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Detective-turned-prosecutor Sonny Carisi (Peter Scanavino) has been a fan favorite on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit since Season 16. He was originally a recurring character, but was promoted to the main cast in Season 16, Episode 5. In Season 21, he became ADA. Based on the Season 26 fall finale promo, Carisi may be in danger though.
Is Carisi Leaving SVU?
In the promo for the SVU Season 26 fall finale (Episode 8, titled “Cornered”), a hostage situation could spell the end for Carisi. The synopsis for the episode explains, “Carisi tries to protect two women taken hostage in a tense standoff between police and a violent thief; Benson and Rollins devise a risky plan to get everyone to safety.”
In the promo, Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) calls Sergeant Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) and provides an overview of the tense situation. “Amanda. Hey, it’s me. It’s Carisi. He interrupted a robbery in progress,” she tells Carisi’s wife. “He is being held hostage.”
The promo shows Detectives Velasco and Silva arriving on the scene and then one of the robbers points a gun in Carisi’s face.
“I need you to tell me that he’s okay,” Rollins says. Captain Benson can’t give that assurance, however, and when one of the robbers opens the door, there’s the sound of gunshot.
It certainly sets up the possibility that Carisi is leaving and the scenario has fans plenty worried. Comments on the promo video included, “Not Carisi!,” “Please don’t let anything bad happen to Carisi,” and “Don’t kill Rollins or Carisi. If one of the members of SVU die. we riot!”
Another fan wrote, “I swear they better not hurt or kill my boy Carisi. I’ve watched this show for too long for him to be lost to Rollins and the girls.”
Similar comments flooded a Reddit discussion, with one fan noting, “THEY BETTER NOT KILL CARISI!” Another fan guessed, “Might be shot, but not killed.” A third SVU fan noted, “They ain’t killing off a main cast member.”
In response to a fan’s comment, “They best not hurt Carisi next week,” another responded that the character will come out of it okay. “No, they won’t. He is being held hostage. It’s necessary for anyone who has main character energy on SVU to be held hostage at least once.”
Another Reddit user looked closely at some of the details of the promo, noting they aren’t worried. “He will be unharmed. I have a feeling that Benson will be hurt, since they ended the promo with ‘Liv!’ at the end (wonder whose voice that is). Also, as someone else pointed out, there is BTS footage of him hugging Amanda outside the bodega so he will get rescued.”
One fan added, “He is being held hostage. The quintessential SVU rite of passage for main character-dom. It’s good news for Carisi.”
Amanda Rollins and Dominic Carisi courthouse wedding in Law & Order: SVU
In an October 2024 interview with CBR, Giddish was asked if her character is where she wants to be, and she hinted that there’s more to play out with her relationship, so it sounds like Carisi isn’t going anywhere. “Right now. We’ll see. But this is the first time she’s ever had a stable, beautiful relationship, with Carisi,” she explained. “And she can take these chances with her life, I think, because she has that stable foundation there, which she’s never had. Even as a little girl growing up, she certainly didn’t have that, as you’ve seen with her sister and things she said about her parents.”
In a November interview with ScreenRant Giddish also gave a peek at the future with Carisi. When asked about the likelihood of seeing more of Rollins’ marriage to Carisi and her family life, she said, “Sure. I would hope that we would get put in their household, again. I think everybody likes to see Peter [Scanavino] be a dad. That’s always fun.”
Giddish continued, “He really is the baby whisperer on set. Anytime there’s a baby, it’s like, ‘Give him to Peter if he’s not happy.’ It’s a stable, healthy relationship now. You sense that because Rollins is now matured and is able to take these risks with her career because she knows she has such a solid foundation at home.”
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is available to stream on Peacock.
