Raúl Esparza Exits "Law & Order: SVU"; Philip Winchester Promoted to Series Regular
by Dino-Ray Ramos
Feb. 7, 2018


After six years at "Law & Order: SVU", Raúl Esparza sang his swan song on the NBC procedural tonight.

Tonight’s episode saw Barbra in quite a dilemma after he cut off the life support machine of a brain dead child. He is later tried for murder by attorney Peter Stone (Philip Winchester) — but is found not guilty. Even so, Barbra decides to leave his post at the District Attorney’s office even though Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) tries to get him to stay.



Esparza took to Twitter to officially say goodbye to his character.

"Goodbye Barba. Thank you. You changed my life. My squad. And you, you always, my Liv, my friend Mariska. I will always treasure my time with all of you. #SVU #BarbaOnTrial"




As he walks out the "SVU" door, Philip Winchester, who appeared on "Chicago Justice", will now be a series regular as the SVU‘s new Assistant District Attorney.

http://deadline.com/2018/02/law-and-order-svu-raul-esparza-1202281264/

Raúl Esparza says it was his decision to leave Law & Order: SVU after six seasons (http://ew.com/tv/2018/02/07/law-order-svu-raul-esparza-exit/)
“I just felt it was time to move on,” says the actor, who played Assistant District Attorney Rafael Barba. “I was also feeling like the role has changed over the years in a way that has been an interesting experience for me. Again, I’m a theater guy, so it’s like having a script in front of you that keeps changing every time you go to do it. The learning process of how roles grow over a period of time with a series has been kind of fascinating, and I just felt I had reached the end of what I wanted to explore where they were writing.”

I'm surprised they kept him around for six seasons. He was very "hammy" in his performance. He always seemed to be "acting".

Why Raúl Esparza was the best-ever ADA on Law & Order: SVU (https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/rafael-barba-was-law-order-svu-s-best-ada-fight-me-1822846496)

“The role of the ADA was important—it’d be kind of weird to have a show predicated on law and order without strong casting for the law half of the equation,” says Lindsey Adler. “But throughout most of their stints on the show, (Alexandra) Cabot and (Casey) Novak had a significant supporting cast. (Rafael) Barba, on the other hand, progressed to become the strongest, most interesting personality left on the show with Olivia Benson. Without Munch, Fin’s sting has been somewhat neutered; Nick Amaro was basically the show’s hate-able hot guy; Amanda Rollins has all sorts of problems but has never quite evolved to become Benson’s complement; and while Sonny Carisi is a fantastic police character, the show’s move away from a true procedural has really limited his effectiveness. For my money, SVU’s late-series core duo has been Barba and Benson. It’s a split that makes me genuinely concerned about the worth of the show going forward.” ALSO: Ranking the SVU ADAs.

Can Law & Order: SVU's new ADA overcome his rocky introduction? (https://www.avclub.com/can-law-order-special-victims-unit-overrule-fans-ob-1823335568)
Chicago Justice vet Philip Winchester is set to make his third impression on viewers as Peter Stone.