Michaela McManus out at SVU, Plus Lots of Speculation

Over at E! Online, they got some great scoopage from SVU's Neal Baer, who reports that Michaela McManus is out, the season finale won't be until June 2 -- and that somebody's getting killed. Key excerpts:

Someone's going to die on the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit finale..... When we asked Neal if we'd be losing a series regular, he would only say this: "It's a castmember." .... For some reason, Detective Munch's (Richard Belzer) name always comes up whenever the talk turns to SVU departures. Could it finally be time? Being the slick exec that he is, when asked if Munch were leaving, Neal played coy, saying, "I hope not. Well, we'll see." .... When we asked Neal about Stephanie March's future on SVU, he told us: "Stephanie is in the next-to-the-last episode; she's not in the last episode." .... Neal did confirm that Michaela McManus won't be back on SVU, but also that the door is not entirely closed on that other A.D.A. we all love, Diane Neal's Casey Novak. "Well, she was disbarred for a year but as I said, life is unpredictable." ..... One last thing, Neal mentioned another very special guest star coming up. We can't name names just yet, but he reveals that "an Oscar-winning performer is coming on in the next-to-the-last episode."

New L&O ADA to replace Diane Neal

And now we know who our new ADA will be. Ladies and gentlepeoples, meet Michaela McManus. From today's Hollywood Reporter:

"I'm delighted that Michaela is joining the cast of SVU as its newest series regular," "Law & Order" chief Dick Wolf said. "We look forward to her working with Neal (Baer), Ted (Kotcheff) and me to create another interesting and memorable character in the Law & Order universe."

McManus, who recurred as Linsey Strauss on "One Tree Hill," is repped by UTA and Principal Entertainment.

No idea how old she is, but between the OTH connection and her appearance, I'll wager she wasn't more than a babe when the original L&O series debuted. Just sayin'.

Oh, one other detail: E! Online says she used to be the receptionist at the gym where E!'s headquarters are.