Law & Order: SVU Season 27 kicked off in the fall 2025 TV schedule by delivering a major death, to the dismay of many fans: Captain Don Cragen, played across more than twenty years in the franchise by Dann Florek. Fortunately, Florek is still alive and well, and his character’s death was honored in the Season 27 premiere (which is available streaming now with a Peacock subscription). The tragedy comes not too long after he opened up about handing the leadership of the unit over to Mariska Hargitay‘s character, with Olivia Benson stepping up as Captain of Special Victims following Cragen’s retirement.
Florek, who starred in three seasons of Law & Order before starring in fifteen seasons of SVU, was among those who celebrated the series in honor of its 25th anniversary last year. Speaking with People, he said this about Cragen retiring and being succeeded by Benson:
It’s a beautiful passing of the baton.
Following his retirement in 2014, Cragen was (mostly) able to enjoy eleven years off the job. He did appear in one Season 16 episode the next year, and was pulled into the action by Stabler on Law & Order: Organized Crime for several episodes between 2022-2024. His most meaningful return after his Season 15 retirement, however, was also very quick: he appeared via video call in the 500th episode. Reflecting on the moment he shared with Mariska Hargitay in that milestone episode, Florek said:
I got to do one little scene, I think I shot it on Zoom, and I was able to say to her — I’m gonna cry — ‘You have no idea how proud it makes me to say ‘Captain.’
If you revisit the 500th episode, which is streaming on Peacock as well as via a Hulu subscription, you’ll find that Benson also looked like she was gonna cry when she got that vote of confidence from her former captain. What made it even more special, as far as I’m concerned, is that Cragen waited to say it until they were in a one-on-one chat, instead of when he was video-calling the larger group of detectives about their case of the week.
At the time, I’d been hoping that Christopher Meloni as Stabler would pop up in the 500th episode, but Dann Florek as Cragen was really the more effective choice. The episode also brought back former regulars Danny Pino as Nick Amaro and the one and only Tamara Tunie as ME Chief Melinda Warner. Other recurring actors to return were Ryan Buggle as Benson’s son and attorney Trevor Langan, played by Mariska Hargitay’s real-life husband Peter Hermann.
While I’m certainly sad that Season 27 began on such a tragic note as the off-screen death of Captain Cragen, I did appreciate that SVU brought Dann Florek back to record a speech that played at Cragen’s memorial. Plus, considering that it resulted in Benson, Fin, and even a visiting Stabler starting to consider their own mortality, it could pack a punch throughout the season if this is an arc that the show continues.
While Cragen is seemingly gone for good now, barring any flashbacks or recordings, his legacy lives on in the form of Captain Olivia Benson. You can catch new episodes this fall on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET, between Law & Order Season 25 at 8 p.m. ET and Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 at 10 p.m. ET, all on NBC. (Organized Crime‘s uncensored fifth season is already available on Peacock.) You can find Captain Cragen’s best episodes streaming on Peacock and Hulu as well.
