Warning: Contains spoilers for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit season 24!Kelli Giddish is set to exit Law & Order: Special Victims Unit after season 24, and here is every possible theory for how her exit will play out. Giddish has played detective Amanda Rollins for twelve seasons on SVU and had long become a mainstay of the series, so the sudden announcement of her departure came as a shock to many people. Making matters worse were reports that Giddish’s exit wasn’t of her own volition and instead happened as a result of a salary dispute.
Whatever the circumstances, Kelli Giddish is leaving Law & Order: Special Victims Unit after season 24, and there are several theories about how Amanda Rollins might leave the show. Taking Kelli Giddish’s Rollins’ character in the current and previous seasons into account, it would be easy enough for her departure to either involve wanting to change her work or wanting to stop working altogether and the specifics of how each would play out need to be discussed. It should also be noted that while Rollins dying would be a very simple way for her to exit the show, it’s already been confirmed that she won’t die in her final appearance (via TVLine).
Kelli Giddish’s Amanda Rollins Will Retire From SVU & Marry Carisi
The first option for Kelli Giddish’s exit from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is probably the simplest: Kelli Giddish’s Rollins will retire from SVU in her final appearance. From the very start of SVU season 24, Rollins has been struggling to deal with her near-death experience in the three-part crossover with Law & Order and Law & Order: Organized Crime, with her anxiety, even once getting to the point that she frightened her daughters by bringing a gun into their bedroom. If her anxiety has gotten to the point that her daughters are being affected, it would make sense for her to want to leave SVU to keep herself from stressing out her daughters and herself.
Kelli Giddish’s Rollins retiring could also be justified if it comes as a result of marrying Carisi. Rollins and Carisi became a couple in Law & Order: SVU season 23, and their relationship progressed to the point that Carisi already sees Rollins as “the one.” If the two of them ended up getting married in NBC’s Law & Order: SVU, Rollins could retire under the pretense of becoming a stay-at-home mom for her daughters while Carisi supports the family. Rollins and Carisi getting married could also be used to allow for Rollins to maintain a presence in the show, as Carisi could bring her up when talking to other characters on occasion so that they, and by extension, the audience, have an idea of what she’s doing offscreen.
Kelli Giddish’s Amanda Rollins Will Transfer Out Of New York
Another possibility Law & Order: Special Victims Unit could go with is that Kelli Giddish’s Rollins will stay on the force but transfer out of New York. Going off of the anxiety she’s been dealing with since her near-death experience and how her daughters have also been affected by it, SVU‘s Amanda Rollins might want to stay a detective but would now feel that working in New York puts her in too many dangerous situations for her to maintain her mental and emotional health. Rollins might decide to transfer to a city with a lower crime rate that would put less stress on her, which, in turn, would keep her from unintentionally bringing her daughters into her problems. That option also works well from a meta-perspective because by keeping Rollins on the force, it would leave room for Giddish to possibly reprise her role in a future episode of SVU or any other Law & Order series.
In conclusion, the most plausible theories for how Kelli Giddish’s Amanda Rollins will leave Law & Order: Special Victims Unit are that Rollins will either retire, marry Carisi, or move to a different city. Giddish’s final Law & Order: SVU episode is set to be season 24, episode 9 on December 8, so it likely won’t be until then that we know exactly how Rollins will exit the show. It’s unfortunate that she’ll be leaving the show, especially when it might not have been of her own free will, but with any luck, she’ll at least have an exit that’s right for the character and builds off all the goodwill she’s garnered throughout the series.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit releases new episodes Thursdays on NBC.
