More than 20 years after TV viewers first met Capt. Donald Cragen (Dann Florek) on Law & Order, the actor — not to mention fans — still doesn’t quite have his character figured out. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I always like when the writers throw a curve ball or when I discover something new because playing a character like this, to me, is like hanging out with a really good friend,” Florek tells TVGuide.com. “I would never presume that I know everything about him.”

Florek will learn a lot more about his “friend” on Wednesday’s episode of Law & Order: SVU (airing at 10/9c on NBC) when Cragen volunteers to go undercover as a man seeking a mail-order Russian bride. Although ADA Cabot (Stephanie March) is quick to warn the captain not to get emotionally involved with his fake date, that proves much easier said than done. “When you go undercover, one of the key things you have to do is play a character as close to yourself as possible so you don’t get caught up in lies,” Florek says. “He winds up speaking about being married, losing his wife, difficulty having children and he becomes flooded with these emotions that he thought he had put away neatly in boxes in his psyche somewhere.”

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