Hopefully, Law & Order: SVU‘s latest addition will reverse a problematic Season 25 trend.
For the past several seasons, Benson has not had a full team to work with, instead relying on detectives on loan from other agencies, and making it difficult for her unit to effectively work cases.
However, season 26 promises a full team once again.
Fin and Velasco will work alongside Terry Bruno (Kevin Kane), who has finally become a permanent part of the team, along with a new female detective whose name has not yet been revealed.
Benson Has Had Trouble Retaining Female Detectives Since Rollins Left
Four Different Women Have Tried Working At SVU And Left
SVU’s latest addition is the fifth female detective to sign up with the unit in the last two years.
Soon after Rollins left, newbie Grace Muncy decided to transfer to a different unit.
Churlish, the other detective on loan from the Bronx SVU also disappeared without explanation.
During Season 25, Benson worked temporarily with FBI Agent Shannah Sykes, who left in a huff after Benson confirmed that Sykes’ sister, who had been missing for decades, was dead, and Renee Curry, an IAB agent turned SVU agent who does not appear to be part of the Season 26 cast.
None of these women worked out because they weren’t the right fit.
They all had aspects of Rollins’ personality, such as her tragic backstory or difficulty following orders, but they weren’t her.
That’s as it should be. There’s only one Amanda Rollins, so trying to create all of these Amanda 2.0 characters didn’t work.
Muncy and Churlish were the most enjoyable, but they both disappeared quickly, only to be replaced by completely unlikable characters like Sykes.
This isn’t doing the series any favors and needs to stop. Hopefully, SVU’s latest addition can reverse this trend.
It’s bad enough when characters are so annoying that we can’t wait to get them off our screen.
It’s hard to get attached to the likable ones when they’re probably going to leave within a season.
Will SVU’s Latest Addition Be A Permanent Part Of The Team?
She’s Supposed To Be, But There Are No Guarantees
SVU’s latest addition is billed as a permanent team member.
Nothing else has been revealed about her yet, so it’s anybody’s guess what she’s like.
Whatever the case, it’s hard to believe that she’ll stick around for more than a season.
Muncy was supposed to be a permanent part of the team too, premiering with a lot of fanfare over the fact that Days of Our Lives‘ Molly Burnett had joined SVU.
Still, she’ll probably last for at least Season 26, and hopefully beyond.
Rollins was once a replacement character too, and she stayed for over a decade.
There’s no reason this new character can’t have a similar trajectory.
However, for this to work, the writers have to give up the idea of finding Rollins 2.0 and allow SVU’s latest addition to be a unique, original character.
If SVU is constantly going to be reminding us of Rollins, they might as well rehire her. (I’d be in favor of that anyway.)
What they cannot do is continually make characters who are like Rollins without being her and expecting that to be a satisfying solution to the Rollins problem.
Rollins’ decision to leave SVU to teach is feeling more and more like a non-romantic split for the sake of drama.
She doesn’t enjoy teaching and seems eager to jump into SVU cases, and meanwhile, back at the squad room, one woman after another who has Rollins-like qualities gets an audition and then leaves as quickly as she came.
Let’s hope that SVU’s latest addition changes that pattern.
It’s annoying, especially because SVU has a big audience of loyal, intelligent fans who see through these attempts at replacing Rollins with a similar character.
Everything We Know About The Actress Playing SVU’s Latest Addition
Juliana Aidén Martinez Has Guest Starred on Many Shows
While SVU Season 26 has left its newest member shrouded in mystery, we do know a little bit about the actress playing her.
Juliana Aidén Martinez has guest starred on shows such as Blacklist and 9-1-1, and is best known for playing June on Griselda.
Although actors can obviously play characters that are very different from each other, her role as June might offer some clues as to who her character on SVU will be.
June was an intelligence analyst who was used to being the only woman in her department.
She didn’t let the way her male counterparts treated her get to her, and she helped bring down the head of a major drug cartel.
This was a tough, smart character — qualities that hopefully, Martinez’s new character on SVU will have as well.
If she has a family, we might also get insight into her culture, as has happened on Chicago PD with Dante Torres’ family scenes.
Martinez will add some more diversity, and there are many exciting directions for SVU’s latest addition to go in.
Let’s hope she stays for more than a season, assuming SVU is renewed for Season 27.
Over to you, SVU fanatics! Are you excited about SVU’s latest addition?
Do you think she will finally break the pattern of female detectives leaving after only a few episodes?
Hit the comments and let us know.
Law & Order: SVU has been renewed for Season 26. New episodes will air on NBC on Thursdays at 9/8c and drop on Peacock the next day, starting on October 3, 2024.