There's a Painful Reason SVU Fandom Hated Rollins, And Everyone's Scared to Admit It
Hate does not always come at bad characters — sometimes, ironically, it's about them being too good.
Law and Order: SVU has plenty of questionable and ambiguous characters, and when such a character also dares to be a) female and b) badass, then it's safe to say they're in for a wave of hate in the fandom.
Such is the case with Amanda Rollins, portrayed by Kelli Giddish in the show. She was the one to replace Elliot Stabler, one of SVU's original detectives and fan favorites, in season 13 when Stabler actor Christopher Meloni decided to leave the show in season 12.
A strong-willed female character who replaces the previous fan favorite? Rollins had no chance to escape the hate; and it's actually painful to realize that there was no objective reason for that. The fandom's criticism stemmed mainly from the fact that she was there and Stabler wasn't, but according to Redditors, there may also be another reason.
"The main reason Rollins gets hated on by the fandom is that she didn’t just believe every victim story she hears the way Olivia does, and she was also the team’s muscle cop for a while, and the muscle cop in this series always gets hated on," Redditor MinkMartenReception noted.
Sure it's easy to be a knight in a shining armor, but sometimes, to get your job done, you need to get that armor dirty. That's exactly what Rollins did from time to time; only to be consistently grilled by the fandom for it.
The only (relatively) good thing is that now that Giddish's character is out, the fandom managed to make peace with Rollins and even appreciate her. Moreover, some people are furious because she was let go, as they think there was so much potential for Amanda Rollins to turn into an even more compelling character.
Oh how the tables turn, huh? It only adds to the irony that Rollins left SVU exactly when Stabler returned, as if the replacement was no longer needed. Now that sounds almost unfair.