Posted in: NBC, Peacock, TV | Tagged: Law & Order: SVU

Law & Order: SVU S28: J. Smith-Cameron Set for Key Recurring Role

J. Smith-Cameron has joined NBC's Law & Order: SVU Season 28 in a key recurring role that will have an impact on Benson (Mariska Hargitay).

When NBC's Mariska Hargitay-starring and executive-producing Law & Order: SVU returns for Season 28 on October 8th, viewers will get a chance to meet the newest member of the show's team – someone who looks like they're going to have Capt. Olivia Benson's (Hargitay) back. J. Smith-Cameron (Elsbeth, Murdaugh: Death in the Family) has been tapped for the recurring role of jury consultant Gwen Sharpe.

"Benson is the boss, so when she's despairing or disillusioned, you're not going to really talk to your employees, the people who are your subordinates, because as much as she's friends with them and she's friends with Rollins [Kelli Giddish], as a good manager, you're not going to do that," showrunner Michele Fazekas explained to TV Insider. "So, I like giving her somebody who's very, very experienced in a different way, who she can sort of have these conversations with. So J. Smith-Cameron is coming in, she's great." Smith-Cameron's Sharpe couldn't arrive on the scene soon enough, with Olivia beginning to process just how long she's been on the job and what she's experienced.

"What I got interested in this season was somewhat inspired by the case that we are doing in the first episode, which is a case that really highlights as far as we have come in the investigation of sex crimes and in how we as a society view sexual assault and how we define sexual assault; in some ways we're still back 30 years ago," Fazekas said. "It's a case that is really kind of disheartening for Benson. And she ends up sort of saying like, 'Oh, in some ways, yes, nothing has changed.' I wanted to see what she does with that, and so how does Benson push against her own boundaries?"

Fazekas continued, "How does Benson push further to get justice and even sort of challenge her own ideas of what is ethical and what is the right thing to do? How far will she go to get justice? I like playing with those boundaries and pushing against them because it is a little bit of being, not despair so much, but certainly disillusioned as you can be with the justice system when things seem to be so stacked against you. I like putting her in that spot and seeing what she does with it."

Checking in with The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast, Hargitay dropped some big news about the upcoming 600th episode, shared how she and co-star Christopher Meloni (Elliot Stabler) disagreed with Dick Wolf's decision to go with Stabler and Benson having that near-kiss in S24E12: "Blood Out" (and that different takes were filmed), and offered her thoughts on a Stabler-Benson reunion in the future, now that Meloni's Law & Order: Organized Crime was canceled.

Hargitay Is Directing "SVU" Episode 600: "They just asked me to direct the 600th! Which is episode six next year. It's crazy. Even I can't download it. Even I go, 'Wait, what?!' No, it's nuts."

Hargitay and Meloni Disagreed with Wolf's Near-Kiss Decision; Alternate Takes Were Filmed: "I think we felt that this moment was earned, that this thing could happen for a second — and so that's how we shot it. [audience goes crazy] Don't you wish you were there for that?! Yeah. We shot it a couple different ways. And then they [Wolf and others] had the choice in editing, and they [opted to use the near-kiss version rather than the kiss] … We [she and Meloni] disagreed. We disagreed because we thought that it was earned and the way it was dealt with was really complex and very beautiful and very human and showed the complexity of their relationship and all the different ways that they're connected … [But] no matter what I want, Dick Wolf can totally just say, 'Uh, no.'"

Hargitay on a Stabler/Benson Reunion in the Future: "Chris has his own show now [Hulu's upcoming The Land]. At some point? I mean, anything's possible. Yes. The answer to that is he, and I are not … it's not done. It's not dun-dun [the L&O sound] – see what I did there?"

Created by Emmy Award-winning producer Dick Wolf, NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU) is the longest-running primetime drama in American television history. Heading into its 28th season on NBC, this hard-hitting and emotional series chronicles the lives of the Special Victims Unit of the New York City Police Department, an elite squad of detectives who investigate crimes of sexual assault, child abuse, and domestic violence.

Mariska Hargitay, Ice T, Peter Scanavino, Kelli Giddish, Kevin Kane, and Aimé Donna Kelly star. Dick Wolf, Michele Fazekas, Mariska Hargitay, Kenneth Brown, and Peter Jankowski executive produce. NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU) is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, in association with Wolf Entertainment.

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