Ariel Winter was a fixture in primetime for a decade thanks to her role as Alex Dunphy on Modern Family, but bringing the laughs on ABC didn’t mean she couldn’t deliver in a dramatic show. Case in point: Law & Order: SVU, which featured the actress as a guest star in a Season 21 episode back in 2019. Recently, the franchise’s social media pages have been calling back to her performance as “next level,” and revisiting that episode (available streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription) led me to discover just how many Modern Family vets have appeared on SVU.
Ariel Winter In Law & Order: SVU Season 21
Ariel Winter appeared in the second episode of Season 21 of SVU, called “The Darkest Journey Home,” back in October of 2019. The actress sported a different look than she usually did as the bespectacled and dark-haired Alex Dunphy, and it was a look she once again sported following the end of Modern Family. She played Raegan, a young woman who was attacked and needed Benson’s help in putting her memories back together and catching the men responsible. It was a great episode back in 2019, and the Law & Order Instagram page made sure to remind followers of that recently:
Raegan’s storyline was quite dark compared to what Ariel Winter would perform on Modern Family, but it’s no surprise that she was eager to join Mariska Hargitay on the long-running drama for an episode. Speaking with EW before her episode aired, she shared:
It’s my favorite show ever. I’ve been saying it’s my favorite show ever for years and maybe hoping that someone would hear it. I started watching the show in high school, because USA would do those marathons, and I would just watch them. Like, Saturdays and Sundays, if I wasn’t doing anything, I’d be watching all day. And then I started watching it on streaming services, so I could start from the beginning, and then watching it every week when it came out. And I’ve seen every episode, probably, multiple times. And then I got an email that I had been offered a role in the show. I’d never imagined getting that email, so it was the best thing ever. Honestly, I don’t think I opened the email before I called them and was like, ‘Absolutely, any time, will do it. Absolutely.’
While most SVU fans likely can’t relate to Winter living the dream of getting the opportunity to guest star, I think plenty can relate to becoming a fan of the show thanks to USA airing mega SVU marathons! She’s also only one of the Modern Family Dunphys to come to the Law & Order franchise, although she’s definitely the most recent.
Other Modern Family Vets On SVU
Ariel Winter is in fact one of four former Modern Family stars to appear on Law & Order: SVU, with one of her on-screen family members actually playing more than one character on the same show opposite Mariska Hargitay.
Sarah Hyland, who played Hailey Dunphy for all eleven seasons of Modern Family (which you can revisit streaming with a Hulu subscription), made her SVU debut back in the Season 3 premiere in 2001, called “Repression.” She returned in the Season 10 episode called “Hothouse” in 2009, playing a different character. She would also appear in Law & Order and Law & Order: Trial By Jury for good measure before landing her sitcom role.
Ty Burrell, a.k.a. Phil Dunphy, guest-starred on SVU in Season 3’s “Execution,” which aired in 2002 as part of the same season as his future on-screen daughter’s first episode. He would also play two different characters on the original Law & Order between 2000-2003.
Finally, Julie Bowen appeared in a 2008 episode of SVU just one year before she’d begin her long run as Claire Dunphy. Her episode was called “Trials” and was the Season 10 premiere, also featuring Beverly Hills, 90210 alum Luke Perry.
Fortunately, it’s not hard to find any of those episodes if you’re in the mood to see the Modern Family stars in roles other than the Dunphys, as SVU streams on both Peacock and Hulu. NBC has also announced the fall premiere date for Law & Order: SVU Season 26, where it will air as part of the network’s Law & Order Thursdays in the 2024 TV schedule.