‘Law & Order: SVU’ Alum Teases Return to Work With Christopher Meloni on ‘Organized Crime’

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Tamara Tunie is back in this week’s episode to make another appearance as medical examiner Dr. Melinda Warner, but she might appear in another Law & Order show. During a stop on Elvis Duran and the Morning Show Thursday, Tunie hinted that she would be open to appearing on Law & Order: Organized Crime in the future. Thursday’s SVU episode, titled “Trick-Rolled at the Moulin,” is the first half of another major crossover with Organized Crime.

Tunie has remained “very good friends” with Christopher Meloni, who returned as Det. Elliot Stabler on Organized Crime after a decade away from the franchise. She told Elvis Duran she recently had dinner with Meloni and his wife. “He just looked at me and said, ‘You should be on the show’ and I said, ‘Yes Christopher, do something,’” Tunie told Duran, who appears as a dead body in “Trick-Rolled at the Moulin.”

Dr. Warner debuted on SVU in Season 2 and was a recurring character through Season 6. In Season 7, Tunie was promoted to the main cast. In Season 13, she went back to recurring status and has infrequently made appearances since. Thursday’s episode is her first since December 2020 and just her fourth since 2018. Tunie also played Dr. Warner in a 2015 episode of Chicago Fire and a 2005 episode of Law & Order: Trial by Jury.

Organized Crime has already featured plenty of SVU stars, although the show’s format is very different from previous Law & Order entries. Instead of following a single case, the entire first season shows the Organized Crime Control Bureau trying to take down Richard Wheatley (Dylan McDermott), who runs an online pharmaceutical company and has mafia ties. Stabler believes Wheatley was involved in the death of his wife, Kathy. The main cast also features Danielle Mone Truitt as Stabler’s squad supervisor, Sgt. Ayana Bell; Ainsley Seiger as hacker Jet Slootmaekers; and Tamara Taylor as Wheatley’s ex-wife, Prof. Angela Wheatley.

This week’s episodes are the first since late April. In the last Organized Crime episode, “The Stuff That Dreams Are Made of,” Stabler shockingly admitted to Capt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) that he loves her. Then again, it was also hinted that Stabler might be interested in Angela. “Stabler’s in a place that he’s never found himself before,” Meloni told Deadline this week. “He’s always been assured of walking on terra firma, and now, everything is shifting beneath his feet, and I just think he is overwhelmed, and confusing comfort, succor, affection, for love. I think he is lost in that world, and we’re going to see where it comes out, but he has a lot to unpack.” SVU airs at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, with Organized Crime following at 10 p.m. ET. Both shows are available to stream on Hulu.

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