Behind-The-Scenes Salary Drama That Led to Kelli Giddish Ditching SVU
Kelli Giddish joined the SVU cast in 2011 to fill the void left by the departure of the main character Elliot Stabler.
The casting was extremely successful as Detective Amanda Rollins, with her dogged persistence and instincts that helped her solve cases, quickly grew on viewers and stayed on the show for more than a decade, leaving last year with the current season's fall finale episode.
While Rollins' on-screen departure was a sweet conclusion to her arc – the beloved detective married her love interest, Dominick Carisi, and left the force for a teaching gig – in real life, the circumstances surrounding her exit were much more shady and controversial.
Back in August, after Giddish's official exit statement was released by NBC, Variety reported that the actress was not leaving the show of her own volition, but by a call from above.
Apparently, the executives of the long-running show wanted to shake things up with the cast and decided that removing Giddish was the way to go, despite the objections of Mariska Hargitay and other producers and the angry fans who took all of SVU's official social media accounts by storm.
But as outraged fans suspected, that was not the only reason Giddish left the show. The actress reportedly had a disagreement with executives over her salary, and they couldn't find common ground.
After her final episode aired, Giddish sat down with Variety to discuss her feelings about leaving SVU. She didn't mention any salary disputes but rather expressed gratitude for the opportunity to play such a great character as Amanda Rollins. She said that after watching the episode, she felt a real sense of closure.
"It's time in the Rollins storyline," the actress explained. "Where it headed last night, just seemed the right place to leave it right now."
Giddish added that she hasn't completely closed the door on a return. With all the spinoffs and crossovers, the Law & Order universe is vast and has a loyal following. It has happened in the past that an SVU star who had left the show after a salary dispute came back many years later to star in a spin-off of his own. We are, of course, talking about Chris Meloni, who plays Elliot Stabler. The actor made an epic comeback in 2021. So Amanda Rollins fans still have a chance to see the beloved character on the small screen.