'Law & Order: SVU' Writer Teases 'Happy Ending' for Rollins and Carisi Amid Kelli Giddish Exit

By Brenda Alexander

Law & Order: SVU fans will say goodbye to Det. Amanda Rollins this season. Kelli Giddish took to Instagram to confirm that her time on the show is coming to an end after initial reports began surfacing. "I wanted to address the chatter I've seen online and let everyone know that this will, indeed, be my last season on 'Law & Order: SVU.' Playing Rollins has been one of the greatest joys and privileges of my life," she began, captioning a photo of her character. "I've been so fortunate to be a part of the 'Law & Order' family for the last 12 years. There is simply no other character on TV like Rollins. She's grown and changed, and I have as well. I started on this show when I was in my late 20s, and I'm grateful I got to spend so many of my adult years with Rollins in my life."

NBC is staying mum on how Giddish will be written out, but a show insider tells TV Line that Rollins will experience a traumatic event early into Season 24. Her absence will have an impact for Peter Scanavino's Carisi, with whom Rollins is romantically involved. And one fan wants to make sure they get the ending their storyline deserves. 

"Please just allow all of us who identified with Rollins to have her happy ending. She can leave the squad and still be with Carisi. This relationship was therapy- it was real, it was raw, it was beautiful," one fan Tweeted. Julie Martin, a writer, and producer on the show, promises there will be a good conclusion, tweeting back, "#Rollisi will have a happy ending.  Stay tuned."

The new showrunner, David Graziano, had a lot to say in Giddish's IG announcement. He wrote: "You might take a moment to entertain the idea that things are more complex than they appear in a world of emojis and tweets. All I'll say is Kelli has handled this with the most incredibly classy comportment. She is, without a doubt, one of the finest industry professionals I've come across in my 24 years of writing for television. I'm saddened by her looming exit. It'll be my lucky day if I ever get to write for her again."

Giddish joined the show at the start of Season 13 in 2011 alongside Danny Pino, who left at the end of Season 16, to fill the void left by the sudden departure of Christopher Meloni, who now stars in Law & Order: Organized Crime and in occasional crossover episodes of SVU.

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