‘Law & Order: SVU’: Mariska Hargitay Confirms Appearance in Christopher Meloni’s ‘Organized Crime’ Stabler Spinoff

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Mariska Hargitay shared another selfie with Christopher Meloni on Monday, assuring SVU viewers that Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler are working together again. Hargitay included other behind-the-scenes photos that confirmed Benson would appear on Stabler’s spin-off series, Law & Order: Organized Crime. The new series is expected to debut later this season, following an SVU episode with Stabler.

“It’s all happening,” Benson wrote in the caption. After the selfie, she included photos of their chairs on the Organized Crime set. The first showed Benson and Stabler’s names printed on the front, with the Organized Crime logo on the back. In less than an hour, the comments section for the post was overflowing with excited fans. “This is everything we’ve ever wanted. Ready for flashbacks to watching when I was 12 lol,” one fan wrote. “This made my heart smile,” another added. “AAAAAHHHHHH I’m beyond excited,” one chimed in.

Hargitay and Meloni have been sharing selfies with each other on Instagram for months, just to get fans more excited about Stabler’s long-awaited return to SVU. Meloni was last seen on the show in the Season 12 finale and was never given a proper send-off. After Meloni and NBC did not come to terms on a new contract, SVU just came back for a 13th season with no Stabler, who was said to have left the force. Now, Stabler is back and will be leading his own police squad in Organized Crime.

The birth of Organized Crime has not been easy. First, the pandemic delayed production, then the first showrunner, One Chicago franchise veteran Matt Olmstead, dropped out. He was replaced by Ilene Chaiken, who created The L World and worked on Fox’s Empire. The new Law & Order is expected to air at 10 p.m. ET on Thursdays, after SVU, which starts at 9 p.m. ET.

Organized Crime will be the first new Law & Order series since Law & Order True Crime: The Menedez Murders aired in 2017. It is the first attempt at a regular series since Law & Order: Los Angeles ran for a season in 2010-2011. Notably, there has not been a new long-running Law & Order series since Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which ran from 2001 to 2011. A Hate Crimes spin-off has also been in the works for a few years, and will likely air on the Peacock streaming service.