'Law & Order: SVU' Season 27 brings a surprise reunion to the squad room—and we couldn’t be more thrilled
Kelli Giddish has returned to the 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit' squad. Yeah, you read that right. Giddish, well-known by fans for playing the character of Amanda Rollins in the beloved police crime drama series, recently reprised her role and was seen in the episode of the show that aired on October 16, 2025. Just a few days ago, a sweet video of Giddish and Mariska Hargitay was shared on the show's official Instagram page. The video showed the two co-stars walking together while holding hands. The caption of the post read, "She's BAAAAACK 📣 Watch Rollins & Benson reunite in an all-new #LawAndOrder Thursday on NBC and streaming on Peacock."
As soon as the post landed on Instagram, fans took to the comments section to express their happiness about Giddish's homecoming. One social media user wrote, "Welcome back, Rollins!!!! I was waiting the whole episode for that moment!!!👏❤️." A second user penned, "Season 27 truly feels like home. It feels like the SVU I fell in love with. Welcome back, Sergeant Rollins! ❤️." Another netizen went on to say, "Rollins! I never saw this coming, but I'm here for it! Welcome back, Amanda!" A fourth fan commented, "She’s back home! I can’t believe we get Rollins back every week now, and Rollisi 😍😍😍."
For the uninitiated, Giddish first bid adieu to the NBC show in December 2022, midway through Season 24. Following that, Giddish made guest appearances in several episodes throughout seasons 25 and 26. In the finale of Season 24, which was part of a crossover with 'Law & Order' and 'Law & Order: Organized Crime,' Giddish revealed that her character Rollins was pregnant and expecting her first baby with Assistant District Attorney Dominick Carisi (played by Peter Scanavino). The actress was also pregnant in real life.
Later on, Giddish appeared in the premiere of Season 25 in January 2024. At that point, Rollins and Carisi celebrated the baptism of their newborn son, Nicky. Elsewhere in the season, Giddish made another guest appearance when Rollins left her job as a professor at Fordham University, and she decided to help Benson work on an SVU case. Last fall, Rollins was promoted to a sergeant, and she even bagged a new gig while working for the NYPD Intelligence Unit. During an interview with People magazine, Giddish shared, "I got pitched that idea from the writers, and I was so excited to actually do that and to know that they were developing Rollins in that way." And now, Giddish is back as a series regular on the show. 'Law & Order: SVU' airs every Thursday at 9 pm ET only on NBC.