Juliana Aidén Martinez is trading in her badge and gun… for another badge and gun.
A few months after exiting Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the 34-year-old actress is joining the cast of FBI as a series regular for its upcoming eighth season, Entertainment Weekly has confirmed.
The move marks her second casting in a Dick Wolf project. Last year, Martinez joined the main cast of SVU as Det. Kate Silva, who was transferred from Brooklyn’s homicide division and quickly befriended Det. Joe Velasco (Octavio Pisano) as she was put through the paces in her new role.
In May, however, EW confirmed that Pisano and Martinez would not be returning after the long-running police procedural’s 26th season, meaning Martinez was one-and-done. NBC renewed SVU later that month, and announced that season 27 would be led by a new showrunner, Michele Fazekas (Gen V).
Season 27 will also feature the return of Kelli Giddish as a series regular, playing detective-turned-professor Amanda Rawlins, after her departure in 2022. She had guest-starred in multiple episodes of seasons 25 and 26.
Law and Order: SVU and FBI both hail from Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television and exist in the same universe, so it’ll be interesting to see if the two will cross over in the future.
As for Martinez’s role on FBI, no details have been provided on how her character will fit in the show. It’s probably safe to assume that she’ll play an agent assigned to John Boyd’s Stuart Scola, as he’s still searching for a permanent partner after the departure of Tiffany Wallace (Katherine Renee Kane) last fall.
Kane, who joined the cast in 2020 during season 3 and spent three seasons on the show, replaced Ebonée Noel’s intelligence analyst Kristen Chazal.
Kane departed FBI in the season 7 premiere. Lisette Olivera initially joined the cast as Behavioral Analysis Unit Agent Syd Ortiz to succeed Tiffany as Scola’s partner, but left after a handful of episodes. According to Deadline Hollywood, which first reported the news of her exit, there was some concern that then-25-year-old Olivera was miscast in the role, as she seemed too young to partner with 43-year-old Boyd.
Emily Alabi was subsequently added as a recurring star in January, playing Dani Rhodes, a temporary partner for Scola. Alabi will reportedly return in season 8 to wrap up Dani’s story.
FBI also stars Missy Peregrym, Zeeko Zaki, Jeremy Sisto, and Alana de la Garza.
The series was renewed for three more seasons during its sixth year, which means it will run a minimum of nine seasons.
