The Law & Order franchise has been going strong on television going back to the original series pilot in 1990, and more than 1400 episodes have aired across the original and all the spinoffs to date. So, it's no surprise that some actors who are huge stars by this point in the 2025 TV schedule had humble guest star beginnings. Ethan Slater, who returned to theaters with the premiere of Wicked: For Good in the 2025 movie schedule, played a bad guy on SVU back in the day, and the franchise revisited his episode along with a shout out to his new movie.
Ethan Slater wasn't among the celebrities who played Keke Palmer's Law & Order drinking game earlier this year, but any longtime fans (or more recent viewers who watch with a Peacock subscriptions) may recall seeing him playing a very different character than Boq the Munchkin and Broadway's SpongeBob Squarepants in the fourth episode of Season 20 in 2018. Take a look at a clip of his performance posted on the official Law & Order Instagram account, and note the nod to Wicked from the caption:
I won't spoil the events of the episode, called "Revenge" (available streaming with a Hulu subscription as well as Peacock), in case you want to check it out yourself, but I think the clip makes it clear enough that Ethan Slater is playing a very, very, very bad guy. It's also far enough back in SVU's run that Carisi was still working as a detective, having not yet passed the bar and transitioned over to be an assistant district attorney. Peter Stone was the ADA for the unit in "Revenge."
It's a fun throwback to see Carisi and Fin teaming up against Slater's character in the Special Victims interrogation room, although that's pretty much the only fun to be found in the clip. Kudos to Elsbeth actor, because his character is chilling in his disregard for women, and I don't think Fin and Carisi could have kept their act going much longer even if they'd wanted to.
Who knew that six years after "Revenge" aired on NBC, Slater would be part of the ensemble in the film adaptation of one of the most popular musicals of the past couple decades? Having seen the Broadway show before both Wicked and Wicked: For Good hit theaters, I've had a pretty good idea about what would happen with Boq, but I'd totally forgotten that Slater had this role on SVU.
I suppose it's a compliment to the actor that he's different enough as the Munchkin that I could block the SVU criminal out of my memory! While I haven't had the chance to see For Good just yet, I'm looking for to it as much as ever. (Especially the two songs that weren't spoiled in NBC's special.)
While Ethan Slater won't be on board, Law & Order: SVU returns with more of Season 27 in the 2026 TV schedule on Thursday, January 8 at 9 p.m. ET with the second half of a crossover with Law & Order. You can also check out Wicked: For Good in theaters now.
