‘It’s on’: Mariska Hargitay shares selfie with Law & Order partner Christopher Meloni confirming reunion between Stabler and Benson in new spin-off
Law & Order: SVU fans, rejoice!
On Sunday, Mariska Hargitay posted a selfie with Christopher Meloni to her Instagram and added the caption: ‘It’s on.’
The post appears to be a confirmation of what Meloni hinted at earlier this month – that his return as the headliner of a new Law & order spin-off will include a reunion with his former on-screen partner and co-star.
Reunion confirmation: Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay posted a selfie with Christopher Meloni to her Instagram on Sunday and added the caption: ‘It’s on’
In the snap, the two smile into the camera as they touch heads and Hargitay holds onto Meloni’s hand as he puts one arm around her.
The actor starred for 12 seasons as NYPD Detective Elliot Stabler and his partnership with Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson was one of the most successful in TV history.
Meloni, however, walked away from the Dick Wolf procedural in 2011.
Hargitay remained, with her character now heading up the Special Victims Unit and the record-breaking NBC drama is now is going into its 22nd season with the actress in the lead role.
Exited: Meloni and Hargitay originated the roles of Elliott Stabler and Olivia Benson in Dick Wolf’s Law & Order: SVU. But Meloni walked away in 2011 after 12 seasons
Star power: Hargitay remained, with her character now heading up the Special Victims Unit and the NBC drama is now is going into its 22nd season with the actress in the lead role
Back in harness: Meloni returns this fall as Detective Stabler In Law & Order: Organized Crime in which he heads up an elite squad tasked with taking down NYC’s crime syndicates
In an interview with the NY Post, published on July 7, Meloni promised that when his Law & Order: SVU character returns to TV this fall, he will reunite with Hargitay’s Olivia Benson.
‘It just has to be. Benson and Stabler are inextricably linked, locked and connected,’ Meloni, 59, told th Post.
In Law & Order: Organized Crime, Detective Stabler returns to head up an elite squad tasked with taking down New York’s City’s most powerful crime syndicates.
He’s back on the job comes ‘after a devastating personal loss’, according to NBC, and the series follows him as he aims ‘to find absolution and rebuild his life’.
Meloni suggested the eagerness of fans to see Stabler and Benson back together will lead to multiple crossovers between Law & Order: SVU and the upcoming new spin-off Law & Order: Organized Crime.
‘I think there is truly and deeply a worthwhile, inherent drama in exploring that relationship and the complexity of how Stabler left — the unresolved emotions both characters feel and how the fans feel,’ Meloni said.
The new show is scheduled to premiere in the fall on Thursdays at 10 p.m. right after Law & Order: SVU.
Production, however, has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
‘It just has to be,’ Meloni, 59, said of a reunion. ‘Benson and Stabler are inextricably linked, locked and connected.’ He’s pictured with Hargitay and Law & Order creator Dick Wolf in 2003