‘Law & Order: SVU’: Peter Scanavino Says Carisi’s ‘Lost’ — How’s Rollins Helping?

Law & Order: SVU isn’t just moving on from the traumatic experience ADA Sonny Carisi (Peter Scanavino) went through in the midseason finale. In fact, when the NBC drama returns on January 16, he’s still dealing with what happened when he was a hostage in a bodega.

In “First Light,” an abhorrent web of lies and betrayal is uncovered when a woman is confronted with video of a night she can’t remember. Plus, Carisi struggles to move on from his ordeal when the suspect changes his plea. Below, Scanavino previews SVU‘s return and how Rollins (Kelli Giddish) is approaching Carisi, talks about working with Law & Order‘s Tony Goldwyn, and teases his Organized Crime guest spot.

What happened in the midseason finale is clearly staying with Carisi and rightfully so. How are we going to see that affecting him in this episode?

Peter Scanavino: He’s back at work. He’s kind of going through the motions, but he doesn’t have a lot of life to him. And I think a lot of the places that he found sustenance and meaning in his life are not there anymore. So he’s kind of lost while he’s going through the motions. He’s kind of adrift.

But how does he think he’s doing? Does he think he’s doing the best he can?

I think it’s all kinds of feelings of — he feels pretty insecure because he doesn’t know when he’s going to have these kind of flashbacks or failings or when it’s going to hit him. It’s almost like the memory of this kind of just smacks him in unpredictable ways. So he’s not feeling the most confident at the moment, and that’s his big issue, I think. He knows he’s weakened and he knows he’s going through something and he doesn’t know how to deal with it, and he’s just trying to put one foot in front of the other, but sometimes he’s not on solid footing.

Peter Kramer / NBC

And that case isn’t completely wrapped up, either. Deonte (Keith Machekanyanga) changes his plea. How’s Carisi handling that?

I think there’s just a lot of anger there. I think he really blames Deonte for everything that happened, and Boyd [Silas Weir Mitchell]. I don’t think he’s giving him any quarter that he was being forced to do it by Boyd or whatever. I think he thinks he gave Deonte every opportunity to stop this from happening and he never did. So I think he’s got a lot of anger directed towards Deonte and the fact that now he’s going to try to plead not guilty really angers him. So I think he has a lot of anger based on the situation from the beginning. We’ll see how that plays out depending on if there’s a trial, how that moves forward. We haven’t really done anything based on that yet, but I think it’d be really interesting if we did.

How has this changed how Carisi looks at the job?

I don’t know. I think it is one thing when you’re going through the procedure of the law and what you can and can’t do, and in some sense, things are kind of abstract as you’re prosecuting a case. And it’s very different when you’re on the ground and you’re involved in a gross violation that there’s an emotional component and sometimes the emotional component bleeds into when you need to be more calm and clearheaded. And sometimes those are in conflict. And I think that’s the position that he finds in right now. The emotion is bleeding into places where it shouldn’t necessarily end this episode.

How are things at home with Rollins? What is she doing as she notices what’s going on with Carisi?

Obviously, he is going to be bringing this home. And the person that’s probably most aware of it is Rollins. But I think given her character’s history and what their relationship is, she knows how to deal with it better than anybody and she knows when to give him space and when to engage with him. And I think she’s probably infinitely patient with him.

And what about what we’re going to see from Benson (Mariska Hargitay)? Because yes, she’s Carisi’s friend, but she also has to approach this from the perspective of the SVU captain because it can affect the job and it can affect their cases.

Exactly. So I think it’s a delicate balance that she’s trying to hit right now because exactly like you said, yes, you have a friend, you have a personal connection, but you also have professional responsibilities. And if you have somebody that’s not up to the job, what do you do? How do you navigate that? So she’s trying to encourage him, but also there’s a bit of, hey, you need to be able to do your job, as well.

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How’s Carisi navigating this episode’s case? He’s not just in the courtroom.

He’s experienced enough even as a detective, as a lawyer, that he knows all the things to ask and how you go forward — now we do this, and maybe this is an option — but it’s almost like part of him is missing. He’s not being propelled toward a conclusion like he might’ve been in the past episode. So again, it feels like he’s kind of going through the motions and he’s acting like everything is fine except with maybe Benson. And hopefully, towards the end of the episode, he starts to wake up and realize what he has to do and also that he will find a way out of this.

A promo shows Carisi and Benson talking to Baxter in a garage. What can you say about that crossover and the Carisi-Baxter dynamic?

Well, it’s interesting. It’s funny when you are meeting somebody for the first time, but clearly your characters have had conversations, so you’re trying to key into that. But he was a perfectly, totally lovely guy and really great actor. I’d obviously known Tony Goldwyn before, and it was just great to meet him on screen and off.

We’re also going to see you again on Organized Crime. So what can you preview about that and what the Carisi-Stabler (Christopher Meloni) dynamic is this time?

The Carisi-Stabler dynamic is kind of interesting because I’ve been on that show a few times now, and it seems like I’m the go-to guy for the Los Santos case, but I feel like I always go, “There’s a problem.” And then Chris goes, “What?” and then they go fix it. I’m the person that brings up the problems in the case to everybody.

And so it’s just more of that?

Yes.

Law & Order: SVU, Midseason Return, Thursday, January 16, 9/8c, NBC