A new trailer for Law & Order: SVU season 27 reveals the return of the show’s worst psychopath. Having been on the air since 1999, Olivia Benson has seen her fair share of devious criminals. Unlike the One Chicago franchise, Law & Order: SVU tends to focus on the cases instead of the personal arcs of its cast. That said, there are times that its stories serve as a perfect crossover between the two.

Throughout its run, this kind of story has been tackled several times in an effort to shake things up for the procedural, as well as increase its stakes. Almost all members of Benson’s SVU Manhattan squad have been targeted or become collateral damage to the case that they are tackling. For Law & Order: SVU season 27, NBC is once again telling a similar story, only this time, it’s standing on a 13-year history between Amanda Rollins and the culprit.

NBC (via TVPromos/YouTube) has released the trailer for Law & Order: SVU season 27, episode 11 featuring the return of Henry Mesner. In the clip, the notorious psychopath has significantly grown since the last time he was on the show in 2021. While he is still locked up, he appears to have been able to convince someone to execute his plans to terrorize Rollins. Watch the video below:

Henry was introduced in Law & Order: SVU season 14, episode 19, “Born Psychopath.” What was supposed to be a simple family dispute resulted in one of the most intriguing long arcs in the show. The case was a departure from the sex crimes that Benson and her squad usually handled, as it involved the exploration of Henry’s psychopathic tendencies — something that his parents wanted to ignore until he went after them.

The last time that Henry was on Law & Order: SVU, he was finally locked up following a gruesome trial case where he tried manipulating the court. What’s interesting is that throughout this whole ordeal, he has shifted his target from those closest to him to Rollins. While multiple episode arcs are not new to Law & Order: SVU, being able to tell this story across nearly a decade and a half highlights the unique storytelling benefit of having a long-running show.

Whether Henry’s Law & Order: SVU season 27 return will finally wrap up his story is uncertain. At this point, even if he survives the upcoming storyline, it safe to say that he will once again try to get back at Rollins when he gets another chance in the future. The aging process of the actor really sells the storyline, and since he’s still relatively young, it would be interesting to follow him into his full adulthood.