Law & Order: SVU is gearing up for its 28th season on the 2026 TV schedule, meaning everyone’s favorites from the Manhattan Special Victims Unit will be back on our screens very soon. Despite appearing in fewer episodes last season, Ice-T will be back as Odafin “Fin” Tutuola. He’s one of the longest-running actors in the Law & Order franchise, and the grind just won’t stop. But he finally opened up about the series restricting his hustle and why he was okay with not appearing in as many episodes during Season 27.Throughout SVU’s run, many actors have come and gone from the cast. Season 27 saw two departures, with Juliana Aidén Martinez bowing out before the season started, while Octavio Pisano left at the beginning of the season. Meanwhile, Kelli Giddish returned as Amanda Rollins on a full-time basis after initially exiting SVU during Season 24. Her return led to some financial cuts, with Ice-T appearing in fewer episodes because it simply cost too much. He recalled the conversation when he found out about his cutback while chatting with The TMZ Podcast:Last year, what happened was, you know, they brought Kelli Giddish back. So they told me, ‘You know, basically, we’re going to bring Kelli Giddish back. We’re going to bring your scenes down a little bit.’ I asked them, I said, ‘Are you kicking me off the show?’ They said, ‘No, we’re just going to move some things around budget-wise, blah, blah, blah.’ The rapper has previously opened up about the whole ordeal, having no ill will towards the show or his dear friend and colleague. It’s understandable that Ice-T would be concerned about his future on SVU. He’s made it a point that he’s sticking around on SVU for as long as he can, and hearing that he was being cut back couldn’t have been easy. The show simply put Fin in harm’s way to explain his absence, and while it eventually returned last season, it was still a change.While it may have been concerning for Ice-T, he was able to do other things when he had more free time. He revealed that the show has restricted other aspects of his career. Now that he has had that free time, he’s ready to come back to SVU at full force. Ice-T revealed just how much he’ll be in Season 28, and I could not be happier:Now, somebody like me, free time — people think, ‘Oh, they take you off the show, you lose money.’ No, I make money, because now I have time to do other things. When you have to put in five days a week on a show, it kind of restricts my hustle. So, this next season, I’m gonna be in every episode. But it was one of those things where the boss comes to you, and you don’t go, ‘Well, I’ve been on here 27 seasons, you gonna do this?’ You know, I got it. I got it. It’s all good. So it wasn’t because of Kelli. It was just the way they moved. And I was more concerned getting to Season 28…. I did my deal. They want me in every episode.Knowing that Ice-T is going to be in every episode of Season 28 eases my worries that he could be the next to leave the show. Even though he’s made it clear he has no plans to say goodbye to Fin any time soon, you never know. Plus, it helps that he’s on Dick Wolf’s good side, which will definitely go a long way:Dick Wolf said, ‘Ice-T is the least pain in my ass.’ So that’s how you stay on a show a long time or stay on your job for a long time, become the bosses’ least pain in the ass.'It’s hard to predict what kind of storylines Fin will be getting into during Season 28, as well as everyone else, but luckily, the wait won’t be too much longer. The new season of Law & Order: SVU will premiere on Thursday, October 8 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.