Det. Joe Velasco has clocked out of Special Victims Unit for good.

The character played by Octavio Pisano since Season 23 was written out in Thursday’s Law & Order: SVU when Velasco was recruited by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for a job out west.

Pisano’s departure originally made news in May , alongside the imminent exit of his SVU castmate Julia Aidén Martinez, who played Det. Kate Silva in Season 26. And that season’s finale certainly seemed to give him a tacit sendoff: His character was promoted to Detective Second Grade, complete with a squad celebration at a bar and an official ceremony (and Velasco-themed montage!) at the end of the episode.

However, when Pisano showed up in a pre-Season 27 social media video shot on set, TVLine confirmed that he would retur

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