Lauren Cohan will play a sports reporter in a March episode of the long-running Dick Wolf procedural.

Lauren Cohan is going from The Walking Dead to Law & Order: SVU.

The actress has been tapped to guest-star in the long-running NBC procedural's "Legitimate Rape" episode, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.

During the episode, set for late March, Cohan will play Avery Jordan, a popular sports reporter who accuses her cameraman of raping her. When she learns she's pregnant from the encounter, she opts to keep the baby. The role of the cameraman has yet to be cast.



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The episode will focus on the "legitimate rape" controversy that erupted during the 2012 election when Senate nominee Todd Akin, R-Miss., said that pregnancy rarely occurs as the result of what he called "legitimate rape." (Akin later issued an apology for his remarks.)

For Cohan, the casting comes after her Walking Dead character Maggie was sexually abused during an episode of the zombie drama earlier this season.

In addition to Walking Dead, Cohan's credits include The Vampire Diaries, Chuck and Supernatural. She's repped by APA and Liberman-Zerman.

Law & Order: SVU airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit