay up to date, maybe they shouldn’t have gotten rid of the young, lesbian, woman of color character that they had on the show a year or two ago?
Kat was Bisexual. Yes, it was a crime to get rid of her…and Demore Barnes too-in the same swoop, in one of the most baffling cast changes i’ve ever seen. Like, it made no sense.
Point was that she was on the LGBT spectrum and therefore was a double minority, triple if you count women as a minority…and youthful.Also, that same week The Rookie got rid of their gay black rookie… I remember because I tweeted at Mariska Hargitay and Nathan Fillion saying what a bad look it was for even one show to do that, but for both shows to do it 3 days apart was just a really bad look for Law Procedural Hollywood. No response, of course.
So the Rookie was a different story…word on the street is the changes made in the series that tried…rather poorly…to address police brutality were to placate the actor. And he was still unhappy-and wouldn’t come back. So…they killed him off because it became obvious he was no longer happy in playing a cop on tv. I’m not saying I agree with that method…but I think I get why they did it. And I agree- it wasn’t a good move. SVU getting rid of Kat and Garland at the same time was just…wrong and smacked of budget cuts…as they hired an almost cartoon super villain chief and Pocket Stabler 2.5. Man, I am into these shows too much.
Roger Meyers Jr.: I have figured out how to rejuvenate the show. It’s so simple, you egghead writers would’ve never thought of it! What we need is… a new character! One that today’s kids can relate to!Oakley: Are you absolutely sure that’s wise, sir? I mean, I don’t want to sound pretentious here, but Itchy and Scratchy comprise a dramaturgical dyad.Krusty: Hey, this ain’t art, it’s business!
Ok. But is it BECAUSE she’s a lesbian?
do you know how fucking surprised I was when Elisabeth Rohm turned up on Jane the Virgin and gave a perfectly decent acting performance!
Rohm was also on Angel and was really good as the conflicted Kate Lockley.
it was in spite of her being a lesbian.
I thought her actress just chose to leave?
In order to stay current with the kids who love this show, they need a pert 24 year old actress with big double D energy.
DDE?
I just learned that Ice-T has been playing Fin for 23 years, making him the longest-running male actor on any series in TV history. (Note – he has a really cool new book out, Split Decision, written with one of his old crime partners.)
making him the longest-running male actor on any series in TV history.
American tv, maybe. There are characters on Coronation Street that have been around for more than 40 years.
Indeed! Bill Roach has been playing Ken Barlow for nearly 62 years.
I think it’s prime time only.
Wait, Munch left?
Sadly, years ago. Still miss him.
In 2013, though he did come back for at least one guest appearance.
Name a song by The Band, an expressionist painter and a cardinal direction.
Huh, I coulda sworn that Gunsmoke went 25 years, and that the male actors that went the entire run would still be ahead of Ice-T, but IMDB says it only went 21.
That clearly can’t count soap operas, John Aniston (Jennifer’s dad) has been on Days of Our Lives since 1985, and there have been a lot of other actors who were on those shows for decades. And if you look at episode count instead of just years, the soap actors will really bury them.
Yeah I think it’s prime time only.
I thought you had to actually be acting to qualify for that.
My limited exposure to the franchise consists mostly of
fleeting glances at the screen while various girlfriends have had it on
over the years. That said, it seems like the newer Wolfverse shows are all
inhabited by the most blandly, vaguely pretty faces I’ve ever seen on
television. They’re like some weird-algorithm weird fed, AI/CGI generated
creations utterly devoid of character and emotion. Giddish was admittedly
perhaps too gorgeous to be believable as a real detective but she paid her
dues and deserves a seat at the table. It’s a shame to see her being treated
like this.I get why they want to keep Sam Waterston around but let’s
face it, he’s at the Patrick Stewart level of mileage now where it’s kind of
uncomfortable watching him.
I get why they want to keep Sam Waterston around but let’s face it, he’s at the Patrick Stewart level of mileage now where it’s kind of uncomfortable watching him.
What are you talking about?
Last season of L&O, it really looked like McCoy died 5 years ago and nobody decided to replace him as DA, lol. To be fair, he looked ancient back in 2010 when the original run ended.And Stewart’s acting in the last season of Picard was often incredibly odd. Whether he consciously chose to play the character this way now or not (rumor has it he DID do it on purpose), that was not even remotely the same Picard we saw from TNG. Its like a completely different character.
Last season of L&O, it really looked like McCoy died 5 years ago
that was not even remotely the same Picard we saw from TNG. Its like a completely different character.
Probably because it’s been almost 30 years since TNG ended. I would hope it’s not the same Picard we last saw 30 years ago.
But thats how the Picard character was. If you saw Jimmy McGill in 3o years and he was suddenly the nicest person on earth without a mean thought in his head, wouldn’t you say that its not the same character?When you reboot a legendary character, you expect at the very least the basic mannerisms to be similar, but Stewart played Picard like he was creating a new character from scratch.
I love Patrick Stewart, Jean Luc Picard, and TNG…and you’re completely correct.
Eh, I can kind of see your description fitting Chicago Med or Fire, but not really Law and Order. Even then, the lead characters in every Wolf show is over 40, over 50 if we take out Chicago Fire & Med.
I’m currently watching Frankie and Gracie. I’ve actually rarely seen Sam outside of his belligerent hard-nosed Jack McCoy days, so this is quite a shock.I can’t tell whether he is just an overall terrible actor who is legendary at playing exactly one role, or I just haven’t gotten used to seeing Sam play a completely different role.
SW is both – legendary & capable of playing completely against type. I love his & Martin (Mr. President) Sheen’s characters in Frankie & Grace.
He was very believable in the SNL insurance sketch about robots. He was also excellent on the Newsroom.
He’s actually pretty damn good in Heaven’s Gate playing a vicious SOB. I know that movie is much-maligned for bankrupting United Artists, but it’s worth a watch at least once.
This show has been on tv about 10 years too long.
I disagree. They really stepped up their game this past season. They had some interesting cases (although for the life of me I can’t remember any details of any episode) and were worth the 40 minutes or so of time I spent watching.
Happy ending? Sounds like a spin-off to me. Law & Order: Massage Parlor.
SVU, The Simpsons are long past their sell by dates…The only reason they’re still is to BOAST bout being the longest running cartoon, sketch show, drama ever….Even though people have stopped watching….
It must have been longer than I thought since I last saw SVU as I have never seen this character.
I hope she ends up in the movies.I suggest ethnic wise looking for Indo-Pak for the next female detective.
Meloni, a dirty, stupid, life-sucking vampire rat bastard actor who is worth nothing to anyone is getting star billing after his return that no one wanted to this series and she is out. When assmonkey Meloni left the show it really soared and took off. This is a bad move all around. This is how stupid TV execs are. This is the proof.
The irony of course is that they will almost certainly replace her with an identical character.
Collins?
… and you think that Mariska Hargitay is current??!? Get rid of that ugly old b****. Like, now.
… and you think that Mariska Hargitay is current??!? Get rid of that ugly old b****. Like, now.
If it’s so saddening she’s leaving and she’s so amazing, why isn’t her character continuing?
I hope the idea of moving Stabler over and getting rid of that show is not how this goes down. Organized Crime is actually the better of the two shows at this point.
great actress. i always get her and Linda Doucett from The Larry Sanders Show, confused sometimes.