A new face will be arriving on the upcoming season of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” when the series returns for its 28th season.
That face will be familiar to fans of critically acclaimed HBO hit “Succession,” with J. Smith-Cameron joining the show for the upcoming season.
As viewers of that show will recall, she portrayed Gerri Kellman, the sharp-minded general counsel and eventual interim CEO of media conglomerate Waystar Royce.
A New ‘Peer’ for Olivia Benson
Smith-Cameron will be playing the recurring role of jury consultant Gwen Sharpe.
As “SVU” showrunner Michele Fazekas told TV Insider, Gwen will be a “peer” for Mariska Hargitay‘s Olivia Benson, acting as a sounding board.
“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,” Fazekas explained.
“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.”
A First Look at Gwen Sharpe
Ahead of the upcoming season premiere, NBC shared a series of first-look photos of Smith-Cameron’s new character in the show.
According to Fazekas, Smith-Cameron’s character will be integral to Olivia as she feels increasingly “disillusioned” this season.
“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,” she added. “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?”
A ‘Law & Order’ Veteran
For long-time viewers of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” Smith-Cameron won’t be familiar just from her “Succession” role, but from several previous appearances within the “Law & Order” universe.
All told, the actress has guest-starred as four different characters in the original “Law & Order” and played two different characters in “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.”
Meanwhile, Gwen Sharpe isn’t the first character she’s played on “SVU,” having previously appeared in a 2011 episode.
Viewers will be introduced to the new character when 28th season of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” kicks off October 8 on NBC.
Comments
‘Succession’ Star Officially Joins Mariska Hargitay on ‘Law & Order: SVU’ — Here’s a First Look