The latest “SVU” episodes started airing in early October — and there was so much to take in: Fin still recovering from being shot (again!) last season, a new head of the trial division and a fresh detective joining the squad. How can you keep everybody straight? Just follow along with our refresher on the amazing “SVU” cast.

Mariska Hargitay (Captain Olivia Benson)

Even folks who don’t watch “SVU” likely have heard of Olivia Benson. Hargitay has played the unflinching, warm-hearted character since the show’s debut in 1999. Not only did she win an Emmy for the role in 2006, she’s also directed multiple episodes.

Over the years, Benson has gone from being the junior detective working with the protective Detective Elliot Stabler to running the precinct’s Special Victims Unit. More recently, she’s reunited with Stabler on a working and a personal level, something fans are still hoping will evolve further. But meanwhile, Benson remains the watcher, the listener and the safe haven for all of the special victims whose cases come across her desk.

“It’s one of these things where I just feel like I’m stepping into myself — as is Olivia — and it’s sort of the perfect feminist story,” Hargitay told TODAY in October.

“(She) has blossomed into her full self, and into the leader and into the lioness and into her power, and has found who she truly is as an individual,” she added.

Ice-T (Sergeant Odafin ‘Fin’ Tutuola)

Fin first appeared in “SVU’s” second season and quickly became a favorite. He’s a sharp, street-smart detective who’s risen to second-in-command in the department and is a valuable asset to Benson.

At the end of last season, though, he faced a particular danger: getting shot. He’d been shot one other time in the series, in 2004. In this case, the son of a suspect cornered Fin and demanded to know why his father was in jail. The young man accidentally pulled the trigger while Fin was trying to defuse the situation. Fortunately, Fin was only shot in the arm and initially kept the story behind his injury a secret from Benson.

Keeping secrets will continue to be a theme in Season 26 for Benson and Fin.

“SVU” executive producer David Graziano told TODAY.com in September that the show plans to “have some fun” with Benson going to Fin with “some agendas that she wants to keep from other people, for whatever reason, and for her own reason, and just confide in Fin.”

Peter Scanavino (Assistant District Attorney Dominick ‘Sonny’ Carisi)

When Scanavino first joined the show as Carisi in Season 16, he was the empathetic and experienced detective Benson wanted on her squad, but in Season 21 he transitioned into the best ADA the SVU gang could have on their side. He’s a close friend of Benson’s and married and had a child with his former partner, Detective Amanda Rollins (played by Kelli Giddish). Rollins eventually left SVU, though, so she’s no longer consistently on the show. She has made a few guest appearances since leaving her full-time role in 2022 and will reprise her character again in Season 26.

At the end of Season 25, Carisi was learning to work with a new boss: Trial Division Chief Heidi Russell (Kate Loprest), who put pressure on him to conclude a case. It’s yet to be seen whether she’ll become a regular character.

Octavio Pisano (Detective Joe Velasco)

Originally from Mexico, Velasco started out life running with a bad crowd, but then had a change of heart and signed on with the NYPD years later. He’s experienced in undercover situations and has been part of a few on “SVU” already. He began appearing in Season 23 and has also made appearances on “Law & Order: Organized Crime.”

Kevin Kane (Detective Terry Bruno)

Bruno is a veteran of more than one SVU department — before joining the Manhattan one, he spent time as a detective in the Bronx version. He started appearing in Season 24 and replaced Detective Rollins when she left the unit.

Juliana Aidén Martinez (Detective Kate Silva)

Silva’s another new hire in the department, making her debut in the first episode of Season 26. She’s a former detective in Brooklyn’s homicide division, and Graziano previously told TODAY.com Silva’s dad is the deputy commissioner of collaborative policing.

Martinez, who spent many years living in New York City before joining “SVU,” explained in a September interview with TODAY.com that 9/11 is one of the events that impacted Silva and influenced her to join the NYPD.

“We were kids of 9/11, and how that impacted me, and what I wanted to contribute to the world,” she said. “And you see someone, with Kate, that is very authentic to who I am, what my experience is being a young woman in New York.”