Law & Order: SVU and Organized Crime are coming back this month, and the shows are teasing an intense crossover premiere with a brand new promo. Both series are returning on Thursday, Sept. 23, and the new teaser indicates that Mariska Hargitay’s Captain Olivia Benson and Christopher Meloni’s DetectiveElliot Stabler are joining forces once again. In the clip, Stabler notes how the crime in New York City has changed, to which Benson says that this “is why we keep fighting,” with Stabler interjecting that they must continue doing it “together.”
Organized Crime is the newest Law & Order series, spinning out of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and featuring the return of Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler, former SVU detective. In Season 1 of the new series, Stabler aimed to take down figures involved in large-scale crime, while also searching for his wife’s killer. While not much is known about the storyline for Season 3, it was previously confirmed thatย This Is Us star Ron Cephas Jonesย has joined the cast. According to Deadline, Jones will be playing the recurring role of Congressman Leon Kilbride, “a born politician who fosters connections and always plays his cards right.” He will not be the only new actor on Law & Order: Organized Crime, as Vinnie Jones (X-Men: The Last Stand), will be joining as well, playing Albi Briscu, “an Eastern European gangster who is the last remaining member of the organization from the old country.”
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Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Meloni discussed his decision to returnย as Stabler and explained that he was not sorry for leaving SVU years earlier. “I would have no problem admitting to it. But I was pleasantly surprised it played out as well as it did,” he said. “Because, you know, that’s not how life shakes out, right? You can have all the dreams you want, all the preconceived notions of how it’s going to be. But I must say, the intervening decade was everything I could have hoped for.”
Wolf also addressed Meloni’s exit from the iconic series, saying that “since the day [Meloni] left” he wanted the actor back. Wolf continued, “Elliot Stabler is tough as nails, he has an infallible moral compass, and he is the cop we wish shows up if you ever need one.” Wolf also very confidently insisted on Organized Crime, “This could really work.”
Finally, Meloni admitted that โ even though he has no regrets about exiting SVU โ he loves wearing the badge again. “It felt great, a surprising sense of freedom,” he said. “It was a very interesting feeling because I rarely get it. It was just kind of a weird sign that everything’s right, and I was where I belonged.”