The season 27 premiere of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit began with a farewell to one of the show’s most beloved characters.
The episode, which aired Thursday night on NBC, confirmed that Dann Florek’s character, Capt. Donald Cragen, who oversaw the SVU for its first 15 seasons, had died.
While Cragen’s cause of death was not revealed, many of his former colleagues — including Capt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Elliott Stabler (Christopher Meloni), George Huang (B.D. Wong), and Brian Cassidy (Dean Winters) — returned to pay their respects to the veteran lawman at his poignant funeral service.
Virginia Sherwood/NBC
Later, Benson and the gang found themselves all becoming increasingly emotional as they watched footage of Cragen delivering a speech at his retirement party years earlier.
“It’s been a long road. It hasn’t always been pleasant, and it certainly hasn’t always been easy,” he said in the clip. “I lived for my job, I don’t think that surprises anybody, and I can’t imagine my life any other way… It has been a privilege to have been able to serve with you.”
Benson went on to describe Cragen as “the best boss I ever had,” adding, “Everything that I know about being a captain, I learned from him.”
A father figure to both Benson and Stabler, Cragen ran the Special Victims Unit for show’s first 15 seasons before announcing his retirement.
Despite his character’s departure, Florek reprised his role several times over the years, appearing first in a season 16 episode and again to help commemorate SVU‘s 500th installment. He also appeared for a stint on the spinoff show Law & Order: Organized Crime.
Virginia Sherwood/NBC
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free daily newsletter to get breaking news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
While Cragen has passed away, Florek is very much still alive and was on set when his former castmates were shooting his character’s sendoff. In August, Meloni shared a snapshot of himself, Hargitay, and Florek smiling on his Instagram account with the caption, “Hangin with friends on a Friday nite.”
Law & Order: SVU airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and Peacock.
