Kelli Giddish Returns to Law & Order: SVU for Season 26 Guest Appearance

Kelli Giddish is back again as Amanda Rollins!

PEOPLE has confirmed that the actress, 44, is returning as a guest star Law and order: SVU.

She was seen filming the 26th season of the NBC procedural in New York City on September 4, smiling as she walked down the street wearing a gray jacket and black pants on set.

Kelli Giddish Back to Law and order: SVU for season 25

Giddish originally left the series midway through season 24 in December 2022, although she has since made multiple cameo appearances.

For the season 24 finale, which was part of a crossover with Law and order and Law and order: organized crime, Giddish is back discover Rollins was pregnant and expecting her first child with Assistant District Attorney Dominick Carisi (Peter Scanavino).

She also appeared in the season 25 premiere in January, as Rollins and Carisi celebrated the christening of their newborn son, Nicky, and again later in the season, when she quit her job as a professor at Fordham University, she was free to help Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) for in ALL cases.

From left: Kelli Giddish as Det. Amanda Rollins and Mariska Hargitay as Captain Olivia Benson in Law & Order: SVU.

Zach Dilgard/NBC via Getty

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Ahead of her departure in 2022, Giddish spoke exclusively to PEOPLE about her bittersweet departure.

“It’s funny because, after last night’s show, it feels more final now. I didn’t expect to feel this way today,” she explained. “Now it’s over and everyone has seen it. Everyone has experienced it and felt all the feelings that I felt, shooting the last scene with Mariska.”

In an interview with DiversityHargitay, 60, described Giddish as “my favorite actor to work with” admitting she lacked the ability to convince ALLThe film’s creator, Dick Wolf, wants to keep Giddish on the show as Detective Amanda Rollins, despite now having more say in bigger decisions.

Kelli Giddish and Mariska Hargitay are seen on the set of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” on April 2, 2024 in New York City.

Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

“It’s a sore subject,” Hargitay admitted. “I have a lot to say on the show, but I didn’t have enough there.”

“I don’t like not being listened to, especially when I’m right. That relationship was one of the most powerful relationships on television because you saw these two badass women, so flawed and so there for each other,” Hargitay added.

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Law and order: SVU returns for Season 26 on Thursday, October 3 at 9:00 PM ET on NBC.

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