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Alongside television’s “longest-running prime-time drama character” Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and her former partners, assistant district attorneys (known more commonly as ADAs) have been necessary forces in shaping the criminal justice system on Law & Order: SVU for over 20 years. Some ADAs have stayed for several seasons, while others have remained for just a few episodes. But all of them have brought their own sense of justice to the series since its inception in 1999. From Stephanie March’s strictly ethical Alex Cabot to Philip Winchester’s matter-of-fact Peter Stone, the role of ADA has remained a constant on the show while also finding the space/room to evolve, since each ADA brings his or her own history and ethical background to the job.
With ADAs coming and going, audiences have clearly defined their fan favorites like Cabot, Diane Neal’s Casey Novak and Raul Esparza’s Rafael Barba. And some ADAs have been more divisive like Philip Winchester’s Peter Stone and Linus Roache’s Michael Cutter. The most beloved ADAs had deep connections with Benson and worked in-sync with her, at times breaking the rules for the greater good. While some ADAs had longer stints, even the brief cameos made by ADAs have become a part of SVU’s canon, like Paula Patton’s one-episode arc as Mikka Von or Sharon Stone’s Jo Marlowe.
As SVU enters its historic 21st season, GQ spoke with many of the show’s most beloved (and reviled) ADAs alongside star and executive producer Mariska Hargitay, former show runner Neal Baer, and creator Dick Wolf.
GQ: How would you describe the ADA you played on Law & Order: SVU?
Stephanie March (Alex Cabot): [Alex Cabot] was my first real on-camera job and I was young enough that I couldn’t have even graduated from law school when I got that job. I remember being very nervous because I wear glasses in real life and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to see my mark without my glasses because I didn’t wear contacts at the time. I remember saying to Dick [Wolf] that I think Cabot should wear glasses because that would give her a bookish aspect. The reason Alex wears glasses is that I wear glasses and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to see around set! They became this emblem of this character of the show. The fans that are really nice call them “the glasses of justice.” When I tend to walk around New York I don’t get recognized unless I’m wearing the glasses—then it’s a different story.
Diane Neal (Casey Novak): Casey Novak is one of my favorite people alive. One of the things I loved about her is she has such an overdeveloped sense of justice, which what I have in real life. She was cool, and she was actually based on this real-life ADA who... she and I are still friends, and she’s just a badass. She’s just this chick who didn’t care about moving up, she just cared about doing the right thing. I used to be a model, and I get the part of Casey and she plays softball and I’m thinking the first time she put on a pair of heels was the day she went in for an interview to become an ADA right out of law school. She just doesn’t care about that stuff.
Christine Lahti (Sonya Paxton): Sonya Paxton was so complicated. She was struggling with alcoholism, and she was trying to be sober and kept falling off the wagon [while] trying to fight the good fight. It is the thing I’m recognized the most for—women recognize me for that show, particularly women of color. They thought she was really a force of nature even though she was so complicated.
Linus Roache (Michael Cutter): I played Michael Cutter on Law & Order for three seasons but after Law & Order ended I was asked to do a crossover on SVU as the same character who I believe had a bit of a promotion at that time. I was involved in about three or four stories. What was interesting about the character is that he was a new breed of lawyer. I remember he was getting rid of all the law books in his office and was on a Blackberry. He was hard-nosed and a fighter, and didn’t care if people liked him or not.
Francie Swift (Sherrie West): I played ADA Sherrie West, who they described as hard-riding and tough. I liked that she was very level-headed, cool and calm. Good at what she does. Business-like.
Philip Winchester (Peter Stone): I played Peter Stone, who was the son of Ben Stone. Originally we saw him in the Chicago franchise because he left New York to pursue a baseball career with the Cubs, and he blew his elbow out, couldn’t get back into the majors and fell back on the thing he swore he would never fall back on. The biggest thing for Peter Stone was the shadow of his father—the legacy of Ben Stone, who he was as a man and the cases he tried. Peter was always trying to run away from that. When we saw him introduced in the SVU universe, he was coming to New York for his father’s funeral, and then he was pulled into a case.
Michaela McManus (Kim Greylek): I played Kim Greylek during Season 10. Kim was tough and had a lot to prove so she wasn’t one to easily back down. I was told she was a whistleblower whose actions implicated her husband and led to their recent divorce. Kim was coming off of that experience when she started her job as ADA.
What was the fan reaction when you left the show?
Neal Baer (former show runner): [The most devastating fan reaction was] when they thought Stephanie’s character was blown up in the car. As writers, we knew she wasn’t because she tells Benson later she’s not dead. But we loved doing that. Then when she came back, people were thrilled. I don’t know if she’s coming back in year 21 or not, but I know she’s come back since I left.
March: I will say that I was very lucky in that the first time I left the writers and Dick gave me a terrific episode in which to do it. I got to enter Witness Protection. I’m shot, I’m on the street and I’m bleeding. It was quite the send-off and it made it really fun when I came back a number of times. Sometimes I see people on the street and they joke and say, “I know you’re in witness protection so I won’t tell anyone I saw you” and I’ll be at Whole Foods or something. People really enjoyed the drama of that.
Neal: I’ll be completely honest. It was a surprise to both the fans and myself. I think we were all quite sad. I would have stayed forever. I loved my job. I loved playing Casey Novak. Novak still has the greatest fans on the planet. So many people have told me they’ve gone to law school because of Novak.
Lahti: As far as I could tell, there was a sadness about her leaving. I think the [audience] particularly liked the relationship between [Benson and] Sonya. There was a connection and a closeness there. That I died in her arms was very moving. Also what a badass bitch that I bit the perp so that the DNA would be on my teeth That’s what I did before he killed me. That was so smart and so badass.
Swift: I honestly don’t know. That was pre-social media. I wasn’t monitoring it. I think as an actor if you get caught up in it, it can change your performance.
Winchester: It was mixed, to be honest. The character’s method of how he approached the law was sometimes in conflict with SVU. Whether it felt right or wrong according to Benson or the other police officers on the show, it didn’t matter to Peter Stone. He wanted facts and he needed facts in order to prosecute. I think a lot of fans took that personally and thought he was attacking Benson. Some of the fans were happy he left. But I got a lot of feedback that they were sad, he left because they liked the tension he created on the show.
McManus: I’m not sure! This was a little before the direct fan feedback on Twitter and Instagram. But I think I'm recognized for this show more than anything else which goes to show you the impact SVU has had over the years.
Tell me about your character’s most memorable storyline.
March: There’s an episode called “Guilt.” I tend to remember them less for the plot line and more for the people I worked with. I had a really great relationship with a woman named Joanna Merlin, who played a judge quite a lot, and this is an episode where Alex is really messing up. She gets a pretty good talking down to—somewhere between professional admonishment and personal mentoring from this judge.
Neal: My favorite one to film was called “Goliath.” Chris and Mariska both ended up having family emergencies so they rewrote the episode at the last minute. And it was the first time they let me be. It’s the one where she subpoenaed the [Secretary of Defense]. It was the first time I could be Novak the way I wanted to be Novak. I also loved “Night” which was wildly fun for me because I actually got to get the crap beaten out of me.
Lahti: I remember my favorite episode was called “Hammered,” and that’s the episode where I was drunk in the courtroom and was trying a case. What I remember about it was I had read somewhere an actor’s trick to appear drunk was he would spin, because he was newly sober and couldn’t drink anymore, to get that feeling of being intoxicated. What happened is I spun so much that for the next two weeks I was completely dizzy, and I thought I had wrecked my inner ear equilibrium.
Roache: It was the rape of a young girl in her apartment and it was a bit of a “he said, she said.” It was very poignant, and it was a very hard case to discern what lines had been crossed. When does a flirtation become an invitation? Was she being vindictive against the attacker? There was evidence [the perp] might have coerced her. I think that’s what the show deals with so well: the complexity of these cases.
Swift: I got some good ones. I think the name of the episode was “Behave.” Jennifer Love-Hewitt played a rape victim that had been raped repeatedly by the same man. I loved that it drew so much attention to a really big problem—that there are so many rape kits [just sitting around].
Winchester: There was a great episode called “Dear Ben” where Peter was trying to prosecute a serial rapist his father had also tried to prosecute and failed. It was a great episode because it dove back into his past and brought back Ben Stone’s character again. I thought it was a good episode for the fans as well, because we got a deep dive into stuff we didn’t know.
McManus: There was an episode titled "Transitions" about a man brutally beaten as a reaction to his transgender daughter's desire for gender reassignment. I remember filming a scene in the courtroom with Aisha Hinds that was so incredibly moving and really hit hard.
The show’s fans are all passionate about “their” ADAs. What do you think makes an ADA so beloved?
March: It’s not winning, because I never won.
Mariska Hargitay (Olivia Benson): They're the ones who are going to bring it home. I got nothing without the justice system. It brings us back to that compassion and knowing and bringing all of ourselves and not bringing one part. And if you followed that arc, with Barba, Benson taught Raúl about compassion, and feelings. He started off as a business guy, and Benson and said, “no, no, no,” [compassion is] everything.
Dick Wolf (creator): I realized early on that there was a need to have an ADA role on SVU. Even though the show has traditionally focused on the detectives, it is important to have an advocate on the prosecutorial side to work with those in the squad room. Each ADA has brought a different voice to the show, but they have all been important in their own right.
Neal: I’ve had a chance in real life to work with real ADAs for the first time. I appreciate they’re smart, that they listen, but mostly, they’re people that care, that are empathetic. One thing I’ve noticed about a lot of them is that they don’t want to take cases unless they’re sure they’re going to win. They don’t want to risk anything.
Baer: The same thing that makes Benson and Stabler beloved: it’s that they fight for the victims, they fight for justice. Even in the toughest cases, they’re clear about what’s right and they make mistakes, but they’re beloved because they fight for the underdog and they’re after these people who do terrible things to other people.
Swift: I think what makes an ADA beloved is feeling like these people are doing what they do for their love of justice. It’s true in life and true on the show. There are plenty of other ways to make money as a lawyer and being an ADA isn’t one of them.
Winchester: I don’t know the answer to that one because I don’t think Peter Stone was beloved.
McManus: I suppose there’s always that X-factor, but I think ADAs who have a good rapport with Olivia are most beloved.
Are there any untold stories or alternate plot lines involving your character you wish had been aired?
March: Peter Hermann, Mariska’s husband, was on the show originally to be a foil for Alex Cabot. Peter’s whole character was supposed to be developed into Alex’s relationship, but the writers decided ultimately that they didn’t want to move in that direction with any of the characters because they didn’t want to focus too much on their personal lives. But Peter and Mariska ended up getting married, and I’d like to think that in some weird way I set them up. That’s my own personal storyline that never made it in.
Neal: Before I started filming, all of a sudden reporters started calling my apartment which was very bizarre and my [ex-husband] picked up the phone one day and it was Neal Baer, but he thought it was some crazy reporter. He asked what kind of sports I liked to play and he made up softball, so that’s why Casey ended up playing softball. Also I’m a lot taller than the cast so anytime you can’t see my feet, I’m in Pumas.
Baer: During my tenure of 11 years, we had Stephanie March, who I inherited, and Diane Neal, who had [previously] been on as a woman who sexually assaults a man. We liked her so much, that we cast her, when Stephanie was leaving, to be Casey Novak. Then Michaela McManus played Kim Greylek, and I believe Paula Patton for one episode was Mikka Von. Then there was Melissa Sagemiller who was Gillian Hardwicke. So, you know why they all have the names Casey Novak, Kim Greylek, Mika Von and Gillian Hardwicke? They’re all characters and anagrams of [the legendary actress] Kim Novak because I love Kim Novak. That’s my little secret. Kim Novak knows this. I’ve met her several times and told her. It’s my homage to Kim Novak.
Lahti: Sonya wouldn’t put up with any shit from [Elliot] Stabler, and I remember in one of my first episodes I slapped him. I had no idea how precious these characters were to the American public. I went to Starbucks the morning after that episode aired and someone in that Starbucks line called me a bitch and said “You slapped Stabler.” I said something like “get a life, I’m not that character.” But I guess I offended her by slapping one of her precious people she loved on television.
Roache: There was an idea at the beginning that [Cutter] might have been bipolar, that he was struggling to keep his mental well-being in order. In the end, I decided to not have him going down that way, but I ended up using the idea that he was somebody who lived and was defined by his work, who didn’t have a real home life or family life. There wasn’t anything outside of the job. That’s how he survived.
Swift: When I came back as a defense attorney, Detective Amaro (Danny Pino) came onto the show and they hinted that there was a past relationship between the two of them that never got fleshed out. That was implied in the script.
Winchester: There was a script for the last episode [of Season 20]. The first script I read, we’d prosecuted the cop who was dirty. I walked out on the street and I was talking to Benson and as they were talking I was shot. I was like, “look if I’m leaving the show, let’s leave the show. Let’s go. Let’s shoot him.” Then Mariska and I talked, and the rest of the cast and I talked and said it would be nice to have an opportunity to come back and discuss a very difficult case. It would have been pretty self-evident by where he was shot and the amount of blood. We went right up to the wire with that. I think it came from the top that they weren’t going to shoot Peter Stone.
As the show is entering its 21st season, how has the role of the ADA evolved?
March: I don’t know that it has and I mean that in the best way possible. Anybody who’s on that show for any length of time develops their own tone and their own rhythm. Whether they want it to be a smart-aleck person or someone who rides rough over the law or someone who’s serious and the DNA is always the same. I think that’s why the show is so successful.
Neal: I have to be honest with you. Because it wasn’t my idea to leave a job that I loved, I never watched it again. Obviously I moved onto other jobs, but that was my favorite place on earth. I felt like that was my courtroom.
Baer: I have not seen a single SVU since I left the show in 2012 so I can’t say. I always leave it behind. Otherwise you get caught up in the “what was” or “what should be,” and there’s nothing one can do about a show one’s not on. I wish them all the very best.
Winchester: I think that it’s in constant flux. When Chris [Meloni] left and it became Mariska, it became very Benson-focused, so the role of the ADA took the spot that was created because of that. It fell in line.
In a world in which you can’t choose yourself, which is your favorite ADA in SVU history?
March: It’s not an ADA but [Cabot’s] boss. Judith Light, who played the DA is my first choice. I have to tell you, working with Judith… she was just exceptional. It was like taking a masterclass in acting whenever I worked with her.
Neal: Oh Stephanie—Cabot for sure.
Baer: Cabot, because she’s the beginning of the show and she carries through from year one to year 12 when I was there. She just has this riveting presence and when it calls for these emotional cathartic moments that reveal who she is, particularly behind the rape in Congo episode, it’s captivating. I love Diane Neal too because she’s cocky and tough.
Swift: Stephanie March did a fabulous job. I also liked Raúl Esparza’s Rafael Barba. I loved his stint as well.
Winchester: Raúl was great. He had that tense crossover in that episode where I prosecuted him, and I think everybody wanted his character to get away with it—even Peter. Peter was like, “The only way this works is if we do this 100% by the book and the jury still finds him not guilty: that’s the only way redemption is going to happen for this guy.” He walked me into the family. That doesn’t happen all the time. I’m truly grateful for the gift of that.
McManus: I think I’d go with Cabot. I met Stephanie March accidentally while out with friends a couple weeks before I started filming. When I introduced myself to her, she couldn’t have been more warm and kind and gave me some great advice that calmed my nerves, which meant so much at the time. So I guess you could say that made me partial.
Which ADA did Benson have the most chemistry with?
Hargitay: Raúl. Chemistry, right? Raúl’s so smart and so fast. I mean Barba was ahead of everybody. He has such a different kind of intelligence that I just so responded to, and we were on the same page, always working together. And it felt so intimate that if we were both fighting even if we fought, we were fighting for the right thing. There was so much love. You could feel it.
Baer: Cabot. And that goes back to the whole storyline of the witness protection because Benson and Stabler think she’s dead and the look on Benson’s face when she finds out that’s not true is stunning and that speaks more than any words could have done. [Fans] loved Stephanie March. There was a large lesbian contingence who shipped Benson and Cabot getting together. Because Diane Neal left the show I always wanted Stephanie to come back, which is why we had her in witness protection as opposed to just killing off her character in the car explosion, because she was getting married, and she might want to come back. When she came back I remember reading on the fan-fiction site that she put her overnight bag on the bed next to Benson’s and what did that mean? It was so interesting to see how the fans projected their own desires onto these characters.
March: Hell girl, it’s me! I have to say that because there’s so much love there. That’s probably a reflection of Mariska, but I’m gonna say me. We definitely had a group of fans that hoped there was a more romantic connection between Benson and Cabot. Mariska and I always joke that we were trying to get a kiss on-screen to see what would happen. Let’s break the Internet! The last time we shot, at the end of the take, we moved in for a kiss and they were like “Cut, cut, cut.” We were just trying to mess with the editors.
I don’t think they wrote it with the intention of [chemistry], but I think Mariska and I just really enjoy working other. Honestly we built two characters we believed in. In my mind, Alex Cabot is a real person. Mariska did the same thing for Benson. I think when you have two actors who are really committed to their roles and they enjoyed each other personally, then there’s going to be chemistry.
Swift: I think I’d have to say Stephanie again. There’s something about [Cabot and Benson’s] interactions that were very real and explored a female-to-female colleague relationship in a way that’s kind of unusual on television. They could disagree passionately and still work together well. It was fun to watch.
Winchester: In what I saw and the stories I was told, it would be Raúl. I think [he and Benson] had a great rapport. I think it worked well for their chemistry on screen because they were speaking the same language. I also think it had to do with the fact that Warren Leight created this character and Raúl took it into the show, and at that time, Warren was show-running the show and he’s back at it again.
Neal: That’s a tough one since I didn’t watch anyone that came after me. Did Olivia end up banging any of the ADAs?
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