With Law & Order: SVU in its milestone 25th season, NBC has been going all out to celebrate. Following a big 25th anniversary celebration that brought out many SVU stars, the network decided to go even harder with another event. It was previously announced that NBC was going to transform the famous Rockefeller Plaza in New York City into Olivia Benson Plaza, immersing attendees into the world of Law & Order. Now, after seeing Mariska Hargitay's snaps from the tribute pop-up, I'm feeling some major FOMO.
The Olivia Benson Plaza event took place on Thursday, March 14 and Friday, March 15, and a lot of people came out to see it. Mariska Hargitay shared some photos from the event on her Instagram Stories, which even included a snap of a Subway entrance that was L&O themed. Honestly, it’s like you really are being dropped off at Olivia Benson Plaza at SVU 25:
The pop-up also had some specialty-named coffee from Benson & Co. Coffee, with hot drinks such as Latte & Order, Benson’s Captain-ccino, Carisi’s Classic Americano, Cup of Joe Velasco, Bruno’s Blend (Decaf) and Fin’s Iced Tea, pun intended. There were also some newspapers appropriately titled Law & Order Ledger, with the front page story being “Celebrating 25 Years of Justice.” Twenty-five years is a long time to play a role, and Olivia Benson and the series are still going strong.
If you don’t have enough FOMO from the pictures Mariska Hargitay posted, the official Law & Order Instagram account shared a reel that will really make you want to be there. It's not just because Ice-T and some Season 24 newcomers were present either. Overall, Olivia Benson Plaza was undoubtedly the place to be, and I wish it was a year-round plaza rather than a two day pop up:
It really is about time that NBC did an immersive Law & Order: SVU experience, and the 25th anniversary was the perfect moment to do so. While it is a disappointment that it was only up for two days and only in New York, both do make sense. The series takes place in the Big Apple, and considering they transformed NBC's headquarters, you can’t really have it be there for too long because it is still the iconic 30 Rock no matter how big SVU is.
Those in New York City are still able to check out the experience on Friday. Hopefully, they will do it again in the future and for even longer so we don't have to feel this FOMO. Perhaps if SVU somehow makes it another 25 years, the 50th tribute pop-up will be even more epic. At least new episodes of SVU are airing on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC on the 2024 TV schedule and the series is available in full with a Peacock subscription, so fans can still immerse themselves in the world of Law & Order.
