14 DAY TRIAL // “Law & Order: SVU” is heading into its 13th season with major cast changes. After Christopher Meloni’s departure after a reported salary dispute and Mariska Hargitay’s decision to take some time off to be with her family, producers had to find two new leads – and fast.
For a while, reports claimed that Jennifer Love Hewitt was being seriously considered for a permanent residency on the show, after she made an excellent impression on producers and audience by playing a victim in one of the earlier episodes.
The announcement coming today shows that, even if Hewitt was once in the race for the role, she didn’t get it.
The newcomers are relatively new faces on the scene, but not altogether unknown, Too Fab reports, noting at the same time that both actors have experience with playing cops.
“The new female role will go to Kelli Giddish, who played the lead in the short-lived NBC series ‘Chase.’ Danny Pino will play the new male role. Pino starred for seven seasons on ‘Cold Case’,” the e-zine says.
They will join Hargitay for a series of new adventures on the upcoming season. Hargitay, as we also reported a while back, is not leaving the show for good but rather cutting down on her time on it so that she can spend more time with her family.
The rest of the original main cast, namely Ice-T and Richard Belzer are also reprising their roles.
“Kelli and Danny are two great actors who will join a proven cast headed by Mariska Hargitay as this exceptional series heads into a very promising 13th season,” NBC Entertainment Chief Bob Greenblatt says in a statement cited by the aforementioned e-zine.
“I’m very pleased that we have two amazing actors joining the cast. I know this combination will give us the opportunity to explore the world of SVU with new eyes,” franchise executive producer/creator Dick Wolf chimes in.
So far, reaction to the announcement of the new additions to the cast has been great, confirming what Hargitay was saying in an older interview about how the show can survive even without its stars, because it has personality, strength and, most importantly, brilliant writers.