‘Law & Order: SVU’: Stabler and Benson’s Romance Takes Another Step Forward in Season 27 Premiere

Law & Order: SVU‘s Season 27 premiere gave renewed hope to longtime shippers of Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler.

After years of hoping that Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni’s characters would transition their relationship into a romantic one, SVU fans got another breadcrumb moment in Thursday’s season premiere.

Meloni made his guest appearance on SVU at the start of the season as Benson and Stabler paid tribute to their former NYPD captain, Donald Cragen (Dann Florek), whose death was revealed in the opening moments of the season.

As Benson walks to her car, she sees Stabler leaning against it, dragging his feet about going inside the wake. “I don’t like funerals,” he tells his former partner, who agrees, noting that they’ve officially entered into their “all our friends are dying era.”

As Stabler looks back on their decade-plus working together under Cragan, he tells Benson, “Not that you can go back and not that I’d want to, but — we had a pretty good run there for a minute.”

“We still do,” Benson responds gently. “Just different.”

The two then embrace, marking just their fifth hug ever on SVU, before Benson jokes, “Now, get off my car.” Stabler obliges, opening the car door for her, but before she pulls away, he utters two words that sent Benson and Stabler fans spinning.

“Love you,” Stabler tells Benson before wishing her goodnight.

Fans of SVU have been begging for Benson and Stabler to declare their feelings for one another for years, and both Meloni and Hargitay have expressed being on board as well.

On July 28, a fan sent a post to Meloni on X (formerly Twitter) that read, “@Chris_Meloni for f— sake, kiss her already!” at which point, Meloni jokingly responded, “I’m f—ing trying.”

Meloni also addressed his frustration with Benson and Stabler’s near-kiss moment in Season 24 during a TVLine Spotlight conversation in April. “We were attempting something,” Meloni said. But I’m not going to tell you why it didn’t work, because you all have your opinion.”

He added, “I know what transpired,” explaining, “I don’t go, ‘That’s what’s going to go on TV. That’s what we’re going to air.’ We don’t have that power. We do the best we can to be honest with the scenes we’re given.”

Hargitay also addressed the possibility of Benson and Stabler finally getting together in a June episode of Call Her Daddy, calling the pair “soulmates, in a way.” She added, “Maybe on the last episode. I think that’s when they should be together… if it’s right. We’ll see when we get there.”

Law & Order: SVU airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.