It’s a big week in the “Law and Order” universe. It’s a big week for Peter Scannavino personally as the mothership intersects with the “SVU.”
“It felt like an accomplishment not only for my character, but for myself,” Scanavino tells Today.com. I was there as a guest star and to be there as this character, it felt great. ”
The actor portrays Ada Dominick’s “Sonny” Carisi in “Law & Order: Special Actims Unit,” and previously took the guest role as another character in both “Law & Order” and “SVU,” before landing full-time as Kariji, who started as a police officer before moving on to the legal aspect.
He says he never imagined he would be in this role for more than a decade now.
“But I’m certainly happy to be there… I’m so grateful to be on this show, and it completely changed my life,” he says.
He explains that his character has become a lawyer who “matched” with Warren Late’s return as a “SVU” showrunner. Late led the show from season 13-17, then returned to season 21-23.
“Warren Late created my character, and one of the details of the character he put in was in the first episode, when my character went to school at Fordham Law at night. He wanted to become a lawyer.”
Scannavino says when Late returned to Season 21, the showrunner approached him with the idea of changing the career of Kariji’s detective.
“To be honest, the part I always liked most about ‘law and order’ was the ordeal scene when I saw it,” he says, explaining it was a “substantial journey” for Kariji.
“When I became an ADA, it started from scratch,” he says. “You’ll usually see lawyers and ADAs getting more refined. They’re already at the peak of their careers and I really had to have a runway to get there.”
Five seasons later, Kariji (and Scannavino) has the chance to shine in the legal powerhouse of “law and order” that includes Ada Samantha Maran (Odellia Halevi) and Idano Lamprice (Hugh Dancey), and its boss, Danicholas Baxter (Tony Goldwyn).
The crossover begins on Thursday, April 17th at 8pm on “Law and Order” and continues at 9pm on NBC’s “SVU.”
Scanavino explains that the incident comes from the past of both Maura Tierney and Mariska Hargitay characters. Tierney joined Mothership this season as Jessica Brady Middle SE, while Hargitay played Olivia Benson, the captain of a special victim unit in “SVU.”
“They have a personal interest in crime,” explains Scanavino.
In the two-part crossover, “Fire With Fire,” Benson’s team responds to the scene of a brutal murder after receiving a mysterious call. The team works with Brady’s crew to investigate patterns of rape and murder targeting marginalized women.
The April 10th promotion offers more insight and implies that the victim is Maria Resinos, the police officer who joined the department last year. Benson has history with Maria and saves her as a young girl in season 7 episode “911”. This also won an Emmy Award.
To work with Price to see if they can prosecute the case and whether they have sufficient evidence, Scannavino says that “through some twists and turns” the person responsible for the crime will “become somewhat clearer as to who is responsible.”
He also teases “a very good courtroom thing” and “a lot of great detective work.”
“Everyone works together,” he adds. “It’s a true crossover in that it’s not just a few scenes here and there. It’s a two-hour event.”
Scanavino, who told Today.com last year “I love going through that world,” says about Mothership that his experience visiting the set and working with those actors was “really cool.”
“I felt like I was a different animal raised, and then it was my first time back to my burrow,” he says with a laugh.
He added that it was “great” working with Dancy and Goldwyn and visiting their “beautiful” set.
Scanavino says that when the team isn’t filming, “I’m just squashing the chops and making jokes,” the favorite part of the experience happens.
“Everyone is so funny. Hugh is so funny. Tony is so funny, Maura is so funny,” he says before laughing. “You put Mariska in it. Who’s hilarious, everyone’s really like a bunch of third-year students. And the director is like, ‘Everyone! Focus.’ So these are the best parts. ”
As for how his character gels with Dancy, Scanavino says they have different styles but are “doing very well.”
“I get the feeling in the crossover, Kariji is more robust when it comes to prosecution, and the price is “Okay, let’s go late. Let’s get in the amount of evidence we need.”
“There’s not much hostility,” he adds. “That seems to be mutual respect.”
Someone else has mutual respect for him is his wife, Amanda Rollins (Kelly Giddish). Giddish has been a guest appearance so far in season 26.
“I feel like you’ll see Rollins again,” says Scannavino, “Kelly Giddish is such a great actress and it’s a gift to think of him as a person.”
Until then, Scanavino is excited to see what’s down this week.
“If you’re a fan of either show, I think you’ll really love this,” he says of the crossover. “And if you love both shows, this is going to be a real, amazing thing.”
The Law and Order crossover event will begin on NBC on Thursday, April 17th at 8pm.
