Christopher Meloni Reveals Mariska Hargitay Will Make an Appearance on ‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’
Some good news for Law & Order: SVU fans. Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler will reunite on the upcoming spinoff series Law & Order: Organized Crime. Actor Christopher Meloni — who plays Stabler — shared the exciting news during an appearance on The Talk on July 29.
Mariska Hargitay will be a guest on ‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’
For years, Meloni and Mariska Hargitay (Benson) were a team on Law & Order: SVU. But Meloni decided to leave the show in 2011 after 12 seasons, much to the dismay of the show’s fans. Now, with Meloni reprising his role as the tough NYPD detective in a new Law & Order series, viewers will finally see the pair together again.
The Talk co-host Sharon Osbourne asked Meloni if Hargitay might pop up on the upcoming show.
“Oh yeah,” he replied. “How much? I don’t know, because I hear she has her own day job. I think whatever we can slice away, whatever the writers come up with. I think we will both be looking forward to playing with each other in each other’s sandbox.”
Stabler will return for the ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Season 22 premiere
Not only is Hargitay expected to make an appearance on Law & Order: Organized Crime, but Meloni is set to return to SVU for the show’s season 22 premiere, showrunner Warren Leight said in an episode of The Law & Order: SVU Podcast.
“It’s pretty clear that Elliot will be in the SVU season opener,” Leight said. “I think that much I know.”
Stabler was originally supposed to appear in one of the last episodes of season 21, but those plans were put on hold due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Christopher Meloni’s character has ‘evolved’
The Stabler fans see on Law & Order: Organized Crime and new episodes of SVU won’t be the same as the man who left the Special Victims Unit nearly a decade ago. Meloni told the hosts of The Talk that the detective had “evolved” in the intervening years.
The show will also likely address the question of what Stabler has been up to since he and his partner parted ways.
“There are a lot of unanswered questions about how he left, why the silence vis-a-vis Olivia Benson,” Meloni said.
In an appearance on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show, Meloni said he hadn’t seen a script for the new 13-episode series, which has not yet started production. However, the actor said he thought there might have been “a mellowing” in Stabler, and that while he’s still passionate about his job, he’s in a better place with his family and himself.
‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’ will take place in a changed world
Meloni added that the newest Law & Order series will reflect changes in the way people think about law enforcement and crime.
Stabler will be “coming back into a world that, as we’re all experiencing right now, has really changed, with policing and the citizenry,” Meloni said.
“It’s a new day, and there are new ways of going about things,” he said. “So I think those are all issues to address in the show, and I think it’s going to be a challenge for Elliot, one that I think he’ll meet.”
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