Bradley Whitford is trading in the Republic of Gilead for New York City.
The Handmaid's Tale star—who plays Commander Lawrence on the hit Hulu series—will guest star on the Feb. 23 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, E! News confirmed. Playing a professor with early-onset dementia, the Mariska Hargitay-directed episode will see Whitford's character cross paths with Captain Olivia Benson after he confesses to a murder he committed years ago.
Well known for his roles in Get Out and The West Wing, the upcoming episode marks the actor's second time on SVU. Whitford previously appeared on season 15 of the NBC drama in 2014 playing a television producer who fled to France after being found guilty of sexual assault.
And just like Hargitay has directed several episodes of SVU over the years, Whitford recently stepped behind the camera, directing the penultimate episode of The Handmaid's Tale season five titled "Allegiance."
The 63-year-old's guest spot comes amid a major casting change on the long-running procedural, which bade farewell to star Kelli Giddish in December 2022. After 12 seasons as Amanda Rollins, the detective left her job at the SVU—but not before tying the knot with her boyfriend Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr. (Peter Scanavino)—on the show's Dec. 8 episode.
"I felt like where it was heading, and where it headed last night, just seemed the right place to leave it right now," Giddish told Variety after her exit. "I am so excited about things going on in my personal life and kind of the mirroring of what's going on in my personal life and in Rollins', there's a lot of joy to be experienced."
She also hinted at the possibility of Rollins returning to SVU in the future, teasing, "Dick Wolf has got such a fertile universe that's going on, that people can pop up in different places. That's a really cool thing that he's created."
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.
(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)