Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is heading into a historic season 27. With a new showrunner in former staff writer Michelle Fazekas and the return of several past characters, SVU is primed to revisit the past.

As a crime procedural, most of Law & Order: SVU’s episodes are standalone. The longer story arcs are built from the personal lives of the ensemble. Every so often, however, the show will revisit a case from the past when a suspect or a victim reemerges. SVU should do that with Victor Tate (Chike Johnson).

Victor Tate’s Wrongful Conviction Emerged In SVU Season 11

Victor Tate Is From Stabler’s Past

Victor Tate is introduced in SVU season 11 when a sexual assault victim’s case proves to be too similar to a case for which Tate was convicted over a decade earlier. Tate, it is revealed, was arrested by Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) in 1998 – a year before the SVU series begins.

Tate was convicted largely because the sexual assault survivor picked him out of a lineup. She falsely identified him, traumatized after her life changed drastically as a result of her experience.

In 2009, the SVU team is able to follow a pattern of assaults and eventually a rape-murder investigation, which leads them to the real culprit. The man confesses to a series of rapes, including the one for which Tate was convicted.

It seems like the team would be all set to get Tate’s conviction overturned thanks to this new confession, but the real perpetrator dies by suicide before anything formal can be done about Tate’s case.

The other man’s statement is ruled inadmissible and unable to be used in legal proceedings to free Tate from prison, leaving him to serve his original 25-year sentence. After that, Tate is used in another episode as something of a cautionary tale for others who have been wrongfully convicted when a mistake is made in a case.

Victor Tate appears in:

Law & Order: SVU Season 11, Episode 1 “Conviction”
Law & Order: SVU Season 11, Episode 15 “Confidential”

He has not, however, been seen since, though his sentence would have ended in roughly 2024. SVU Season 27, which will be airing not long after Tate should have been released, would be a great time to follow up on his story.

Chike Johnson, after all, is still acting on television and has appeared in other Dick Wolf projects outside of the SVU series. Johnson has played characters in Chicago P.D., Chicago Justice, and the original Law & Order series as well. He would likely be game to return to the role.

Victor Tate’s story remains one that outrages SVU fans over a decade later. There are still active Reddit threads that began 12 years ago to hash out his story and lament the fate of the character.

SVU Should Follow Up On More Wrongful Convictions

Wrongful Convictions Are A Real Problem SVU Can Highlight

Bringing Victor Tate back to SVU – no matter what his ultimate fate is – would be a good way to acknowledge that SVU makes mistakes. The ensemble of characters at the center of the show might be the heroes of the story, but they are fallible. Part of the draw in a show like this is seeing the detectives learn from their mistakes.

Statistically, not every conviction in Law & Order: SVU would be a good one. There are likely to be some wrongful convictions in the bunch, especially in a series that relies so much on suspects confessing and on circumstantial evidence. SVU should get the chance to see that conflict come up in the story.

It would make sense to see Tate’s case revisited by one of the many nonprofit groups that work to get wrongfully convicted individuals out of prison. It would also make sense if Tate went on to work for one of those groups himself.

Of course, Tate’s story would have less of an impact without Stabler, the original detective who put him away, being involved in the case. It’s lucky, then, that SVU has continued to utilize Meloni as a guest star in recent seasons so that Stabler could be involved in the story.

SVU does not have to become a show about overturning wrongful convictions, but a case or two once in a while is a great way to revisit some classic stories like Tate’s.

SVU Has Been Revisiting Classic Episodes

SVU Recognizes What Came Before

Though SVU is a procedural series, it is no stranger to following up on classic storylines. When SVU reached 300 episodes with “Manhattan Vigil,” it paid respect to the past by using footage from the first season for flashbacks. It also brought back actors from the pilot episode to play new roles.

The idea of SVU honoring classic episodes has become more prevalent now that the series is the longest-running police procedural in the U.S. Seasons 1-12 are thought of as the first era of SVU. That’s when most of its best-known episodes occurred, thanks to syndication and streaming deals making sure more people saw them.

Season 25 revisited the classic season 7 episode “911” by bringing back the character of Maria Recinos.

Maria was a little girl who made a 911 call for help after she was held, assaulted, and photographed in a man’s basement. Olivia Benson spent the episode on the call. Mariska Hargitay won an Emmy for the episode. She is the only Law & Order franchise lead to win an Emmy for her work.

Hargitay’s Olivia Benson gets the chance to see what became of Maria in season 25 when Maria is graduating from the police academy, and then tackles her murder in season 26. While it’s not a happy ending for the character, it shows the interest exists for following up on the episodes that really stick with the fans.

Victor Tate’s story in season 11 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is one of the stories from the classic era of the series that should be revisited.