LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Post-Mortem: Juliana Aidén Martinez Shares Insight into Silva’s Backstory

October 3, 2024 by Marisa Roffman

LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT — “Fractured” Episode 26001 — Pictured: (l-r) — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Thursday, October 3 season premiere of LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT.]

The LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT season 26 premiere, “Fractured,” wasted no time introducing viewers to Detective Kate Silva (Juliana Aidén Martinez), the newest member of the elite squad.

Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) took her squad on a trip to the gun range…but picked up SVU’s newest recruit. (As Benson explained, Silva hadn’t been assigned a car yet.) The time in the car also allowed Benson to bring up Silva’s familial history in the NYPD: Her father had been in the force for 35 years and spent the past decade as a deputy commissioner.

Silva was surprised Benson was only now bringing it up after they had worked together for three weeks. “I didn’t want to make a big deal about it,” Benson explained.

The new detective also opened up to Velasco (Octavio Pisano) while the duo was trying to find evidence in the attack against a trio of law students.

“So, you always wanted to be a cop?” Velasco asked. “Like your dad?”

“I knew since 2001,” Silva replied.

“9/11?” Velasco asked.

“I remember watching the TV,” she recalled. “All those scared people running away from the towers. And then I saw who was running towards them—working-class heroes. And I wanted to be one of them.”

Silva’s backstory has been meaningful for Martinez as she has explored playing the character this season. “It’s interesting, having moved back to New York, I have gone to the memorial a few times as I’ve been thinking about this,” she tells Give Me My Remote. “I was a child when 9/11 happened, as many people who also watch the show probably were, as well. And I think in so many ways, 9/11, we can never forget, and it’s not left us. [And it has] changed us in ways that we can’t even articulate, and it’s changed the city of New York. With Kate, that was such a dark time, as well. And to see people come together, to see people become real-life heroes and sacrifice to make a society that is more free, that is safer, that feels like we’re here for each other, and we’re going to protect each other. I think Kate is really aspiring to that.”

“9/11 is very important, especially her being there [in New York] and being a child of the city, and seeing the sacrifice that real-life people did, whether those were firemen or cops or regular people,” she continues. “They came in and they did something about it to protect their fellow woman and man, I think [it being her inspiration to become a cop] really shows the spirit of who Kate is.”

Silva opening up to Velasco was also important for the duo’s potential future working relationship, too. “She’s hoping that she can find a partner who’s going to create that [safe] future with her,” Martinez explains.

LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT, Thursdays, 9/8c, NBC

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LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Post-Mortem: Juliana Aidén Martinez Shares Insight into Silva’s Backstory

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