Thursday’s Season 27 premiere of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit gave an OG character a fond farewell.
The episode ‘In the Wind’ opened with Mariska Hargitay‘s Olivia Benson attending an emotional funeral for NYPD Capt. Donald Cragen (Dann Florek), who was her boss as far back as the NBC procedural spin-off’s 1999 pilot.
“He was the best boss that I ever had,” says Benson at the memorial service. “Everything I know about being a captain, I learned from him.”
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Although Florek is still alive, the actor departed as a series regular in 2014 with the Season 15 finale. He’s continued to reprise the role of Capt. Cragen on several occasions, most recently on a two-episode arc of spin-off Law & Order: Organized Crime last year. His tenure with the Dick Wolf franchise goes back to the 1990 debut of the flagship series.
The somber occasion also sees a reunion with Dr. Huang (BD Wong), Cassidy (Dean Winters), Rollins (Kelli Giddish), Carisi (Peter Scanavino) and Fin (Ice-T).
Law & Order: SVU continues its record-breaking streak as TV’s longest-running primetime live-action series after it was renewed for Season 27 in May.
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