- The beloved character was killed off screen in the first episode of season 27
- Fans have demanded to know why the character was brutally axed
- READ MORE: Beloved Law & Order star returning to SVU's 27th season
Law & Order: SVU fans have been left devastated after Captain Cragen was killed off in the season 27 premiere.
The new series kicked off with Mariska Hargitay's Olivia Benson attending the beloved character's memorial service after he died off screen.
Details of his death were not provided.
At the funeral, a video played out which saw Dann Florek's Cragen proclaiming his love for his career as a criminal investigator.
'I lived for my job,' he enthused. 'I don't think that surprises anybody and I can't imagine my life any other way.'
Meanwhile, Olivia also shared some heartfelt sentiments about her late boss.
'He was the best boss that I ever had,' she said. 'Everything I know about being a captain, I learned from him.'
Longstanding fans have expressed their heartbreak over Cragen's demise and demanded to know why producers killed him off.
Captain Cragen was killed off in the season 27 premiere with his death taking place off screen
Capt. Olivia Benson and A.D.A Dominick 'Sonny' Carisi Jr. attended their former boss's memorial in the new season opener
Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, one complained: 'Why would y'all kill off Captain Cragen off and let him live out in his retirement? He hasn't come back in few years and besides he's still alive outside of the show.'
'Why did they do that to Captain Cragen?!' another asked. 'I loved his occasional guest appearances.'
A third voiced their shock: 'Watching new #SVU from last night and I can't believe they killed off Cragen.'
'WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY KILLED CRAGEN?' added a fourth.
A fifth demanded to know: 'What exactly was the point of killing of Cragen in #SVU y'all could had left that man alone. That's lazy writing!'
'Now why would they do that to Captain Cragen?!' another asked. 'He wasn't even bothering nobody! And he's still very much alive and ticking IRL! So they went out of their way to do this.'
Florek had been a long-serving member of the Law & Order universe having first arrived on the scene in 1990.
He appeared in the first three seasons of Law & Order and in the first 15 seasons of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and is credited with 400 episodes.
Fans of the police procedural expressed their devastation over the Cragen's death
Cragen, played by Dann Florek, had been a long-serving member of the Law & Order cast
The actor's last on-camera appearance was in the Organized Crime spin-off in March 2024, when he pretended to have a heart attack to distract a group of men who had stormed into a diner.
On SVU, Cragen was last seen virtually during the program's 500th episode in 2021.
During an appearance on the Today show in January 2024, Florek described Cragen as a father figure 'to a lot of the people in the show'.
'I always made a point to go out of my way and welcome everyone when they came in, because I remember when people did it for me,' he added.
