Law and Order: SVU Bringing Back Original Cast Member

Find out who's coming back to the squad!

By Chris Harnick Apr 01, 2015 7:45 PMTags
Law & Order: SVUNBC

Law and Order: SVU is bringing back an original cast member to help close out the season. E! News has confirmed Dann Florek will appear as Donald Cragen, the retired captain of the special victims unit.  This will be the first time Florek has reprised the role since he left the show in the 2014 episode "Amaro's One-Eighty."

Florek originated the role on the Law and Order mothership series.

Andre Braugher is also returning in the episode as Bayard Ellis. He was last seen in the 2013 episode "Monster's Legacy." In the episode, Ellis takes on the case of a man who is in jail for raping his daughter, however the daughter recants her testimony and hopes to set her father free. Cragen returns to the squad to help them re-open the case and get new evidence that could alter the man's fate.

Florek and Richard Belzer both left the show during the 15th season. Belzer's John Munch previously returned at the end of last season to help out Amaro (Danny Pino).

NBC already renewed the show for season 17, making it the longest-running drama on TV right now. Mariska Hargitay, the only remaining original star who was with the series from the start, is set to return for the new season along with showrunner Warren Leight. However, Leight signed a new deal with Sony Pictures Television to develop new projects after the upcoming season.

TV Guide first reported Florek and Braugher's return to SVU.

Law and Order: SVU airs Wednesdays, 9 p.m. on NBC.

(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)