Law & Order: SVU’s Ice-T Says He Was ‘Blindsided’ by Kelli Giddish’s Departure, Credits Fans With Bringing Her Back Full-Time in Season 27

Law & Order: SVU‘s Rollins and Tutuola were partners on the police force, and their portrayers are pals off-screen. So count series vet Ice-T among those eagerly awaiting Kelli Giddish‘s full-time return to the procedural this fall.

“Kelli is dope. Me and her were teammates and partners,” Ice-T told TVLine Tuesday at Raising Cane’s in New York City’s Times Square. The rapper/actor was there to celebrate National Iced Tea Day (get it?!) in collaboration with the restaurant chain.

He recalled that when Giddish started the show in Season 13, just after original cast member Chris Meloni departed as Det. Stabler, “I fell in love with Kelli as a person. She’s just a sweetheart.”

Giddish’s exit as a series regular in December 2022, after her character and Peter Scanavino’s Dominick “Sonny” Carisi Jr. got hitched in a courthouse wedding, was a surprise, he added. “No one really expected her to leave the show. We got blindsided by that. But the fans said they wanted to see Kelli back, so she’s coming back.”

Giddish has recurred on the show in the past few seasons, which is how we know Rollins is now a sergeant working with the New York Police Department’s Intelligence Unit. The character most recently showed up in Season 26 to assist SVU on a kidnapping case. Giddish’s reinstatement as a regular made series star Mariska Hargitay “ecstatic,” she recently said.

“She is a formidable actress and an incredibly creative partner and has been such a joy and huge part of the fabric of SVU,” Hargitay added. “I love her, and I love acting with her and co-creating with her, and it feels like home with her.”