Mariska Hargitay Welcomed ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Newcomer Juliana Aidén Martinez With a Huge Bear Hug

“Griselda” star Juliana Aidén Martinez played Miami Detective June Hawkins in the Netflix series, but she joins “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” Thursday night as a very different kind of law enforcement officer — her new character Detective Kate Silva’s father just so happens to be deputy commissioner with the NYPD.

Ahead of the Season 26 premiere on NBC, the actress told TheWrap that she was blown away by the warm welcome she got from “SVU” mainstay Mariska Hargitay, who gave her a “huge bear hug” when they first met, even though Martinez was merely still auditioning for the role at the time.

Martinez also detailed the “indescribable feeling” of filming on the streets of New York as part of such a well-known franchise and how the Miami native considers the city her “second home.”

TheWrap: How did you end up getting this gig: Were the producers big fans of “Griselda,” or had they seen you somewhere else?

Juliana Aidén Martinez: When I came out of grad school, I auditioned for [the Netflix series] “Maid” and Rachel Tenner, the casting director, fell in love with me and cast me in “Griselda.” At the same time, I was in the running for another Dick Wolf show. Jonathan Charles, the casting director, became a fan of mine too, and they were like, “We’ll keep an eye out for you.” So they saw “Griselda,” and they were like, “Hey, we would love to see you for [‘SVU’].”

Can you talk about the differences between playing a real person on “Griselda” versus a fictitious one on “SVU”? And the differences in playing a Miami cop vs. one in the NYPD?

I was born in Miami, but I moved to New York as a teenager and who I am as a young woman today is deeply influenced by New York. It’s really cool to play someone that was from my hometown of Miami, with “Griselda,” and then to play someone who’s from my second home of New York.

With Kate Silva for “SVU,” it’s a blank canvas, so to speak. It was more collaborative with the writers, who were like, “Well, who do we want this person to be then?,” than with “Griselda,” where there was a pool of information to source from.

What kind of things did you and the writers come up with for your character?

We talked about what it felt like to be young women today, especially in a city like New York, and this idea of my generation being the kids of 9/11 and how deeply that impacted us. It fundamentally changed United States policy and our culture overall. I feel like there’s pre-9/11 and there’s post-9/11 and we kids experienced that.

In the first episode, we learn Kate transferred from Homicide to SVU. Why did she want to make that move?

There’s a phrase in the first episode where Velasco (Octavio Pisano) says to Kate, “You must be a glutton for punishment,” because a cop said that to him.

Our writer David Graziano connected with cops who work in Brooklyn and one of the things he asked was, “What if a woman goes from Homicide to SVU?”

And they had said, “Well, she must be a glutton for punishment,” and he thought that was really interesting. The reason why I would do that is explored in the season. There’s a lot of layers to it.

Was Olivia a big factor in why Kate wanted to join that unit?

Kate grew up knowing, of course, who this formidable woman was. Captain Benson is such a legacy as a character, but also in the SVU world she’s a legacy. She’s seeking someone who has changed what justice is for women, and she wants to find what it took and the skills that it took in order to continue that legacy.

Were you a fan of “SVU” before this?

I watched it when I was in high school with my friends. When I joined “SVU,” I asked my two best friends, “What are your first memories of ‘SVU’?” And they said, “I remember watching it together,” and I thought that that was such an interesting observation. I feel like for so many young women, they’re watching it with their friends or their family. There’s some kind of [communal] or familial aspect to watching it.

What’s it been like been filming on the streets of New York? Do fans come up to you?

Absolutely. That’s the coolest. It was one of the most surprising phenomenons for me. When we were filming “Griselda,” we were filming in L.A. and we were under a code name in these isolated exteriors. So I never really saw people. We’d be in Pomona or somewhere kind of deserted and no one knew what we were filming.

Nobody knew what “Griselda” was, but everyone knows “SVU,” everyone knows Mariska Hargitay. To have people from Italy, or Uruguay, or France, shout, “Hey, SVU, SVU!,” it’s such a unique experience. And it feels like we’re filming with the city. It’s an indescribable feeling.

What was the thing that surprised you the most about once you got to the set?

This is not cliché at all, or I don’t mean it to be, but it surprised me how welcoming and incredible Mariska is. I always knew who she was as a cultural icon, as an activist, as this incredible woman and advocate who has done amazing things with this show.

But when I came in for screen test and I walked on set for the first time, I was a bit like a deer in headlights walking around. I heard her voice, and she said, “Hey, you, come here, this is where you belong.” And she gave me this huge bear hug that made such an impression on me, because she’s just so powerful and yet warm and generous and supportive.

That was when you were just doing a screen test and you hadn’t been cast yet?

Yeah, she’s truly a mother.

Was your family already fans of the show?

My mom is a fan. My dad is as Colombian as they come, so we [usually] only watch Telemundo but, he’s going to watch [now] because of me. But my mom immediately knew the show, and my best friend’s mom as well, and my best friends, of course. They’ve been really, really excited, because they know how much I care about female stories and social progress, and I care about finding a way to move the needle forward for women.

Season 26 of “Law & Order: SVU” premieres Thursday night at 9 p.m. on NBC and streams next day on Peacock.

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