Detective Nick Amaro Leaves SVU

Det. Nick Amaro decided to leave the Special Victims Unit in the Season 16 finale of Law & Order: SVU after finding out that he had a snowball’s chance in hell of being the squad’s Sergeant and after being shot in the liver and knee. Amaro tells Benson of his intentions at the celebration of her adopting Noah.

We’re not going to go into all that “ooh, they dissed Elliot” stuff. Truly, Danny Pino was a welcome addition to the show but with his wife and kids in California, that’s undoubtedly where his heart will always be, so it is really not a bad thing that his character left the show in this fashion.

He was a loving and devoted father and we’re sure that it will be better for his kids, even if he and Maria (Laura Benanti) can’t work out their problems.

Alison Fernandez was his daughter, Zara. She last appeared in “Padre Sandungeuro” (S16 E12) when Armand Assante played Amaro’s father, Nicolas, Sr. Amaro also had a son named Gilberto, played by Jaden Matthew Rodriguez. Gil’s mother, Cynthia Mancheno, was played by Andrea Navedo. We haven’t seen her since Season 14 and we learned through Gil in S16 E19 that she was moving to San Diego. The boy wanted Nick to convince his mother not to go, but go she did. Nick’s mother, Cesaria (Nancy Ticotin), and his sister Sonya (April Hernandez-Castillo) also appeared in “Padre Sandungeuro,” presumably for the last time, unless they plan to bring Amaro back for a visit to his New York relatives and Olivia Benson, his friend for life, at some future time.