The 27th season of Law and Order: SVU premiered on Thursday, September 25. And it came with a big surprise. The hit NBC series stars Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson. And during the season premiere, she revealed that fan-favorite and original cast member Captain Donald Cragen – played by Dann Florek – died. The actor, 75, left the show after 15 seasons because his character reached NYPD's mandatory retirement age. SVU wanted to maintain realism and allow Dann to retire in real life too.
On September 25's episode, Olivia Benson shared: "He was the best boss I ever had. Everything I know about being a captain, I learned from him." The episode continued with a memorial for Captain Donald Cragen, in which Fin Tutuola – played by Ice-T – admitted that he was considering retiring too. Another fan favorite, Elliot Stabler – played by Christopher Meloni – appeared when he refused to enter the memorial.
Olivia met Elliot outside the service, and told him: "I feel like we're entering the 'all our friends are dying' era." Elliot confided in his former partner: "We had a pretty good run there." While Christopher departed SVU in 2011 and launched a spinoff series – Law and Order: Organized Crime – he has appeared as a guest star in several episodes.
Captain Donald Cragen's death was a big surprise to fans of SVU, as there have already been major cast and crew shakeups. Season 27 is the first season under new showrunner Michele Fazekas, who previously worked on the show as a writer and co-executive producer, and is now back as the show's first female showrunner in its 26 year history.
Speaking with People at the season two premiere of The Boys' spin-off Gen V, for which she also serves as showrunner and executive producer, Michele said fans can expect "a lot" from the forthcoming episode, revealing: "In some ways, I'm going back to when I was on the show, which was like seasons three through seven. I remember what we were doing then that worked well. It's like, 'Alright, we're gonna bring some of that back.'"
Aside from bringing on a new showrunner, Octavio Pisano and Juliana Martinez announced they would not be returning as series regulars for season 27. Octavio, 38, was on the show since season 23, and portrayed former undercover detective Joe Velasco. And Juliana, 34, was the newest face on the show. She played Detective Kate Silva, who was a homicide detective in the Brooklyn Homicide Unit before becoming a member of Captain Olivia Benson's squad.
But, while Octavio and Juliana departed the show, SVU brought back another fan favorite. Kelli Giddish, who first starred as Sergeant Amanda Rollins in 2007, is once again a series regular. Mariska celebrated the news with a post to Instagram, writing: "She’s baaaaaaack!!! #My girls! Bensons Angels Fierce Females." Aimé Donna Kelly, who plays Captain Renee Curry, was also promoted to a series regular. She told Us Weekly: "It's so emotional on so many levels. I'm very lucky that I started the show as a guest star."