[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Law & Order: SVU Season 27 premiere “In the Wind.”]

Law & Order: SVU delivers a shocking blow moments into its Season 27 premiere on Thursday, September 25. Heading into the episode, we knew that Christopher Meloni (Elliot Stabler), BD Wong (Dr. George Huang), and Dean Winters (Brian Cassidy) would be back for the episode. But we couldn’t have predicted it would be to say goodbye to a beloved character.

The new season of SVU not only opens up with a major death — the actor doesn’t even appear! — but it also has Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Sergeant Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T) discussing retirement, Fin being attacked, and the new chief of detectives offering Benson a new job!

Read on for a complete breakdown of the Season 27 premiere’s major moments.

Cragen’s dead?!

The premiere opens up with Benson walking into a bar for … Cragen’s wake?! (Dann Florek only appears in a video from his retirement party playing on the TV.) Yes, SVU killed Cragen off off-screen. Huang is the first to greet her with a hug and an offer to talk, then she bumps into Cassidy who makes it clear he’s on his way out. (But she’s OK with seeing her ex.)

“He was the best boss I ever had,” Benson says as she and ADA Sonny Carisi (Peter Scanavino) watch his speech on the TV. “Everything I know about being a captain, I learned from him.” She then tells Captain Renee Curry (Aimé Donna Kelly), “This one hit hard.”

And, as Benson later tells a rape survivor, who asks how she doesn’t get tired doing her job every day, “Are you good at what you do? Yeah, but you have this voice inside that tells you you’re not good enough, you’re not worthy. I get that because I have that same voice inside, but I had this really great boss, who believed in me and who told me I was worthy, and then eventually, I started to believe it. He worked a lot longer than he needed to because he was so good at his job and because it gave his life meaning. He and I were a lot alike, and I don’t think I fully realized it until after he was gone. … You are correct. These cases are hard. They’re brutal. You’re not wrong about that. But I am here with you. It is OK that you are tired because I’m not. And it’s OK if you don’t want to fight because I’m still going to fight for you.”

Stabler returns & shares a moment with Benson

On Benson’s way to a crime scene, she finds Stabler, leaning against her car, outside the bar. He doesn’t like funerals, he says. “I just feel like we’re entering into our all our friends are dying era,” she admits, and he agrees, calling it “the worst era.” They can’t go back, not that he’d want to, but “we had a pretty good run there for a minute,” he says. She points out, “We still do, just different.” They part with a hug and a “love you” from Stabler.

Fin’s attacked — what he hides from Benson

At Cragen’s wake, Fin reveals, after he and Benson encounter a retired NYPD officer, that he has thought about taking his pension and living a little while he still can. “Not like tomorrow,” he clarifies to Benson. “It’s crossed my mind. I don’t want to do this forever. Do you?”

On his way home from the bar, Fin interrupts an attack in progress, only to have been set up: He, in turn, is attacked, and his gun is taken. He confides in Detectives Terry Bruno (Kevin Kane) and Joe Velasco (Octavio Pisano), who are making sure that the Brooklyn cops on the case are doing their job (“They’re not like us” is an understatement), about his weapon but keeps it from Benson.

But Sergeant Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish, once again a series regular) clues Benson in because Intelligence had someone in the bar where Bruno and Velasco followed a lead. It’s a confidential report, and no one will see it, but she figured enough people were keeping the captain in the dark.

Benson then goes to see Fin in the hospital and calls him out on the fact that with how long they’ve worked together, she thought she put in the time and work to earn his trust. He protests he was protecting her, but she doesn’t need that. He apologizes.

Virginia Sherwood/NBC

“I know that we’re closer to the end than the beginning, I feel that I still have more to do, but we all need to decide how we want to go out. If you are willing to throw away all the years that we have worked together, all the trust that we have built, then maybe you should retire,” Benson tells him. “Just save us all the heartache.”

But he’s not going anywhere. “I thought this might have been a message for me to get out while I still can, but I’m not throwing anything away, Liv. And I’m not ready to retire until I earn your trust back,” Fin says.

Why is Benson arrested?

The case-of-the-week involves a woman who was raped by the man whose apartment she rented, and the only person who can ID him is the super, who’s worried about ICE arresting him. But with Benson appealing to his cousin and then him, he agrees to testify — only for ICE to show up at the precinct to bring him in. However, Benson has Velasco arrest him (he’s a material witness), and in turn, the lead agent cuffs her. That doesn’t last long; the next scene is Carisi freeing her, with an apology from the field office director for the misunderstanding.

But ICE is waiting to bring in the man after he takes the stand — the judge refuses to let them stay in her court — and Carisi assures him an immigration lawyer will be waiting at the detention center. Later, the new chief of detectives, Kathryn Tynan (Noma Dumezweni), tells Benson she made a couple calls and got him an S visa and he’s in the process of becoming a legal immigrant.

Will Benson retire? Chief offers her new job

Tynan first makes her appearance at Cragen’s wake, approaching Benson and praising her unbelievable clearance rate. She wants to talk big picture and work closely, she says, with Benson the standard she wants everyone to meet. (She also knew Cragen.)

Rollins then tells Benson that she started at the NYPD, moved to Philly, and is planning to bring in people from Philly. She values loyalty, is very hands on and politically connected. Rollins thinks changes are coming.

But Benson’s definitely not ready for one of those changes to be her. Tynan calls her into her office at 1PP and comments that she’s good at running her own police department, but she values communication (like with the situation with ICE). She also has an idea to run by her: She’s thinking about consolidating special victims across all five boroughs and creating a deputy chief position, which would be in 1PP. Every unit would report to that person — and Tynan wants it to be Benson.

Benson seems to be at a loss, but Tynan keeps trying to sell it to her. She’d have more authority and the opportunity to get everyone on the same page, and she’d be able to take what she does in her own squad and do it all over the city. “Kind of a great way to think about ending your career,” she adds.

But Benson makes it clear: “I’m not thinking about ending my career anytime soon.” Tynan agrees, adding she wouldn’t accept that, but “just down the line.” Benson’s not looking to make any changes. But then as she’s walking out, Tynan lets her know she’s bringing on someone new to her squad (with Fin recovering) and Benson can’t refuse — and  she knows about Fin losing his gun. Uh-oh.

Has SVU set up Velasco’s exit?

The premiere ends with Velasco walking home when a car pulls up alongside him. The person inside tells him to get in, and he does. Will this lead to how SVU will be writing out Velasco with Pisano no longer a series regular?

What did you think of the SVU premiere, Cragen’s off-screen death, Benson’s job offer, Stabler’s return, and Fin possibly retiring? Let us know in the comments section below.

Law & Order: SVU, Thursdays, 9/8c, NBC