‘Law & Order: SVU’ Ended With an Intense Cliffhanger

Law & Order: SVU ended with a cliffhanger on Wednesday night that came out of nowhere.

During the show’s final moment’s Olivia Benson’s (Mariska Hargitay) adopted son Noah is seen shopping at a mall with his biological grandmother Sheila Porter (Brooke Shields). Then a hooded figure appears outside the store and appears to be watching the child.

In the next shot, Sheila grabs a coat off the rack for Noah to try on, but he’s nowhere in sight.

Olivia then receives a dramatic call that indicated Noah has gone missing.

The next episode will deal with the hunt to find Noah, as shown in the episode preview.

This twist was especially unexpected being as most of the episode dealt with a peculiar catfishing case that resulted in an unintended rape. There were a few conversations between Olivia and Sheila, which resulted in Olivia agreeing to let her take Noah to get a new winter coat.

The reveal happened in the very final moments, with no clear hint at who could have committed the crime.

A new episode of SVU will air Jan. 3 at 9 p.m. EST on NBC.