Law & Order: SVU cast shakeup – Two beloved cast members to leave after Season 26

Law & Order: SVU might be returning for season 27, but the cast composition wouldn't be the same. It has recently been confirmed, as per a report by Deadline, that Law & Order: SVU has officially let go of two of its cast members: Octavio Pisano and Juliana Martinez, and this would mark their exit from the show with the conclusion of season 26.

Although throughout its long tenure, Law & Order: SVU has seen many cast members come and go, this time the motivation to discontinue otherwise show regulars Octavio Pisano and Juliana Martinez seems to be motivated by reasons of cost-cutting or creative decision. As of now, the reason is not officially confirmed.

Here's everything that we know.

The reasons behind Octavio Pisano and Juliana Martinez's exit from Law & Order: SVU explained

Both Martinez and Pisano have been familiar faces on Law & Order: SVU for a while now. Martinez joined the show as Detective Kate Silva in season 26, whereas Pisano has been portraying Detective Joe Velasco since season 23. In the absence of any official confirmation regarding the reason behind their exits, it is being speculated that NBC's decision to let the two actors go on account of their widespread measures to reduce costs across their upcoming slate of shows.

This is further accentuated by the fact that the One Chicago franchise, comprising shows such as Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago P.D., was recently renewed by NBC Universal but albeit not without recognizable budget cuts alongside consequent changes to the count and duration of the episodes and the overall scale of the respective shows. Nevertheless, the decision to discontinue their characters would have understandably come as a surprise to the actors, especially Martinez, who was quite positive last October that her character was in it for the long haul:

"They were very intentional about my casting. I think they wanted to make sure they got someone that could fit in with the cast, and who could be with the cast on a long-term basis and really contribute to the squad. They hadn’t done a screen test for someone in the cast (in a long time), so, they were very intentional about, ‘We want someone to be a part of the squad. And I really felt that from day one from them."

Octavio Pisano opens up about his character Joe Velasco on Law & Order: SVU season 26

Although Pisano won't be appearing as Detective Velasco on the NBC show, there is no denying the fact that he delivered a powerful performance on the current season. Speaking in an interview with Collider in February 2025, Pisano had previously shed some light on his character's backstory and the motivations that drive him forward:

"One, he’s a foreigner. Because he came from Juarez — from Mexico – he struggles like any immigrant struggles when they come here and they try to adopt the culture and embrace the country and really blend in. They want to leave the roots behind. Obviously, it's an arc that happens with a lot of us, and then we reconnect. But he also comes from the undercover world before he joined SVU. The backstory that we built was that he lived a very isolated life when he was undercover in the cartel for almost a decade. That’s a very isolated lifestyle, so he kind of got used to that."

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Law & Order: SVU is exclusively available on NBC and Peacock.

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