Is Ice-T hanging up his badge for good? There are rumors that Fin could be leaving Law & Order: Special Victims Unit after more than two decades on the show. We’ve got the latest news about Ice-T’s future on the long-running crime show.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (known as Law & Order: SVU or just SVU), is the popular crime drama that follows trained detectives in the New York City Police Department that investigate sexually related crimes. Created by Dick Wolf’s production company, Wolf Entertainment, SVU is the first spin-off of Law Order and the second in the Law & Order franchise. The TV series debuted in September 1999, starring Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni, and is currently in its 24th season.
Ice-T plays sergeant Odafin “Fin” Tutuola, who’s second-in-command of Manhattan’s Special Victims Unit. Tutuola has been a mainstay since season 2 in 2000, making him the second-longest serving cast member alongside Hargitay. Law & Order: SVU wasn’t Ice-T’s first experience working with producer Dick Wolf. He landed a recurring role as a drug dealer on Wolf’s New York Undercover and co-created the show Players with Wolf as the producer. Wolf also gave him a part in Exiled: A Law & Order Movie in 1998.
Ice-T spoke with Today.com in February 2023 about how he first got the role of Fin and recalled a phone call with Wolf after joining SVU in the early 2000s. “He [Wolf] goes, ‘You don’t like cops, do you?’ And I go, ‘Well, Dick, I used to be a criminal, and the cops were the opponent. It wasn’t that we didn’t like them — we knew they were there to do their job, and we were doing our job.’ He said, ‘But you admit we need them?’ I’m like, ‘Hell yeah.’ He said, ‘Play the cop we need.’” Ice-T also tells Today that his fans know that he’s “about as far from a cop as you can get,” and believes being a member of the Special Victims Unit is about “the most honest cop you can have on the force” because SVU detectives are “chasing rapists and pedophiles — and people don’t even like them in prison.”
Keep reading to learn if Ice-T is leaving his role as Fin in Law & Order: SVU after season 24.
Is Ice-T leaving Law & Order: SVU?
Is Ice-T leaving Law & Order: SVU? Thankfully, Ice-T isn’t leaving the crime drama anytime soon. In an interview with The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in March 2023, he said that he wants to stay on as long as the show keeps running, and is confident that SVU will be renewed for season 25 (and longer). “I got on the show to do four episodes, and it just keeps on going,” Ice-T told Jimmy Fallon. “This year, we had one of the greatest ratings seasons ever. So, we haven’t been picked up for a 25th season, but you got Dick Wolf. I mean, Dick Wolf has six shows on NBC. So, we’re sitting pretty. We’ll be back for seasons 25, 26.”
Ice-T also told Today.com that his character is “the last one standing — like, everybody else died, and Fin is alive,” he joked. As for how the writers might kill his character off in the future, he replied, “At the end of the day, hopefully they don’t twist my character and make me go out like a sucker or a rat or some bulls—,” he says. “They let me go out right — in a blaze of glory, some kind of way.” He also thinks that SVU could go on for another five years. “One thing I do know is when this show does wrap, I’m robbing the wardrobe,” he joked.
In terms of other projects Ice-T is working on, the SVU actor launched a new podcast in January called “Ice-T’s Daily Game,” where he talks about one quote or words of wisdom from his list of inspiring sayings. On the podcast, he’s also shared gems from his costar Hargitay.
Although Law & Order: SVU hasn’t been renewed for a 25th season, it hasn’t been canceled, either. We could hear news about SVU‘s fate in the coming weeks.
Law & Order: SVU airs on Thursdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.
Ever wonder who the stars of your favorite Law & Order series are dating in real life? Wonder no more, because the gallery below will answer that very question!
ncG1vNJzZmirn5a9tHrSoZykpp%2BswG%2BvzqZmrKeRpcBwusSwqmhuZmuCdoSOopqeZaRiuaat1Z5krK6lZA%3D%3D