Amanda Rollins
Amanda Rollins-Carisi is a fictional character on the NBC police procedural drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, portrayed by Kelli Giddish. Rollins was a detective with the Manhattan Special Victims Unit at the 16th Precinct of the New York City Police Department.
Amanda Rollins
Jim Rollins (father)
Beth Anne Rollins (mother)
Kim Rollins (sister)
Amberlynn Rollins (stepmother)
Mason Rollins (nephew)
Dominick Carisi Sr. (father-in-law)
Serafina Carisi (mother-in-law)
Bella Carisi (sister-in-law)
Teresa Carisi Morino (sister-in-law)
Gina Carisi (sister-in-law)
Dominick Carisi, Jr.
(m. 2022)
Jesse Murphy Rollins
(daughter)
Billie Rollins
(daughter)
Nicky Carisi
(son)
Mason Rollins (nephew)
Fin Tutuola
(seasons 13–24)
Olivia Benson
(season 14)
Nick Amaro
(seasons 13-16)
Dominick Carisi Jr. (seasons 16-20)
Joe Velasco (seasons 23-24)
Background[edit]
Rollins transfers from the Atlanta PD to Manhattan SVU in June 2011. Being from Atlanta, she is a fan of the Braves, whose schedule she keeps on her refrigerator door. She has a dog named Frannie that she dotes on.
Rollins grew up in Loganville,[1] and has a bachelor's degree in forensic science.[2] While working for the Atlanta PD, she was stationed at Precinct Zone 8.[3]
Rollins comes from a dysfunctional family. Her father Jim (James Morrison) is an alcoholic and a gambling addict who often beat her mother, Beth Anne (Virginia Madsen),[4] and her younger sister, Kim (Lindsay Pulsipher), is a cocaine addict with bipolar disorder whose frequent brushes with the law often cause trouble for Rollins. She has a strained relationship with her mother, who favors Kim and whom Rollins looks down on for not fighting back against the abuse she suffered.[4][5] This has sometimes affected her interactions with domestic abuse victims.
Development[edit]
NBC announced on June 27, 2011, that Giddish would join the cast of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for its thirteenth season along with Cold Case's Danny Pino as Detective Nick Amaro, coinciding with Christopher Meloni's departure from the series.[19] Giddish told TV Guide during summer filming; "Everybody on the set is really excited and energized. They've lost a family member with Chris Meloni leaving, but they've been very accepting of us. Amanda is thrilled to be here working with these people, and so am I."[20]
In an interview with TV Guide prior to Giddish's debut episode as Rollins, "Scorched Earth", Giddish says about her character, "My character is in complete awe of Olivia, Amanda's really eager to get in there because she knows her stuff and really eager to learn. She has come from Atlanta and there was a ceiling there, so she's come up to New York." Giddish felt great about joining the series in its 13th season, "I couldn't feel better about it. ... There's no intimidation, what attracted me was the prospect of re-invigorating a franchise that's been so well-known and so well-liked, and then to be the shaker and mover." Giddish is confident that viewers will warm up to Rollins and Amaro with time. "They're going to love us because it's not being forced in their faces," she says. "The more you know about us and the more you see us in your living room, the more you're hopefully going to love us."[21]
At the end of season 13 of Law & Order: SVU, she and co-star Danny Pino weighed-in on their first season and both Giddish and Pino say they received not only a "very warm welcome" from SVU's cast and crew, but saw their respective characters explored more than they could hope for in their first season. "They’ve given me a lot to work with — and I hope they give me more next season," says Giddish. "We're still playing 'musical chairs' in terms of partners, and that’s a great way to go about exploring the different characters." Pino added, "That’s what you hope for when you’re putting it down on paper and discussing what you want to play. I had [pre-season] conversations with [showrunner] Warren Leight, and you hope that starts materializing — and it did. And that bodes well going into Season 14."[22]
Rather than have both newcomers paired together, Rollins is primarily partnered with Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola, a factor which contributed to the character's positive reception. Ice-T, who has portrayed Tutuola since the show's second season, praised both Giddish and Pino in the wake of Chris Meloni's departure, "We had to regroup, like a football team," said Ice-T. "The quarterback changed, but we still had to move the ball down the field. And we did well... Danny came in, strong. Kelli came in, strong. And we shut down the doubters."[22]