Kelli Giddish and Lindsay Pulsipher talk tonight's special 'Law & Order: SVU'

Tonight's Law & Order: SVU tackles the private, family issues of Det. Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), whose sister Kim (guest star Lindsay Pulsipher), drops by with problems of her own. The actors elaborated on the challenges of playing sisters, and the very personal character arcs that drive their performances.

On how Amanda's relationship with her sister factors into this week's case:

Kelli Giddish: "[The viewers] get to see a different side of Amanda. You know, the older, the responsible, the bigger sister, you know? And I think ... we’ve all got roles like that in our family, and I think that relationship reflects that. ... [I]n the primary…story line for ‘Friending Emily’ an older sister drags a younger sister out, and because one of the sisters is kind of irresponsible, [she] doesn’t step up to the plate when she should. ... [H]er little sister ends up getting kidnapped by this really high tech, you know, perpetrator. So, you know, it’s about ... stepping up to the plate for your family when you need to be there. And I think you see ... a storyline that very much reflects and mirrors that primary storyline."

On how Amanda's sister will factor into the rest of the season:

Kelli Giddish: "Well, you know Lindsay has been - we had such a great experience filming this storyline. I think [current SVU showrunner] Warren Leight definitely wants her to come back, so there’s the nuts and bolts of, you know, like do we - did you - maybe we can get Lindsay back to come on and play for a few more episodes. So knowing that, going forward, you know at the end of this episode it’s not really resolved. You know, it’s not ... it’s not a warm and fuzzy feeling at the end, you know? ... Lindsay portrays a character that’s got, you know, a lot of problems ... maybe psychiatrically-rooted as well. So, you know that’s not just going to have a tidy cleanup, you know, at the very end of 42 minutes. So, it’s going to be fun to play. ... [I]t’s kind of open-ended. This is going to - this is the sixth episode, you know, and hopefully we’ve got - you know, hopefully we’re only ... 1/4 of the way through the season, so we’ll see how it plays out."

On the challenges of playing Kim Rollins:

Lindsay Pulsipher: "Well, you know it’s always fun for me to play a character that is flawed, because it’s really fun to kind of explore the psychology behind that. And, you know this character, Kim Rollins, is - she’s very troubled, but I think that, you know a lot of it has to do with what happened in her past and in her childhood. And so, it’s really interesting to just kind of play all the different colors of her past and how it’s brought her to this place. And, you know she’s got a lot of issues and it’s really fun to be able to kind of explore and get kind of crazy. We had a lot of fun playing it, so..."

Kelli Giddish: "And it was fun for me too."

Lindsay Pulsipher: "Yeah."

Credit: NBC

On what drew Lindsay to the role, and how it differs from working on True Blood (where she played werepanther, Crystal):

Lindsay Pulsipher: "You know, I really respect Law & Order: SVU. They just - I think that they’re - each episode is really, you know, well-written and very - it’s just - they’re just - it’s an amazing show. And so, to come on to a show like this has been such a pleasure and, you know it’s kind of nice to be in a reality-based show, as opposed to, you know fantasy, and you know, dark shapeshifting and everything. And yeah, it was really fun to go to New York City too. It’s always nice to work there."

On their favorite scenes together:

Kelli Giddish: "I think we’ve got a really strong storyline this audience is really going to enjoy sinking their teeth into a little bit of, you know Amanda Rollins’s personal life. But, my favorite scene would probably - I don’t know - like, Lindsay, when we first sat down to do the first scene in my apartment, you know it was like, 'Okay, and we’re sisters,' you know? I mean, that’s like - it’s 30 years of history you’re making up on the spot, and you know how TV - how fast TV moves, how fast rehearsals are?

"[I]t did help knowing Lindsay before this. You know, it’s not like we’re bosom buddies or anything, but it was nice, you know, being familiar with her and her work. And - but it was still a challenge for her - you know, for us to sit down and be like, 'Okay.' You know what - you know besides what it said in the dialogue, you know ... you have to kind of create a silent dialogue that, you know, family members certainly [have] between each other. So, that was my favorite, kind of jumping into ... full force and seeing what we came up with. I think it’s - I think we got something good."

Lindsay Pulsipher: "Yeah, I agree with Kelli. The scene that we kind of have dialogue and we - you know we’re sitting in her front room, and you get a little taste of their history because it is kind of a - you know it’s a familiar kind of special moment where you can tell that they’re sisters and they’ve had a lot of history. And like Kelli said, we kind of had to create that, you know on the spot, because like she said, you don’t have much time for rehearsals when you’re doing TV. But yeah, it was really - I felt like Kelli and I we really got the - you know we kind of worked up to it. And by the end of the episode I feel like we’ve really created a lot of ... history. You can tell that ... Kim has always kind of been this pain in Amanda's hiney."

On what it's like to explore the lives of detectives on a procedural:

Kelli Giddish: "...I think it’s really helpful when you have a little bit of back story, when you have detectives that, you know, in this format, always get it right, get it really wrong sometimes. And I think it’s always really rewarding for an audience member. I know for me, you know, as an audience member, it’s really rewarding to see a comeuppance. And it always informs. ... It’s really great to see where -- excuse me -- where each of us is coming from, you know, individually, because you know like - you know exactly what’s going to come out of Ice T’s mouth. You’ve been watching him for 14 years, you know? But, you still can’t wait to see it, you know? Like, you know him inside and out.

"And I just think that any opportunity I get as an actress on Law & Order to show, you know, where she comes from, why she believes what she believes, what’s she’s an expert in, you know, and why she’s an expert in it, ... it does nothing but benefit storylines to come."

On this week's case, in particular:

Kelli Giddish: "Yeah, it’s two young - very young sisters that are visiting form out of town -- excuse me -- and they go - they get an invite to go a party. They go to the party and it turns out that there’s a high tech predator that ends up kidnapping one of them and using her for a kiddie porn site. So, it’s so disturbing. Like, even the - even watching the images, you know during the filming of this, it was just like - I mean, and we - you know of course we generated all the images, and it was like, 'Oh, God,' you know? ... And it’s about ... him ducking us, you know? He’s using the Darknet, so we can’t find him or her, you know? And is it a team, is it just one person, you know, how far reaching is this network? So, it’s about finding out a lot of stuff, how ... the perpetrator’s dodging us, and then ... being at our wits-end, you know, in terms of how to track him down.

On the importance of doing "ripped from the headlines" cases:

Kelli Giddish: "Well, I mean there - it’s sad to say, but there’s so much material out there, you know to rip from. I mean, it - you know I talked to my mom about it, who’s a long time fan of SVU, and she’s like, 'Kelli, it is - it’s just incredible, you know? Like, I’m looking at SVU to see what’s going to happen next in the headlines, you know about the Sandusky thing.' And, you know I mean that - it’s - I just think it’s really important, you know, because like I said in last year’s episode about, you know there’s a storyline that was very similar to what ended up actually happening up in Pennsylvania. It’s like - my characters says, you know, men are where women were 50 years ago about coming forward with the abuse that they’ve suffered. So, I mean it’s like - you know it’s important to explore that, you know and to, you know not make it such a dark thing, you know? And just to be able to come forward and, you know and talk about it."

Watch "Friending Emily", the latest Law & Order: SVU, tonight at 9:00 PM EST on NBC.

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