Mariska Hargitay is fighting for the return of a fired Law & Order: SVU co-star. She seemed to know that this would be a mistake and wished her intuition had been listened to. So, who is this co-star in question and is there any hope? Keep reading for more details.
Mariska Hargitay Fighting For Return Of Fired SVU Co-Star
Law & Order has been extremely successful, spawning several spinoffs that have had just as much success if not more. SVU has been on for twenty-five seasons and it is not slowing down anytime soon. Mariska Hargitay plays the key role of Olivia Benson and shows that women can do literally anything. She has been in good company with Ice-T and Christopher Meloni, who exited after Season 12 only to come back later in the series. Then, in Season 13, Kelli Giddish joined the cast as Amanda Rollins where she stayed until Season 24. It was hard to watch her leave.
In 2022, Kelli shared how she was shocked yet proud that she lasted as long as she had:
“I started playing her in my late 20s, so I’ve played her in three decades of my life, which is nuts. It’s insane. This is a show unlike any other. Shows don’t last 12 years, much less getting to play a character. With playing someone as multi-faceted as Rollins, I got to play all kinds of different things — down and out, on top, joyful, doubtful, scared, triumphant. I got to do the gambit.”
Unfortunately, Kelli did not leave on her own accord, per She Knows. Mariska Hargitay shared that her co-star and good friend was actually fired by creator and EP, Dick Wolf:
“Kelli is my favorite actor to work with. Kelli is my heart. It’s a sore subject. I have a lot of say on the show, but I didn’t have enough there.”
However, Mariska is also an EP on SVU so she has now been working on getting Kelli back to where she belongs.
“I don’t like not being listened to, especially when I’m right. That relationship was one of the most powerful relationships in television because you saw these two bada** women, so flawed and so there for each other.”
For Kelli Giddish, she loved working with Mariska just as much and they had this amazing trust in each other. That made their job not only better but easier.
Tough To Walk Away
After Kelli Giddish had wrapped on SVU, she bolted immediately because she did not want any fanfare from Mariska Hargitay. She went home to trick-or-treat with her family as it was Halloween and knew then and there that her work was done. However, Mariska seems determined to bring Kelli back in some capacity, hopefully full-time. Whether or not Kelli would want this, time will tell but Mariska seems to know what she wants as does the audience.
