Law & Order: SVU Just Said Goodbye To Velasco — Here's How He Was Written Off

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Pisano's departure originally made news in May, alongside the imminent exit of his SVU castmate Julia Aidén Martinez, who played Det.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 return as Velasco for the season premiere, at least. In the Season 27 opener, his character was approached by some men on his way home from work; they instructed him to get in their car. At the start of the following episode, Velasco confided in Capt. Olivia Benson that he'd been recruited to work undercover with the DEA, though he also continued his work at the precinct.

Midway through Episode 3, he showed up for a meeting at Chief Tynan's office. Two DEA agents were already seated, waiting for the SVU detective to arrive.

"There's nothing for you to worry about," Tynan assured him. "We're just going to have a chat, share our feelings, see if we have the same goals and desires — easy peasy."

The following day, Velasco met with Liv and filled her in: The DEA wants him to relocate to San Diego to continue his undercover work, and Tynan thinks it's a good idea.

Velasco went on to explain that he'd been chasing after a vicious drug lord — and the job still wasn't done. But with Fin out of commission, he didn't want to leave Liv empty-handed. While she appreciated the sentiment, she told Velasco that she would never want him to stay with SVU out of loyalty to her. "I'm here because I think it's the place that I can do the most good," she said. "You need to be where you can do the most good."

Before he left town, Velasco paid a visit to Fin, who was still recuperating at home. He told the sergeant that he'd been thinking a lot about a previous conversation they had, "about how you and I both did bad things, and we try to balance out the scales. Well, I realized something — I realized that when I'm in it, when I'm doing the job, I don't think about the scale anymore. I don't think about myself at all." And he wanted to take a moment and thank Fin for everything.

"Velasco, you don't have to say a word," Fin answered. "I already know."

All told, Pisano appeared in three Season 27 episodes and 79 SVU episodes overall.

Are you sorry to see Velasco go? Hit the comments with your thoughts!