“Succession ”star J. Smith Cameron joins “Law & Order: SVU” as Olivia Benson’s ‘sounding board’
“Succession ”star J. Smith Cameron joins “Law & Order: SVU” as Olivia Benson’s ‘sounding board’
Shelby StivaleFri, August 28, 2026 at 6:31 PM UTC
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J. Smith Cameron; Mariska Hargitay as Olivia Benson on ‘Law and Order: SVU’Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty; NBC/GettyKey Points -
J. Smith Cameron is joining Law and Order: Special Victims Unit as jury consultant Gwen Sharpe.
The character will be a confidant to Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson.
SVU showrunner Michele Fazekas hinted that Cameron’s character will be Benson’s “sounding board.”
J. Smith Cameron is making moves from the boardroom to the precinct.
The actress, known for her role as Gerri Kellman on HBO’s Succession, will appear on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in a recurring role. Cameron is set to guest star opposite Mariska Hargitay as Gwen Sharpe, a jury consultant.
SVU showrunner Michele Fazekas told TV Lineon Thursday that she wanted to give Hargitay’s Olivia Benson a confidant in the show, which is where Cameron came in. Cameron’s will be “a nice, sort of, sounding board for her, and somebody that she can talk to,” Fazekas explained.
J. Smith Cameron as Gerri on ‘Succession’Credit: HBO
“The problem with Benson is she’s the boss, so at a certain point you can’t go to your subordinates, the people who work for you, and talk about how disillusioned you are,” the showrunner continued. “That’s not good management skills.”
Fazekas clarified that “no one’s gonna teach Benson much of anything” at this stage of her career. “You do want somebody who has a different perspective,” she added, noting that fans will get to see Cameron’s character “at least three times, if not more” throughout the upcoming season.
Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler and Mariska Hargitay as Olivia BensonCredit: NBC/Getty
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Hargitay and Cameron will be joined by Ice-T, Peter Scanavino, Kelli Giddish, Kevin Kane, Aimé Donna Kelly and Corey Cott. Ice-Tpreviously confirmed that he’ll be in “every episode” of the upcoming SVU season as Odafin “Fin” Tutuola after last year’s reduced role.
“Last year, what happened was they brought Kelli Giddish back,” he told TMZ in July. “So they told me, basically, we’re going to bring Kelli Giddish back [and] we’re going to bring down your scenes a little bit.” (Giddish returned as Amanda Rollins after departing SVU in 2022.)
The actor recalled asking if he was being let go but was told the creative team was “just going to move some things around budget-wise.” He added, “It was one of those things where the boss comes to you and you don’t go, ‘Well, I’ve been on here 27 seasons, you’re gonna do this.’ I was saying, ‘I got you, you know, I got it, it’s all good.’ So it wasn’t because of Kelli, it was just the way they moved.”
Ice-T, who has been a fixture on SVU since 2022, added, “After all these years, I’m not dying for screen time.”
Law and Order: SVU will return to NBC with its 28th season on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 9 p.m. ET.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
