Easily one of the most successful shows of all-time, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has been popular for so long that the show's stars have talked about there only being 1 reason the series could end. Thanks to the show's longevity on NBC, many actors have starred in SVU over the years. That has allowed fans to recently get great news about several SVU cast returns, including the fact that Kelli Giddish is back as a series regular.
Even though SVU viewers have been excited about seeing actors from the show's past return, the way one of the show's former characters was brought back caused a very different reaction. After the season premiere of the show's 27th season aired, many viewers actually seemed to be upset because they believed one of the show's former stars may have passed away.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit fans worried Dann Florek passed away
After the season premiere of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit season 27 aired, many fans of the show were worried that Dann Florek had passed away. Fortunately, Dann is alive and well despite all those concerns. Dann starred in the first 15 seasons of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Captain Donald Cragen. After that, Dann made appearances during the show's 16th and 23rd seasons.
The reason why fans were worried that Dann may have passed away in real life is because the beloved SVU character he portrayed did. During SVU's season 27 premiere, some of the show's current main characters reacted to news that Dann's character, Captain Cragen, had died. Not only that, SVU's former stars, Dean Winters and BD Wong, appeared during the premiere so their characters could attend a memorial service for Dann's character. Given how Dann's character was memorialized during the episode, some viewers worried that the storyline was introduced to pay tribute to the actor.
After the premiere of SVU season 27 aired, "Is Dann Florek alive" trended on social media. That is because there were many fans who went on social media to express that they'd been concerned that the beloved actor had passed away.
Me googling making sure Dann Florek didn’t pass away in real life lol. His alive and kicking ✊🏽✊🏽#SVU #LawAndOrder pic.twitter.com/KwNAQArTpd
— DJ Radar (@DJRadar24) September 26, 2025
Knowing that fans were understandably concerned that Dann may have passed away is amusing because of what went on behind the scenes during the filming of SVU's season 27 premiere.
As a September 2025 USA Today article reveals, Dann was actually on set during the filming of the episode that featured the memorial to his character. Not only that, Dann got an acting credit on the episode because archival footage of his character was shown on a TV at the memorial.