Law & Order: SVU star and executive producer Mariska Hargitay explains the headline-grabbing death that kicked off season 27. It’s in the Law & Order season 27 premiere that the retired Donald Cragen (Dann Florek) is revealed to have died of natural causes. His wake is attended by many of his former colleagues, including Hargitay’s Olivia Benson.
Cragen is a major figure in the crime drama franchise, going back to the series premiere of the original Law & Order in 1990. The character would later reappear in SVU, occasionally making guest appearances in the franchise even after his season 15 departure. Florek remains alive, appearing in a video during Cragen’s farewell episode, which makes the death feel even more sudden.
During a recent appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Hargitay opened up about Cragen’s death. The star and executive producer underlined what made the scenes “beautiful.” Hargitay also touched on some of the returning actors who came back for the pivotal episode, such as Christopher Meloni’s Elliot Stabler. Read her comments below:
That was so beautiful about it is these scenes, they almost act themselves because the circumstances are so powerful, right? And there’s such genuine love for the captain, for the actor, and just having the old regulars. Having Dean [Winters] come back and having BD Wong come back. And then, doing that scene with Chris [Meloni]. These are so beautiful. These scenes, they’re so earned that there’s just an ease and an effortlessness to it.
As mentioned by Hargitay, Cragen’s death serves as an opportunity for familiar faces to join the Law & Order: SVU cast briefly. That includes B.D. Wong returning as Special Agent George Huang, in addition to Dean Winters coming back as Detective Brian Cassidy.
Even though Meloni has appeared in SVU often since his 2021 return to the franchise, Winters last appeared in 2019. As for Wong in the role of George Huang, he last came back in 2015. Taken through that lens, and coupled with Hargitay’s comments, Cragen’s death is an opportunity to celebrate the fan-favorite NBC series by bringing back some of the names that have helped to define it.
But it also works to honor both Florek, who was let go from the original Law & Order only to make his return in SVU, and essentially spearhead the spinoff in those early seasons. Cragen is honored, as well. Benson and the team gather to watch one of Cragen’s retirement videos in the episode, offering him the opportunity to reflect on his career and the people he’s spent it with. It has an atypical feel because his death isn’t forced by any outside circumstance.
It allows the episode to feel less sad than it might have been otherwise, closing the chapter on the Cragen era that helped to make Law & Order: SVU what it was when it premiered in 1999. Almost three decades later, that contribution is thoughtfully spotlighted.
Law & Order: SVU season 27 airs Thursdays at 9 PM ET on NBC
- Release Date
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September 20, 1999
- Showrunner
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Michael S. Chernuchin, David Graziano
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Mariska Hargitay
Olivia Benson
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Ice-T
Odafin ‘Fin’ Tutuola
