‘Law & Order: SVU’s Kelli Giddish Talks Ethan Cutkosky’s Return: Rollins Is ‘Fascinated’ With Henry

“I was looking forward to it the second that I got done reading it,” Kelli Giddish says of the Thursday, January 22, episode of Law & Order: SVU. It features Ethan Cutkosky‘s return for his third episode as psychopath Henry Mesner after Season 14’s “Born Psychopath” in 2013 and Season 22’s “Post-Graduate Psychopath” in 2021.

Now, in Season 27’s “Career Psychopath” in 2026, after a stranger threatens Sergeant Amanda Rollins (Giddish) and ADA Sonny Carisi’s (Peter Scanavino) lives, they suspect it’s connected to a case they worked together. Plus, Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) brings in an old friend out of retirement. to help.

Below, Kelli Giddish previews the trouble coming for Rollisi, talks about having Ethan Cutkosky back, and more.

It’s great having you back full time, of course. We saw Rollins in a couple of different jobs since she left, but something keeps drawing her back to SVU. Why do you think that is? Because this time was kind of beyond her control with the moves that Tynan (Noma Dumezweni) made, but also just she feels so at home at SVU.

Kelli Giddish: Exactly. Which I think is what pulls her back. And her strongest friendships in the world are there, her strongest relationships are there. I think she loves what she does there. She loves her job. And I think in the real world, anyone that is an SVU detective for that long, you have to change it up because you just experience the darkest, darkest, darkest cases. But in our world, I think she broke free of it and went and tried out other parts of her brain and now she’s home again.

Ralph Bavaro/NBC

The promo for this week’s episode shows Rollins with her gun out finding someone holding Carisi hostage. What can you preview about that scene?

Well, they are celebrating their second anniversary, and they come home, and they realize there’s been a home invasion. Now, whether it’s personal or whether it wasn’t personal, that’s what you’re going to find out during the episode.

It was so much fun to film. I was looking forward to it the second that I got done reading it. I was like, “I can’t wait to do this episode.” And just every single day going to work during the filming of that was so much fun.

How does Rollins handle that home invasion, though? That in itself makes it personal, the violence came to their home.

She keeps her wits about her handling it, but that’s her kids, that’s her husband. So it’s all forces go to see who is responsible for doing this. And just the breaking of that trust, that someone could come into their safe home is, I think, enough to shake anyone up, and especially Rollins, who doesn’t trust a lot of the world anyway, I think.

We have Ethan back as Henry in this episode. What’s Rollins’ approach to dealing with him this time? Because after all, last time she left him with that warning about going after Carisi or her family again, that she’d kill him.

Right, right. Well, and this time he’s behind bars. He’s going to be in prison for the rest of his life. So I think that changes the dynamic there. She’s already gotten him. He’s already there. And I think she’s still fascinated with how his brain works and why he does what he does, but I think she allows him in less because he’s dealing with the ramifications of his actions.

Talk about working with Ethan again on this episode — that first episode was 13 years ago.

I know! I know. He was such a baby when he first came. It was so good to see him. And I remember talking about his mom and how he was raised both of the prior times he came on as a guest. And I gave him the biggest hug. I was so happy to see him, and he’s such a fine young man and just always, always, always happy to catch up with him. And of course, doing the scenes, we’ve got that history and that’s always so much fun to play with.

Related

Inside Ethan Cutkosky's 'Law & Order: SVU' Return

I have to say how much I’m enjoying Rollins and Carisi being settled, together — like you said, this is their second anniversary — especially after what it took for them to get together. What stands out to you about their relationship at this point?

I think it’s just ultimate trust in each other and ultimate trust that they each have each other’s back, and they’ll support them, and they’re making each other better. I really do think that. And that’s what you want in any relationship. And especially for Rollins to find that now, it’s so miraculous, and I think she’s so grateful.

What’s coming up for their relationship, both in this episode and then going forward?

Well, we’ll see. We’ll see. This was a big one for us to do. And he had that big episode last year with the deli. So I think the trauma that this induces, the trauma that he went through last year, I think those all always have ramifications down the line. We’ll have to see how that comes forward. But I’m not sure we’ll see them in home bliss because things are kind of going great for them, and that doesn’t make for amazing TV. [Laughs]

Law & Order: SVU, Thursdays, 9/8c, NBC