 " Scorched Earth " was written by David Matthews and was directed by Michael Slovis . It is the first episode produced under the direction of Warren Leight , who replaced Neal Baer as showrunner after the twelfth season . It is also the first episode of the series without leading costar Christopher Meloni , who left the cast in May 2011 after the negotiations for his new contract failed . In June 2011 , Kelli Giddish and Danny Pino were subsequently added to the cast as Detectives Amanda Rollins and Nick Amaro , respectively . While this episode marks the debut of Giddish 's character , Pino 's character is not introduced until the next episode . In August 2011 , it was announced that Linus Roache would reprise his role as Michael Cutter from the original Law & Order . 
