Peter Scanavinoโs ADA Dominick Carisi on โLaw & Order: SVUโ is starting the new year off by needing a little help from his friends.
In the Jan. 16 episode, โFirst Light,โ Carisi grapples with his lingering trauma after being held hostage in the fall 2024 finale. When the suspect in this weekโs case changes his plea, Carisi struggles to move forward.
Scanavino didnโt go out of his way to prepare for his characterโs emotional journey and instead treats it like his real life.
โIโve got a lot of responsibilities in my regular life, as well as on the show,โ he tells TODAY.com in an interview. โSo, everything is just kind of chaotic, and I think that mirrors a lot of whatโs happening with the show, where you donโt have a lot of time to just kind of sit and slow things down and reflect on whatโs going on.โ
In the fall finale, Carisi spent the majority of the episode held hostage at his local bodega by two men. One of those two men shot and killed the storeโs cashier, and the other sexually assaulted a female customer in the store.
The case in the upcoming episode is focused on a woman who receives a video showing events from a night she canโt remember, which leads to some surprising revelations and decisions that trigger Carisi as he tries to do his job.
โThings keep happening, and whatever youโve been dealing with, emotionally or personally, you just have to bring that into your responsibilities because the world keeps moving, whether you like it or not, and you have to find a way to deal with that,โ he explains. ย
One of Carisiโs most important relationships is with his former boss-turned-peer, Capt. Olivia Benson, whoโs portrayed by Mariska Hargitay.
Scanavino describes Carisi and Bensonโs relationship as โvery trusting and respectful.โ The bond between the two is so strong that it translates off-screen as well.
He says heโs received โa lot of good adviceโ from Hargitay, including some thatโs โvery personal,โ but thereโs one bit of parenting wisdom from the mom of three that has stuck with him.
โShe gave a very good parenting piece of advice to me and my wife, which was, donโt threaten a punishment to your children that youโre not willing to carry out,โ he says.
โIf you say, โOne more time, weโre going to go home,โ donโt say that unless youโre really prepared to do it,โ he explains. โAnd I think thatโs been a very good lesson and rule to have as a parent.โ
Scanavino has been married to Lisha Bai for 13 years, but on screen his character is married to Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), who will appear in Thursday’s episode. It was announced in September 2024 that Giddish would be reprising Rollins on โSVUโ again in Season 26, after a few other guest appearances since leaving the full-time role in 2022.
Scanavino describes the Carisi/Rollins relationship, aka “Rollisi,” as โstill very solid,โ but like with any relationship, โyou deal with issues and things as they come up.โ
โWhen we used to see each other every day, it was โ you kind of have a more casual relationship,โ he says about Giddish, โbut now itโs kind of more, โWhatโs going on in your life? How are the kids?โโ
He adds the first day is โjust more of a catching up.โ
โThen we kind of fall right back into how we were on the show, which was really, really, really close friends,โ he says.
Just because Carisi has Rollins to help him through this especially difficult time, it doesnโt mean Carisiโs trauma will be โwrapped up in one episode.โ
โI think itโs definitely going to pop up in different episodes in different ways,โ Scanavino says.
โI think heโs carrying around a lot of anger about what happened in that deli and also how the case is going to progress in the future,โ he adds.
One thing that will happen in the future is a visit from the district attorney, Nicholas Baxter (Tony Goldwyn), who will cross over from โLaw & Orderโ for a guest appearance on โSVUโ in a later episode.
A promo from earlier this month showed Carisi and Benson in a scene with Baxter.
Scanavino describes Goldwyn as โa great guy.โ
โItโs interesting, when you just know people by reputation, and you actually get to meet them, and all of a sudden youโre just talking and hanging out, itโs always nice when that happens,โ he says.
โI always love the kind of crossover stuff to blend the worlds,โ he explains. โIt feels like it anchors everything: our show, their show. So it was cool. It was a nice little treat.โ
โLaw & Order: SVUโ airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, following โLaw & Orderโ at 8 p.m. Both shows stream the following day on Peacock.
(Peacock is part of our parent company, NBCUniversal.)