Even though Mariska Hargitay and Ice-T have been starring on Law & Order: SVU for more than a quarter century, the show has still gone through plenty of cast changes over the course of 27 seasons and counting. Aimé Donna Kelly is one of the newest additions, and even earned a promotion for the fall 2025 TV schedule after two regulars were cut. Now, with Velasco gone after Octavio Pisano's brief return and Juliana Aidén Martinez starring on CBS' FBI instead of returning as Kate Silva, it's worth looking at what Kelly said about sticking around and playing Captain Curry full-time this season.
Captain Curry was an unconventional addition to Benson's Special Victims Unit from the start, as she holds the same rank as the leading lady does. That hasn't stopped her from becoming a valuable part of the team, and it isn't lost on the actress. Speaking with Us Weekly about how she "cried" after learning that she was being promoted to series regular for Season 27, Aimé Donna Kelly went on:
It’s so emotional on so many levels. I’m very lucky that I started the show as a guest star. So I know the squad, I know these people, I know the crew, I know the set. It feels very much like home, but to get that bump, I don’t even know how to describe it. It feels like you’ve been accepted by this family that you’ve wanted to be a part of for so long.
Aimé Donna Kelly isn't the first Law & Order: SVU guest star to be brought back and become a series regular, although unlike Kelli Giddish and Peter Scanavino when they made their first appearances in the franchise, she has played the same character from the start. Her promotion for Season 27 also happens to coincide with Giddish's return as a series regular, after the Rollins actress was cut from the main cast in Season 24. Kelly weighed in on the expanded cast now including Benson, Curry, and Rollins, saying:
It just feels like another family member has come back home after going to college. It feels like, ‘Yes, this is what it should be.' We each have our pocket and our lane, and I think we offer different things and different moods [in] the squad... To see three women tackle these huge challenges in cases are really heartfelt and emotional, it’s beautiful to see and to be a part of. It’s awesome.
Considering that one of my wishes for SVU after the two women out of the three Season 24 newcomers ultimately weren't brought back as regulars was for the Special Victims Unit to bring in more female detectives, I'm on board with Aimé Donna Kelly hyping what it's like to see Benson, Curry, and Rollins "tackle these huge challenges." Check out the promo for the next episode, airing on October 30 and featuring all three ladies of SVU:
Keep tuning in to NBC on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET for new episodes of Law & Order: SVU, between Law & Order's milestone 25th season at 8 p.m. ET and broadcasts of Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 at 10 p.m. ET. All three shows are also available streaming next day with a Peacock subscription.
The rest of the cast of Season 27 series regulars includes Peter Scanavino as ADA Carisi, Kevin Kane as Detective Bruno, Kelli Giddish as now-Sergeant Rollins, and of course Ice-T as Fin and Mariska Hargitay as Benson. Law & Order's Tony Goldwyn also made a brief guest appearance on SVU as DA Nick Baxter.
A new recurring addition this season has been ADA Cindy Jones, who works alongside from time to time Carisi and is played by Chicago Med vet Norma Kuhling. While Jones hasn't been around long enough to really get much time in the spotlight, I do feel comfortable saying that she's not in for the kind of twist that Kuhling got for her final episodes of Med!
