Peter Scanavino stars as Assistant District Attorney Dominick “Sonny” Carisi on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. New episodes of season 25 air Thursdays on NBC at 9 PM ET as well as stream on Peacock. The series has already been renewed for season 26.

Created by Emmy Award-winning producer Dick Wolf, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” is the longest-running live-action primetime series in the history of American television. Now in its 25th anniversary season on NBC, this hard-hitting and emotional series chronicles the lives of the Special Victims Unit of the New York City Police Department, an elite squad of detectives who investigate crimes of sexual assault, child abuse, and domestic violence. 

I had the chance to speak with the actor about filming court scenes, wanting the best for Carisi, being part of the Law & Order legacy, his excitement for season 26, memorable fan moments, dream storylines, and more. Keep reading for everything he shared!

Well, I love your character and I love when we get to see him in court. What is your favorite part of those scenes? I mean, in tonight’s episode, you have the closing argument and are presenting the evidence. What is it like to do those scenes as an actor?
Peter Scanavino: They’re all kind of different but the closing arguments in particular are pretty nerve-racking. I think they would be for a lawyer because everybody is watching you. It’s like the jury is watching you, all the people in the gallery are watching you but then all the crew is watching you, and a lot of time they’ve got a crane that they’re using to take those shots, so you know if you mess it up it’s a whole big reset. So I always find the closing argument to be nerve-wracking, but it’s totally different, you know what I mean? ‘Cause you’re really driving it, you have these questions and you have a plan of attack, and you’ve got to execute it but I just love doing the courtroom stuff. I think it’s so fun.

It’s always so exciting when we get to see Carisi in the courtroom and like you said, when you do all of that work for a scene, it must be so satisfying when you get that perfect take, right?
Yeah, definitely. But also, conversely, a lot of times you’ll think it may be the perfect take, ‘Oh, that was great,’ and then you’ll see it and you’re like, ‘Oh, not so great.’ Then, the take you thought you messed up is actually much better. So, I mean, I guess I’m not the best judge of when I really knock it out of the park and when I don’t.

In this week’s episode, there’s a mistrial in the beginning and then a sex abuse charge is added. Why do you think how this storyline and the trial itself were handled was the perfect way to get closure when it came to getting justice for Maddie?
Well, I think, unfortunately, there’s rules and ways that we have to go about in the ether of justice in this country, and those can be manipulated and exploited, and oftentimes do. So, when somebody is clearly, clearly guilty but you have to have this standard to show beyond a reasonable doubt and all this, it can get very, very tricky. I think what’s so powerful about what we do in this episode is you see how quickly and easily justice could possibly slip away from Maddie, and I think that, unfortunately, happens all too often for a lot of people in real life. So, I think it spoke to that idea of like, he did it, he obviously did it, but it’s more complicated than that and proving that in a court of law. So, I think that provides a lot of dynamic interactions between the characters, and different points of views and emotions coming to the surface. It was good in that sense.

So well said and I love that we see Carisi now starting this next chapter of his life with Rollins. Even though Kelli is no longer a series regular, she does come back at certain points and Carisi is a dad now. I mean, it’s all just very happy things in the middle of everything. What does it mean to you after playing this character for so long that he gets this ‘happy ending?’ Though, it’s not an ending, it’s the beginning of a new chapter for him with the woman he loves.
I was really happy about it. When you play a character for this long, you have such a great affection for them. I mean, hopefully, unless I guess you can play a character you hate, but I don’t. I really like Carisi and you want the best for him, and you want him to find happiness in the way he kind of wanted it. I have three kids and I’ve been married for a long time, and I saw what that has meant to me and of course, obviously, there’s a lot of me in Carisi. So I just kind of wanted to give him that somehow or to act that out for him on screen and I’m just so glad I got the opportunity to do that and with Kelli no less, [who is] than one of the greatest actresses I’ve ever gotten to work with.

It’s one thing to have a passionate fan base but then you also have fans that ship Rollisi together. Did it surprise you how quickly they became a fan-favorite dynamic and couple?
Yeah, it’s so funny like, you bring on two characters or you bring a new character and they’re of a similar age, there’s always a group who will be like, “Oh, those two [are gonna be together],” you know what I mean? I do remember [hearing] like, “They’re shipping you,” and I was like, “What does ship mean?” I had to look it up. So now I get it, I’m hip on all the lingo. But yeah, and I don’t think that was the intention. They weren’t gonna put us together and it wasn’t like, “Oh, we should do this. This is what the audience wants,” but I think Kelli and I kind of built it up over the years, and it just seemed like something you got a lot of out of by not going there, you know what I mean? Just play that tension for such a long time and then what a payoff it was in that finale when they finally got together at Fin’s almost wedding. Yeah, really, really well played and really doing the long game there.

It was a long game, but worth it. Like you said, all of it paid off. With Law & Order, there’s a whole universe now with SVU and Organized Crime and it feels bigger than life — TV would not be the same without it. What does it mean to you to be part of that universe and what do you hope Carisi brings to the legacy? I mean, this is a show that lives on no matter what.
It is, in some sense, you’re like, “Oh, I should just do this and I’m good.” Like, oh, no, no, I was a series regular on Law & Order for 10 years. It does feel like an institutional achievement that you can’t take away. So, it does feel like an amazing achievement in that sense and then, just for Carisis, I think he’s such an interesting character that, you know, he got brought on and I was able to do things and really play a character, and nobody told me to stop doing that, you know what I mean? They shaved off my mustache but they never go like, “Hey, tone it down a bit,” ‘cause that happens a lot. So, I was able to kind of really just do this character and I just felt like I always have a lot a lot of freedom. I’m really, really thankful for that too, it’s really fun to play this character.

Yeah, I can imagine and I mean, you’re gonna be playing him for longer because you were just renewed for season 26! Can you tell me about the moment you got the news and what it felt like to know there’s still such support for the series after all this time?
Well, it’s always — again, you never know what’s gonna happen. I remember we got renewed for three seasons once, and we were all cheering and hugging, and then it was like, bam COVID happened. So, it feels great that we’re renewed and I just love coming to work for these people and telling these stories. It’s been such a wonderful job and I’ve met so many wonderful people, so I’m really excited to do season 26.

You film in New York, so I imagine you get stopped on the street or have fans watching while you are shooting. Are there any fan moments that really stand out as heartwarming and has it also surprised you all of the different ages that come up to you since this is a series that gets passed down through generations?
Yeah, no, no, I remember watching it when I was, you know, not a kid — I mean, sometimes you get the lady comes up to you on the subway and they’re like, “Me and my five-year-old daughter watch every night,” and I’m like, “You shouldn’t be watching this show with your five-year-old daughter.” But I had one really nice interaction where this woman came up and basically said, “I have a 17-year-old son and my husband just died last year, and my son and I didn’t really know how to talk about it to each other and we just kind of started watching your show together, just watching in silence. And then, slowly we started talking a bit more,” and how the show was a thing that they could both do together and somehow begin a conversation and just that that could be something for somebody and I thought that was pretty moving. When she told me it, I could tell there was a lot of emotion there and it was a really honest and heartfelt thank you for what we have done and that was really touching. So, I’d say that’s probably the most memorable for me.

What a beautiful memory. Moments like that show you the power of television, right?
Well, it really illustrates how it’s bigger than you. What you put out, it goes out there and it affects people and touches people in ways you could never imagine. There’s a responsibility to that.

I always like to ask this next question because I know watching SVU has opened my eyes up to certain things. How has being part of it changed your perspective or view on the justice system? Has it changed or made you think of certain things differently, and do you like when certain cases are highlighted and brought to the forefront?
I mean, it highlights that justice is not as swift or dependable in real life as it is on the show, even though sometimes you wish it could be. There’s a lot of miscarriages in justice but then also, sometimes justice not being enacted. So I think you can tell how sometimes people get railroaded in the real justice system and then, sometimes people get justice denied to them. So it, obviously, highlights problems and I don’t think we want to make our whole show about that but it’s made me very aware.

Has Carisi taught you anything that you’ve sort of applied to your own life, whether it was how he handled something or a storyline that was presented to you through Carisi, anything that made you think ‘Oh, wow, maybe I’m gonna change this’ or ‘That’s a lesson I needed to hear?’
I never really thought about that. Has Carisi ever taught me a lesson? I’m always thinking I’m trying to inform him and be like, here’s what I think he should learn. I feel like his big brother or something in real life. I think though that there is patience and an openness to Carisi that sometimes maybe I don’t have, so just in general more kind of, “Tell me about this,” and maybe in real life, I’m more, “Let me tell you about it.” So yeah, I think that’s probably a difference that I can take a page out of his book.

We all could. Do you have any dream storylines for Carisi? Like, if you could write a script and include anything you want to happen, whether it was a storyline you wanted to explore, or something you would like to do as an actor or see for the character, what comes to mind?
Oh, I don’t know… [I’m thinking about] how cool it would be if somehow Carisi gets kidnapped and Rollins is on a mission to get her man back. Or even conversely, where something happened to Rollins and Carisi is just like, “I’m putting the lawyer to bed,” something like that. Just going rogue.

If you had to think of a phrase or a few words to describe what is coming the rest of this season, how would you tease it?
Justice deferred will not be justice denied.