Law & Order: SVU is in the midst of delivering some of the most anticipated episodes from its historic Season 22, and even though the series is currently on a small break, fans are still getting content from the cast. The longest-running primetime U.S. live action series in the history of television recently wrapped filming for the season, and it clearly features another big cameo from Organized Crime's Christopher Meloni, as he and Mariska Hargitay are celebrating the accomplishment together!
Mariska Hargitay, who portrays Olivia Benson, and Christopher Meloni, who portrays Elliot Stabler, finished filming for the NBC crime drama together and couldn’t help but share the news with with the fandom. Meloni posted a fun and fancy free video to his Instagram of him and Hargitay, dancing in celebration as Season 22 comes to a close, with swag on full display. Check it out!
The fun video proves just how close the two former co-stars are. When Law & Order: SVU began in 1999, Detective Olivia Benson was partnered with Detective Elliot Stabler, and while nobody could have expected just how beloved that partnership would become, it’s no wonder why they’ve remained close in the years since Christopher Meloni departed the series. The chemistry the two characters shared on screen was due in part to the chemistry the actors share in real life. Fans were surely heartbroken when Stabler left, and it seemed like a huge number of those fans tuned in to see his long-awaited return earlier this season.
Christopher Meloni was a series regular from Seasons 1-12, with his character going into retirement. It was then announced in 2019 that Meloni would be reprising his role as Elliot Stabler for the new spinoff Law & Order: Organized Crime. In the franchise's super-hyped crossover earlier this year, Stabler came back to the Special Victims Unit to help find his wife’s killer, and hardened emotions were everywhere. The episode was a lead-in for Meloni's standalone series, in which Stabler has now come out of retirement to lead an NYPD organized crime task force.
Season 22 gave fans a chance to see Elliot Stabler in the flesh once again, and the fact that it kicked off a new chapter in the Law & Order franchise was a huge bonus. Though what really mattered, of course, was seeing Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni back together again and reminding fans why Olivia and Stabler was the best partnership on SVU, if not all of crime drama-dom. Although there’s no telling just how much more Olivia and Stabler fans will be getting for the remainder of the season, there's definitely more crossover action on the way on the veteran series, along with other SVU characters possibly popping up in the freshman drama.
It’s been so nice to see Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni together this season after all these years. And even though the end of Season 22 isn't that far away, this historic season seems like it may get even better from here. The next episode, “Trick-Rolled at the Moulin,” is set to air on May 13, and will be yet another crossover with Organized Crime, so fans will get to see Olivia and Stabler trying to track perps down for two full hours.
Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime return Thursday, May 13 on NBC.
