When Peter Scanavino’s Detective Sonny Carisi was introduced in Season 16 of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, he was in Fordham Law. Preparing to get his law degree, he even shadowed former ADA Raphael Barba. Plus, he passed the bar a few seasons ago. Then it seemed like nothing would happen with it. There were a few mentions here and there. Carisi interviewed with a Brooklyn ADA, Rollins and Benson have mentioned it, and we always knew that Carisi’s knowledge of the law helped in many cases albeit frustrating the other detectives sometimes. It seemed, though; that his law degree was just a talking point in the series and we’d never see anything done with it.
With Philip Winchester’s Peter Stone unsuccessfully filling Raul Esparza’s shoes in seasons 19 and 20 as the new ADA, it seemed there needed to be a new one. We’ve had great long-term ADAs before, such as Alex Cabot, Casey Novak, Barba, and guests in between. Who else would step up to the mantle for SVU’s history-breaking twenty-first season? It only made sense that it would be Carisi. Fans speculated it for a while, but it never seemed that it would go in that direction. That was until the series premiered last night and revealed that not only was Lieutenant Benson now Captain Benson, but Carisi was the new ADA.
Check out Scanavino’s interview for his thoughts on this transition:
The SVU team has always had a good relationship with their ADAs, but they sometimes bump heads due to the law and the “order” (pun intended) conflicting at times. Considering Carisi worked with the SVU team for years as a detective, it will be interesting to see how that goes into his job as the ADA, as well as how that affects his relationship with his former colleagues.
What do you think about Carisi’s new gig? Let us know!
Source: E! Online