SVU's incoming showrunner responds to fans unhappy about Kelli Giddish's departure
New showrunner David Graziano wrote that "Kelli has handled this with the most incredibly classy comportment"
Kelli Giddish announced earlier today that she’ll soon be taking her leave of the functionally unkillable Law And Order franchise, stepping away from the role she’s occupied for the last 10 seasons on spinoff-turned-main-franchise series Law And Order: SVU. Writing about the departure on Instagram, Giddish talked warmly about her character, Detective Amanda Rollins, who joined the show in 2011 as a new partner for Ice-T’s Detective Fin Tutuola. “There is simply no other character on TV like Rollins,” Giddish wrote. “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.”
While Giddish seemed fairly positive about the change in her post, thanking Dick Wolf, Mariska Hargitay, and many of the other people she worked with across her decade-plus on the series, some odd drama did break out in the comments. Specifically, surrounding incoming showrunner David Graziano, who hopped in to express his sadness at Giddish’s departure, only to catch some questions from fans concerned about why the change was being made.
Graziano’s response was an interesting one:
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.
Law And Order: SVU returns for its 24th season on September 22. No word on how many episodes Giddish is expected to appear in before making her departure.