The SVU team is down a member: Molly Burnett, the actor behind Det. Grace Muncy, is leaving NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit after one season.
During the third-season finale of Law & Order: Organized Crime on Thursday, May 18 — a crossover with SVU’s Season 24 finale that same night — Muncy told colleague Joe Velasco (Octavio Pisano) that Chief Tommy McGrath (Terry Serpico) had rewarded her dedication to the Elias Olsen case by giving her a spot on a DEA task force.
Following the series finale, TVLine confirmed that Burnett is no longer an SVU series regular. Wolf Entertainment, the production company behind SVU, also shared an extended cut of Muncy and Velasco’s farewell on Twitter.
Want more #SVU? Check out this bonus scene from last night’s #SVUxOC crossover season finale pic.twitter.com/GobP4x72I7
— Wolf Entertainment (@WolfEnt) May 19, 2023
Burnett joined SVU in a recurring capacity in July 2022 and made her debut in Season 24’s second episode, September 29’s “The One You Feed.” By the seventh installment of the season, November 10’s “Dead Ball,” Burnett had landed series-regular status.
In a TV Insider interview this March, Burnett revealed the special significance of her SVU role. “My mom passed away young, and I know that this was one of her favorite shows,” she said. “So that fact that I’m on SVU, I feel she played a part in that somehow. Something really cool that happened is that showrunner David [Graziano] let me wear on screen the Serenity Prayer necklace that my real-life brother and I both wear. It’s our mom watching over us.”
The reasons behind Burnett’s SVU departure aren’t yet known, and she hasn’t commented on her exit on social media. The 35-year-old’s other TV credits include a years-long role as Melanie Jonas on NBC’s Days of Our Lives — for which she received two Daytime Emmy Award nominations — and a supporting part as Kelly Anne Van Awken on USA’s Queen of the South.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Season 25, Thursdays This Fall, NBC
