Known for its revolving cast, most of the original stars had left the show within the first five seasons; though Dann Florek reprised his role of Capt. Donald Cragen on the spin-off series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit from 1999 to 2014, and Chris Noth reprised his role of Det. Mike Logan on Law & Order: Criminal Intent from 2005 to 2008.
Kincaid was killed in the crash, but Jill Hennessy later revealed this wasn't the original plan. Law & Order was supposed to reveal Claire Kincaid survived the crash but was left paralyzed, and she left the DA's office in the aftermath.
Hennessy made an impression during her three seasons, and her character also made a guest appearance on an episode of NBC's Homicide: Life on the Street; the latter appearance caused her to be doubled by her twin sister Jacqueline Hennessy during the filming of a Law & Order episode.
The American television police procedural and legal drama Law & Order (1990β2010) follows the cases of a group of police detectives and prosecutors who represent the public interest in the criminal justice system.
At the conclusion of the episode, Cabot is apparently killed in a drive-by shooting while saying goodnight to Benson and Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni). In the following scene, a cold, quiet SVU squad room is shown with Stabler reading a newspaper proclaiming her death.
She has since been seen on Power and had a recurring role on both NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans. In 2015, Neal appeared on The Following and one episode of Blue Bloods. The following year, she made her directorial debut with Alphabet Boys.
(SVU: "Witness") She appears a year and a half later to resume her job as one of the A.D.A.'s assigned to the Special Victims Unit. She later returned in the Season 13 premiere "Scorched Earth", in which Cabot is the lead prosecutor in a rape case against a man who is the favorite to become Italy's next prime minister.
Kim GreylekCasey Novak (Diane Neal) β Seasons 5-9 Novak was eventually suspended for misconduct, later replaced by Kim Greylek.
No official reason for Neal's departure has ever been revealed, with either NBC nor Neal giving an explanation. At the time, there were reports Neal had been fired from the show, though these are unconfirmed. NBC said in a statement in 2008: βDiane spent five years on SVU and was a tremendous addition to the SVU team.
Per E! News, Neal's character, assistance district attorney Casey Novak, left the show in Season 9 after violating due process. She returned briefly in Seasons 12 and 13. At the time of her departure, a spokesperson told Cinema Blend, "Diane spent five years on 'SVU' and was a tremendous addition to the 'SVU' team.
And if you want to know why Belzer left the series, it seems the actor's age forced an earlier retirement than some may have expected for his fan-favorite "SVU" character.
In an interview with The New York Post in July 2020, Meloni also revealed that he left SVU simply because he wanted βnew adventures.β As fans remember, Stabler, who was married with five kids, left the series after retiring from the police force following a self-defense shooting in the season 12 finale.
According to showrunner Warren Leight, writing Amaro off the show happened as the result of both the character and the actor. On the one hand, Amaro was in a position where it was hard to justify his professional advancement, and on the other hand, Danny Pino wanted to move on from the show.
Casey revealed in "Influence," that she was once engaged to a schizophrenic man, but he refused to take medication, and she eventually left him. The last time she'd heard, he was homeless.
Why did Adam Beach leave as Detective Chester Lake? Detective Lake being written out of Law and Order SVU was a creative decision. Showrunner at the time Neal Baer said he wanted to focus more on the main cast which made the series a hit in the first place.
In the episode "Aftershock", Kincaid is killed just as she is considering leaving the DA's office; her car is struck by a drunk driver as she takes an inebriated Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) home from a bar.