'Law & Order: SVU' Sneak Peek Reveals Fallout From Elliot Stabler's Return

Elliot Stabler's hot on the case of the person who killed his wife, but that heat may come back on Captain Olivia Benson if she's not careful. In a sneak peek of Thursday's all-new episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Assistant District Attorney Sonny Carisi (Peter Scanavino) approaches Benson (Mariska Hargitay) about Stabler's involvement in the investigation into the car bomb that killed his wife Kathy in last week's SVU/Organized Crime crossover event.

Asking how Stabler (Christopher Meloni) has been doing since his violent return to New York after years living in Rome as an international liaison for the NYPD following his abrupt retirement from the SVU a decade earlier, Benson responds, "Talked to him a few times, but you know." Carisi notes he's got a "rough road" ahead, to which Benson admits she's "worried for him."

The ADA agrees, "I don't know if it's the healthiest thing for him to be investigating his own wife's murder," to which Benson responds, "Do you wanna tell him that?" It's then that Carisi reveals he's being asked by higher-ups about what happened when Stabler broke into the interrogation room of a suspect in his wife's murder, prompting a worried look from Benson. "I will always have your back," Carisi assures her. "Just make sure you're watching yours too."

Benson and Stabler's much-anticipated reunion after a decade apart was an emotional one, coming just moments after Kathy was severely injured in a car bomb police suspected was intended for Stabler himself. "You were the single most important person in my life, and you just... disappeared," Benson told her former partner in last week's episode. "I know," Stabler answered. "I was afraid... If I heard your voice, I wouldn't be able to leave."

Stabler's quest for vengeance is leading him deep into the criminal underground of New York in the new Law & Order: Organized Crime spinoff. In Thursday's episode, premiering after the all-new SVU, Stabler will come face-to-face with crime boss Richard Wheatley (Dylan McDermott), who appears to have had something to do with the bomb that upended Stabler's family. McDermott told The Wrap of his character's budding nemesis relationship with the NYPD detective, "[Wheatley] has a lot of grit and a lot of power and a lot of stamina and I think that Stabler does, too. That's why I think this season is going to be so compelling because you have these two very powerful characters butting heads. You're going to get a nice taste of it [this] week." Law & Order: SVU airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, followed directly by Organized Crime at 10 p.m. ET.