Law & Order: SVU Showrunner Speaks Out on Fan-Favorite Actor’s Controversial Exit

On Wednesday, Law & Order: SVU fans were hit with some disappointing news when Kelli Giddish revealed that she is exiting the long-running series during the upcoming Season 24, having played fan-favorite detective Amanda Rollins for 12 seasons on the series after joining in 2011. Now, series showrunner David Graziano is speaking out, calling Giddish’s exit “more complex” than it appears and complimenting Giddish as one of the “finest industry professionals” they’ve come across in their career.

According to TVLine, Graziano’s comments come as a response to upset fans in the comments of Giddish’s Instagram post about her exit. Graziano replaced Warren Leigh as showrunner this summer.

“You might take a moment to entertain the idea that things are more complex than they appear in a world of emojis and tweets,” Graziano write. “All I’ll say is Kelli has handled this with the most incredibly classy comportment. 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.”

In her post, Giddish wrote the following: “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 to spend so many of my adult years with Rollins in my life.

“I want to thank Dick Wolf, Mariska Hargitay, Warren Leight, Peter Jankowski, NBC, Universal Television, all of my co-stars, every single member of the crew and all the writers here for our incredible work together these last 12 years. I’m so excited to take all the things I have learned in my time on SVU and put them toward everything that’s next to come.”

It remains to be seen how the show will handle Rollins’ relationship with Peter Scanavino’s Sonny Carisi, as their relationship has been a consistent highlight for fans. It doesn’t seem that Scanavino is leaving the show, so fans are definitely hoping nothing happens to the characters that would change that relationship after waiting for them to actually become a couple for so long. Per TVLine, Giddish will make her final appearance sometime during the first half of Season 24.

Law & Order: SVU has its season 24 premiere on NBC on September 22nd at 9 PM EST.