‘Law & Order: SVU’ Star Ice-T Worried Fin Would Be Written Off in Season 27

Don’t worry: Sergeant Odafin “Fin” Tutuola isn’t going anywhere on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. But like fans, Ice-T worried about his character’s future after the way SVU Season 27 started and with his reduced episode count.

In the premiere, Fin was attacked when he thought he was intervening to stop an assault. He then missed a few episodes while recovering, returned to work, and then told Benson (Mariska Hargitay) that he wasn’t quite ready. He will be back in the Thursday, January 8, crossover episode with Law & Order, as the photos show.

Below, Ice-T discusses Fin’s current arc, Benson and Fin’s friendship, and working with Mariska Hargitay, and why he wants to head over to Christopher Meloni‘s Law & Order: Organized Crime.

Season started, Fin’s thinking about retirement, now he took some time off, he’s coming back. How is he doing as he’s getting back to work when we see him next?

Ice-T: I don’t know. I don’t write this s**t. I mean, when I came back this season, they go, “Well, we’re going to split the workload up between you and Kelli [Giddish, back as Sergeant Amanda Rollins] this season. We’ll bring, da da da da da.” And I’m like, “Cool.” “We’re going to sprinkle you throughout the season. Everything’s cool.” So I was like, “I’m cool with that. I needed some time off. I got a 10-year-old daughter.” So I’m just kind of following through. First, they beat me up. Here’s the thing: We have no idea what’s happening to our characters until we see the script. So I’m like, “How bad did I get beat? How bad did they whoop my ass?” So I’m just like, “Whatever.” I just roll with it. I don’t write it.

Hopefully, before the season’s over, I get to beat somebody’s ass. I would like that. But you know what? When you’re on a show like this, you don’t guide it, you ride it. And the easiest way to not have a job is come with too many ideas, “I think I should do this.” So I don’t do that. So I’m just here for the ride. I’m enjoying it. And, obviously, I’ve figured out how to ride the longest anybody ever has ridden.

Benson and Fin’s relationship is one of my favorites on the show all these years. There was that tension though at the beginning of the season because he hadn’t told her about losing his gun. How was playing that with Mariska?

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It was interesting because I had to play a lot of things that I don’t feel. I don’t want to retire. I don’t want to do this, but they write it and then stuff like that. So I had to ask them, “Are y’all writing me out of the show? What the f***’s going on?” They’re like, “No, Ice, this is just a curve. This is an arc.” So I was concerned.

But me and Mariska, I’ve been with Mariska now 27 years. That’s the longest relationship I’ve had with anybody, day to day, in my life. I’ve got friends I’ve had longer, but I haven’t been with them every single day. So me and Mariska have gotten real close, and she’s a sweetheart. I tell Mariska all the time, “I’m so glad I don’t have to lie about you. You are a wonderful person.” If I had to lie, it would be awful. Then you’d see some acting.

Virginia Sherwood / NBC

What’s your first memory of filming with her?

I don’t know. She was not really … She was feeling me out. I think my reputation preceded me. Here comes a gangster rapper, Ice-T, onto a show. She doesn’t really know necessarily who I am or where I came from. I don’t know if they knew if I could act, even though I’d done 20 movies already. So I think I just had to earn their respect, and after a while, they were like, “Oh, this mother***er knows what he’s doing.” [Laughs.]

The crossover is this week, which is exciting. Do you have a dream crossover in the Dick Wolf universe?

I would like to cross back over to Organized Crime. I miss working with Chris, and I think me and Chris could go bust somebody’s head. So I think it’s time to see Fin f*** somebody up. They don’t let me. I got to do movies to shoot guns. I want to shoot my gun.

Organized Crime is the best place for that.

Yeah, they let me get off. And I mean, I know Chris wants to do that stuff, and that’s why he has his own situation, but it’s cool.

Law & Order: SVU, Thursdays, 9/8c, NBC

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