Law & Order: SVU executive producer Neal Baer told TV Guide Magazine back in February that “one of the SVU family” would die in the shows tenth season finale. Rumors flew that it was Munch (Richard Belzer) on his way out. However, the unlucky victim turns out to be forensics guy Ryan O’Halloran (Mike Doyle), who took a knife in the chest to earn his own chalk outline. TV Guide Magazine talked to the actor a few hours before his final SVU appearance.

When did you find out that you were slated to be killed?
Neal Baer gave me a call in the middle of April, a couple of weeks before we started shooting the finale. He assured me that it had nothing to do with me personally or my ability as an actor, but they were making some changes on the show next year. Neal wanted someone to die in the end and rather than peter my character out, he wanted to give him a proper send-off with a bang. Or a—what’s the sound of a knife? A shhh.

You were shanked. A term you might know from your days on Oz.
It was my first time being shanked, but I’ve been killed in many things that I’ve done over the years.. I was electrocuted on Oz, shot and blown up on a show called Smith. In a TV movie called The Loss of Innocence, I was shot on a deer hunt, mistaken for a deer by Rob Estes, who was sleeping with my wife, Jennie Garth. This is like the seventh time I’ve died in a decade. I’m starting to get a complex.

Were you a budget victim?
There wasn’t any indication that it had anything to do with budgetary considerations or the economy. I’ve been on the show for six years and my understanding is that they’re going to introduce some new faces next year.

You were killed by one of your own. The creepy forensics wannabe Dale Stuckey. That’s cold.
Yes. I think people were either rooting for him to be killed or to be the killer. (laughs) Noel Fisher is a really incredible actor and he accomplishes that thing that good actors do. He makes people hate him.

He was pretty creepy in Life recently.
He’s a great guy. It was kind of funny because I was his mentor in the forensics lab. So when we were shooting the final episode, I was like, “You son of a b----! You gonna die!!’ He’s like, ‘Dude, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean it.’”

We should have known. His character was such a screw-up.
Yeah, there was definitely a mark on Stucky. He messed up cases and in the finale, ultimately he tried to correct an error by going on a homicidal rampage to blame it on a real serial killer. Not necessarily the best means to an end.

What do we know about O’Halloran after all these years?
There was one little glimpse several seasons ago that I was on a date that Benson called me out of and I wasn’t too pleased. They costumed me with a snazzy wardrobe. So I was like, “ Ok, that’s good.” I was kind of the go-to guy who was confined to the lab or the crime scene, always solving the crime, I might add. But never getting the glory. Out of 53 episodes, I solved about half the crimes! My poor hands have never actually been shown on television. Except for maybe two episodes, they were always in latex gloves. I was very, very good at my job.

What was the most fun about being part of the SVU ensemble?
The most fun was working on a cop show in New York City. I couldn’t ask for a better place to work and a better show to work on in New York. From the top on down. That’s what’s made going to work a joy and the prospect of not returning all the harder because I forged some very, very tight bonds on the show.

Who did you get close to on the show?
Mariska and I are very close friends.

What can you say about Chris and Mariska’s probably signing on to another season?
I’m excited for her. I think the eleventh season is going to be really interesting for their characters. I’m just happy that they’re coming back and have come to an agreement.

Did the rest of the cast think the show could really work without Mariska and Chris?
I think everybody was hopeful that it could. Fortunately, it looks like they don’t have to test that out because they are coming back.

Did you keep your death a secret?
I did from a lot of people. I only told the friends who were with me when I got the call.. Their first response was “Not again!” But six seasons on anything is really a blessing for an actor.

You’ve appeared on lots of shows, but would you agree that Oz got you a bit of notoriety?
Yes, I was a pretty unsavory character on Oz. That was a brutal trajectory that Tom Fontana had me on, from being sold to the Aryans to being gang raped by the gang to being their bitch to being electrocuted on a fence.

Well, you were so mean to that nice Tobias Beecher. Weren’t you?
I was a rapist, c’mon! I was a bad guy! When I got on the show, I said to my mom, “You might want to watch a couple episodes before I come on.” She watched one, and said “Oh, Michael, I don’t think I can watch this.” And by the end of the season, she was, “What’s going to happen to Beecher and Keller?”

What other roles are you most proud of?
I met SVU’s executive producer Neal Baer on ER about 10 years ago when I did an episode. He wrote a scene about a schizophrenic law student who attacks his car because he hears voices that tell him to attack his wife, who was played by Jessica Capshaw. Neal wrote this really beautiful part and little did I know that I would work for Neal on his other show, which was really fantastic. It’s nice when you feel watched out for.

You’re described frequently as a producer, director and writer as well as an actor. True?
Yeah, I produced , wrote and directed a short film that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2006 called Shiner. It starred Amy Ryan, a good friend of mine, who was nominated for an Oscar for Gone, Baby Gone and George Morfogen from Oz. I’m developing a feature right now in addition to my day job as an actor.

What’s next in your day job?
I am so fortunate that as we were shooting the finale, trying hard not to get too sad about leaving the show, I got cast in the new Nicole Kidman movie, Rabbit Hole. It’s based on a play but they’ve opened up the story and there are a bunch of supporting characters. Aaron Eckhart is in it. John Cameron Mitchell is directing. Rabbit Hole is about a couple who loses their child in front of their home, and my wife (Ali Marsh) and I and our child are trying to buy that house, which kind of brings up all of what happened.

Lots of luck. Sorry about the knife to the chest.
You know, it’s good to have the opportunity to not stay in one place too long. That’s what great about an actor’s life. You come back to life in great and unexpected ways. I’m grateful for the time I had on SVU and I’m also grateful for coming back to life sooner rather than later in Rabbit Hole.

What did you think of O'Halloran's death? Will the show be the same without him next season?