HaveUHeard

Kelli Giddish announced that she is leaving the series Law & Order: SVU in an Instagram post on Wednesday, ahead of the NBC crime drama’s 24th season this fall.

The 42-year-old actress, who began playing the role of Det. Amanda Rollins on the show’s 13th season in 2011, said she ‘wanted to address the chatter [she’s] seen online and let everyone know that this will, indeed, be [her] last season on Law & Order: SVU.’

The Cumming, Georgia native said that she’s ‘been so fortunate to be a part of the Law & Order family for the last 12 years,’ and that ‘playing Rollins has been one of the greatest joys and privileges of [her] life.’

The latest: Kelli Giddish, 42, announced that she is laving the series Law & Order: SVU in an Instagram post on Wednesday, ahead of the NBC crime drama’s 24th season this fall. She was snapped earlier this month on set in NYC 

She continued: ‘There is simply no other character on TV like Rollins. 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.’

Giddish thanked the show’s creator Dick Wolf, star/producer Mariska Hargitay, executive producer Peter Jankowski, executive producer Warren Leight, NBC and Universal Television in her statement.

Giddish also had thanks for her ‘co-stars, every single member on the crew and all the writers here for our incredible work together these last 12 years.’

She added: ‘I’m so excited to take all the things I have learned in my time on SVU and put them toward everything that’s next to come…. #SVU.’

Giddish, who began playing the role of Det. Amanda Rollins on the show’s 13th season in 2011, said she ‘wanted to address the chatter [she’s] seen online and let everyone know that this will, indeed, be [her] last season on Law & Order: SVU’

Giddish was seen on set in NYC with Mariska Hargitay earlier this month 

Insiders told Entertainment Weekly that the last episode featuring Giddish will come midway into the show’s upcoming season.

The Rollins character will go through a traumatic event in the show’s upcoming year, insiders told TV Line.  

David Graziano, the new showrunner for the long-running series, addressed fans upset with the news in the comment section of Giddish’s post, praising the actress for her talent and professionalism.

‘You might take a moment to entertain the idea that things are more complex than they appear in a world of emojis and tweets,’ he said. ‘All I’ll say is Kelli has handled this with the most incredibly classy comportment. 

Insiders told Entertainment Weekly that the last episode featuring Giddish will come midway into the show’s upcoming season 

‘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.’

Giddish made her first appearance on the series in the show’s eighth season in the 2007 episode Outsider.

News of Giddish’s departure from the show comes as NBC announced that in September it would be airing a three-hour special integrating all three active Law & Order series – the original show, SVU and Organized Crime.

Amid other turnover on the shows include the departure of Anthony Anderson for Law & Order’s 22nd season, Mehcad Brooks joining the cast of the series, and Molly Burnett being added to the cast of SVU.