Spoilers ahead for the two-hour Season 23 premiere of Law & Order: SVU on NBC.
Another season of Law & Order: SVU has begun, but it wasn’t back to business as usual for the unit, and not just because Benson sustained a serious injury.
The premiere aired to reveal why Garland and Kat are out, and their exits have big implications for the rest of the season.
Fans knew ahead of Season 23 that both Demore Barnes and Jamie Gray Hyder had been cut from the SVU cast after spending a season as series regulars, and the big question was how the show would write them out when they’d formed such strong ties with the others in Special Victims.