A lot of TV programs have gotten back to work over the last few weeks. This includes Law & Order: Organized Crime, the spinoff that returned Christopher Meloni back to the Law & Order fold. There was some question of when Law & Order: SVU might get back to work given Mariska Hargitay’s injury -- that came at the Black Widow screening no less! -- but now it seems our question has been answered. SVU is back baby, though Hargitay is sporting crutches on set.
Captain Olivia Benson is not one to let an injury bring her down. The longtime lead of Law & Order: SVU was spotted back on set recently, according to images captured by Splash News (and can be seen via Today). The images see Olivia Benson in crutches after breaking her ankle, but it seems the show must go on.
Presumably the series is going to have to do some TV magic to work around the crutches. I would assume the show could have written in a foot or ankle injury of some sort, but the problem seems to be that the outfit that Mariska Hargitay was sporting on her first day back at work is the very same outfit she sported during the events of the Season 22 finale, which --and brief spoilers -- included a wedding setup that never materialized into an actual wedding. You can see the dress in the image at the top of the story and Hargitay herself confirmed she’s back in the floral dress for the Season 23 premiere in her own post from set.
Given the show seems to be picking up where it left off, this indicates to me that Olivia Benson will probably not be getting her very own ankle injury. But we’ll have to wait and see what the Season 23 premiere brings to the table. Meanwhile, Mariska Hargitay’s ankle is very much still broken. The NBC star confirmed the news herself at the beginning of July amidst reports that she had been leaving a Black Widow screening when she was caught in inclement weather and slipped. She since has said she’s been gearing up for Season 23 of Law & Order: SVU and seems to be rearing to go:
Reports indicate that Mariska Hargitay had already been recovering from an ankle fracture (her other ankle), knee break and more when the new injury occurred. Despite the bad luck this summer, she has been treating the setback with her usual humor, even captioning one of her posts with hashtags like “Captain Crunch” and “special ankle unit.” I assume this won't be the end of this sort of joke as she gets back into the swing of things on SVU.
Speaking of, NBC had originally planned a full block of Law & Order spinoffs this fall, but with one spinoff now cancelled, that's changing a bit. You can see what NBC and the other networks have in the works with our full Fall TV premiere schedule. And of course, once Mariska Hargitay is off the crutches and in full Olivia Benson beast mode, we'll be sure to keep you updated.
