They say game recognizes game, and I feel like that’s what’s going on between the New York Knicks’ superstar, Jalen Brunson and Law & Order: SVU’s lead, Mariska Hargitay. The two have become pals, despite their very different careers, and now the basketball player wants to do a cameo on Law & Order: SVU. Now, along with speaking about that dream again, he also shared the sweetest comments about Hargitay.

Literally, right after the Knicks won their first championship in 53 years, Jalen Brunson said that the next thing he wanted to do was “try and get on SVU.” Considering Hargitay is a diehard fan of his NBA team and has been friends with the point guard for a while now, I don’t think this is a far-fetched dream. However, it hasn’t been confirmed yet, so Brunson is still campaigning, as he told Variety:

Well, that’s just the sweetest thing ever. Obviously, I know Brunson shows up for Hargitay (for example, he went and saw her Broadway play), and it’s hard to miss Hargitay courtside at Knicks games, whether she’s wearing a Stevie Knicks shirt with Taylor Swift or not. However, it’s always wonderful to see the two gush about each other.

Their appreciation and respect for one another is abundant too. For example, after the Knicks won, Hargitay was interviewed at their victory parade. She was asked what Brunson means to New York City, and in response she told the NBA:

As I said, game recognizes game, and these two New York icons clearly idolize each other.

Now, can we make that SVU cameo happen? As Hargitay’s longtime co-star and pal Christopher Meloni said, Brunson is a “world champion,” so “he can do whatever the hell he wants.” And if that thing he wants is to be on this Law & Order show with the one celebrity he’ll hug at his games, let’s make it happen.

With Law & Order: SVU set to return on the 2026 TV schedule for its 28th season on October 8, a cameo seems incredibly possible. Clearly, Brunson wants to do it, and I bet this ongoing compliment battle between the two would continue. So, let’s make his dream come true!

We may only be half through the 2026 TV schedule at this point, but it's that time of year when we get to celebrate all of the most amazing performances, writing, direction and more from everything we've watched in the last year. This time around, we won't have The Studio and Adolescence sweeping all the major categories, so there may very well be some surprises to look forward to. (At least anywhere that The Pitt isn't nominated.)

The yearly nomination announcements are happening today, with The Bear's Liza Colón-Zayas and Widow's Bay co-star Jeff Hiller on hand to make the announcements. (All my non-existent votes go to Widow's Bay for all the awards, even TV movie.) This year's telecast will be hosted by Law & Order: SVU great and Knicks superfan Mariska Hargitay, who will hopefully have a fun way to stymie long acceptances speeches like Nate Bargatze did last year.

I've also added my own predictions for who will come out on top in each category, and it'll be fairly obvious which ones I'm talking about.

Outstanding Drama Series

• The Diplomat
• The Gilded Age
• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
• Paradise
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: The Pitt
• Pluribus
• Slow Horses
• Your Friends & Neighbors

Outstanding Comedy Series

• Abbott Elementary
• The Bear
• Hacks
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: Margo's Got Money Troubles
• Nobody Wants This
• Only Murders in the Building
• Shrinking
• Widow's Bay

Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series

• All Her Fault
• The Beast in Me
• Beef
• DTF St. Louis
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: Love Story

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

• Carrie Coon, The Gilded Age
• Chase Infiniti, The Testaments
• Keri Russell, The Diplomat
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: Rhea Seehorn, Pluribus
• Zendaya, Euphoria

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

• Sterling K. Brown, Paradise
• Gary Oldman, Slow Horses
• Mark Ruffalo, Task
• Rufus Sewell, The Diplomat
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: Noah Wyle, The Pitt

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

• Taylor Dearden, The Pitt
• Fiona Dourif, The Pitt
• Allison Janney, The Diplomat
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: Katherine LaNasa, The Pitt
• Sepideh Moafi, The Pitt
• Julianne Nicholson, Paradise
• Karolina Wydra, Pluribus

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

• Patrick Ball, The Pitt
• Billy Crudup, The Morning Show
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: Shawn Hatosy, The Pitt
• Gerran Howell, The Pitt
• Jack Lowden, Slow Horses
• Tom Pelphrey, Task
• Carlos-Manuel Vesga, Pluribus

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

• Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary
• Ayo Edebiri, The Bear
• Elle Fanning, Margo's Got Money Troubles
• Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: Jean Smart, Hacks

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

• Yahya Abdul Mateen II, Wonder Man
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: Steve Carell, Rooster
• Matthew Rhys, Widow's Bay
• Jason Segel, Shrinking
• Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

• Dale Dickey, Widow's Bay
• Hannah Einbinder, Hacks
• Janelle James, Abbott Elementary
• Kate O'Flynn, Widow's Bay
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: Michelle Pfeiffer, Margo's Got Money Troubles
• Megan Stalter, Hacks
• Jessica Williams, Shrinking

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

• Colman Domingo, The Four Seasons
• Paul W. Downs, Hacks
• Harrison Ford, Shrinking
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: Nick Offerman, Margo's Got Money Troubles
• Stephen Root, Widow's Bay
• Michael Urie, Shrinking
• Tyler James Williams, Abbott Elementary

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

• Claire Danes, The Beast In Me
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: Sally Field, Remarkably Bright Creatures
• Carrie Mulligan, Beef
• Sarah Pidgeon, Love Story
• Sarah Snook, All Her Fault

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: Riz Ahmed, Bait
• Jason Bateman, Black Rabbit
• Charlie Hunnam, Monster: The Ed Gein Story
• Oscar Isaac, Beef
• Matthew Rhys, The Beast In Me

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

• Linda Cardellini, DTF St. Louis
• Dakota Fanning, All Her Fault
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: Laurie Metcalf, Monster: The Ed Gein Story
• Joy Sunday, DTF St. Louis
• Youn Yuh-jung, Beef
• Constance Zimmer, Love Story

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

• Jason Bateman, DTF St. Louis
• Richard Gadd, Half Man
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: David Harbour, DTF St. Louis
• Richard Jenkins, DTF St. Louis
• Charles Melton, Beef
• Nick Offerman, Death By Lightning

Outstanding Reality Competition Program

• Dancing with the Stars
• RuPaul's Drag Race
• Survivor
• Top Chef
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: The Traitors

Outstanding Variety Series

• The Daily Show
• Jimmy Kimmel Live!
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
• Saturday Night Live

Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Reality Competition Program

• RuPaul Charles, RuPaul's Drag Race
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: Alan Cumming, The Traitors
• Kristen Kish, Top Chef
• Ariana Madis, Love Island USA
• Jeff Probst, Survivor

Outstanding Animated Program

• Bob's Burgers
• Rick and Morty
• The Simpsons
• Smiling Friends
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: South Park
• Star Wars: Visions

Outstanding Game Show

• Celebrity Family Feud
• CINEMABLEND PREDICTS: Jeopardy!
• The Price Is Right
• Wheel Of Fortune
• Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

The 2026 Emmy Awards will be held on Monday, September 14, and will be airing on NBC and streaming via Peacock subscription at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Mariska Hargitay was one of Jalen Brunson's biggest cheerleaders in celebrity row for years, and finally, the New York Knicks star had an opportunity to cheer for her from the sideline. He went to see her Broadway play recently, but it's the sweet reaction he had to the performance that has people talking.

While Hargitay was photographed beside herself and in shock during the Knicks' NBA Championship run, Brunson was all smiles as People reported he attended her Broadway show, Every Brilliant Thing. Though the superstar snuck out before the end of the performance, it was only so he could appear backstage to congratulate her on a wonderful performance. Per a bystander:

While Brunson might've already enjoyed the play because Mariska Hargitay is a gem of an actress and Every Brilliant Thing is getting rave reviews, it's also worth mentioning the show snuck in a moment honoring him. Hargitay pulls open a box that contains Jalen Brunson's jersey, and while that's been a part of the show before, her referencing it led the crowd to pause and give him a standing ovation.

It's the latest story between Mariska Hargitay and Jalen Brunson, not long after he said he wanted to take their friendship to the next level. Of course, what he meant by that was that he wanted to have a guest role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and I'm sure she'd be up for that as well. The question is whether they'll be able to make it happen in an episode before the 2026 TV schedule is up, because the fall television season is growing closer every week.

Beyond that, he'd also have to film a guest spot before training camp starts again for the New York Knicks, who will be under more pressure as the NBA's defending champions. Realistically, teams don't begin their training camps until September, so there's a window for the show to bring him in for an episode if they can pull a script together quickly enough.

I think NBC would be silly not to move heaven and Earth to make it happen as well. With the wave of New Yorkers thrilled about the win, I can only imagine what the viewership numbers would be for that episode when it aired. Hey, with the way Christopher Meloni reacted to Brunson wanting to be on the show, maybe they could even coax him to come back again. Brunson, Benson, and Stabler in action? Talk about "must-see TV!"

Law & Order: SVU returns in the fall to NBC. The NBA season isn't officially kicking off until October, so there's plenty of time to kick back and enjoy some summer programming in the meantime.

Mariska Hargitay is the longest-running actor in the Law & Order franchise and, at this point, she's arguably the face of the franchise. Having been a mainstay on SVU since it premiered in 1999 (and continues its run amid the 2026 TV schedule), it’s hard to imagine the show without her. Before locking down the role of Olivia Benson, though, Hargitay got some blunt advice, and I’m so glad she didn’t take it.

The newly-minted Broadway star has been open about what her life was like when she was first getting into acting and how a psychic even predicted her SVU fame before she got the role. The psychic is not the only one whom Hargitay saw, though. While speaking with Jamie Lee Curtis for Variety’s Actors on Actors segment, Hargitay recalled how her acting teacher at the time told her she needed to be on stage, and she became good friends with Oscar and Emmy-winning director Fisher Stevens as a result.

Stevens would take her to Broadway shows whenever she was in New York and introduce her to actresses. It was then that she knew that’s what she wanted to do. There was one actress that Hargitay became friends with who warned her to avoid one thing, and those comments couldn’t have come at a more interesting time:

Well, that guidance certainly wasn't too subtle. Interestingly, at that time, Hargitay had done quite a lot of TV, as she landed recurring roles in Falcon Crest and ER as well as leading roles in Downtown, Tequila and Bonetti, and Can’t Hurry Love, among others. But the fact that Kathleen Chalfrant -- known for her work across film, TV, and stage -- gave Hargitay that advice just before she got the call for SVU is hilarious. It’s a good thing Hargitay ended up not taking the advice, because who knows what could have happened with her career or the L&O franchise.

Luckily, Hargitay has been able to finally live out her Broadway dreams, even as Law & Order: SVU continues going strong. The actress recently made her Broadway debut in Every Brilliant Thing, taking over the narrator role from Daniel Radcliffe. Her run, which began on May 26, will go through July 5, and I'd imagine that'll end shortly before filming kicks off for SVU’s 28^th season. So, while it took some time, I'm glad Hargitay got to experience the bright lights of Broadway.

Still, I'm looking forward to seeing Mariska Hargitay back on set for Law & Order: SVU. Both that show and Law & Order will be back for new seasons later this year, but it’s hard to know just how much longer the Dick Wolf franchise will be around for. As of now, there doesn’t seem to be any end for SVU, and I'm hopeful that the same level of vigor that pushed Hargitay to sign on for the show years ago continues to stay with her as she continues to make it.

Law & Order: SVU Season 28 will premiere on Thursday, October 8 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

It’s hard to believe NCIS started as a JAG spinoff, because not only is it one of the longest-running shows on primetime television, but it has also spawned a whole franchise. However, JAG is not the only show we have to give credit to when it comes to the origins of NCIS. We have to thank Law & Order, too. So, yeah, Mariska Hargitay and co. deserve our gratitude.

Since NCIS debuted over 20 years ago, it’s always interesting hearing BTS facts about the show's early days and how different things were back then. It’s even more interesting to learn about how the show came to be. Case in point, longtime executive producer Mark Horowitz reflected on NCIS’ run while appearing on the podcast NCIS: Partners & Probies, telling hosts and stars Brian Dietzen and Diona Reasonover the original pitch for the CBS hit, which took inspiration from a big NBC legal drama:

I love knowing that Law & Order basically had a hand in NCIS, even if it didn’t go in that direction after the backdoor pilots. By the time the JAG backdoor pilots aired, Law & Order was in its 13^th season, while SVU was in its fourth, so both shows, as well as Hargitay, Sam Waterston, and the rest of the cast on the two series, probably had a hand in inspiring the soon-to-be CBS hit.

This revelation is even more mind-blowing, knowing that the NCIS and Law & Order franchises are arguably the two most notable television franchises today. Both have had multiple spinoff series, and each franchise has projects that have been on the air for well over two decades.

However, I do have to admit, it does make me sad that they are on separate networks, so we’ll never get to see the franchises crossover.

Anyway, knowing that Law & Order inspired the original concept for NCIS, I do wonder what would have happened had L&O never premiered, or hadn’t become a show until much later. Truly, the butterfly effect is a crazy thing, and I’m certainly glad it worked its magic here. I'm also happy that NCIS ultimately went in the direction it’s currently in, because who knows how long it would have lasted had Law & Order in the Navy stuck around.

The original concept is not all that Horowitz revealed about NCIS’ early days. He also shared on the podcast why the squad walls are so orange, noting that they modeled the set after seeing the interior of a building in LA, and the lighting was just too perfect.

So, even after over 20 years, there’s a lot to learn about NCIS, and fans can go back and watch their favorite episodes, as well as the JAG backdoor pilot during Season 8 of the series, with a Paramount+ subscription. And while you do that, don't forget to say thank you to Law & Order as well.

The vibe has been electric in New York City since the Knicks won their first NBA championship in 53 years. Fans have been soaking in the hype, and that includes celebrity followers of the team. At the same time, the players themselves have been riding high, especially star point guard (and Finals MVP) Jalen Brunson. To that point, Brunson shared his desire to appear on Law & Order: SVU. Now, one of the TV franchise’s biggest icons, Christopher Meloni, is sharing thoughts on Brunson’s bid to be on the show.

Christopher Meloni Weighs In On Jalen Brunson’s Law & Order: SVU Bid

Brunson revealed his L&O hopes when he was walking in the tunnel shortly after he and the Knicks claimed their 4-1 series victory over the San Antonio Spurs. When asked what he wanted to do since he’d achieved champion status, Brunson simply said he’d like to “try to go on SVU.” TMZ caught up with Christopher Meloni to get his thoughts on the three-time All-Star wanting to appear on the TV procedural he’s long been synonymous with. The Elliot Stabler actor is down for the idea, and he heaped a bit of praise on Brunson as well:

The “force of will” is right, as Brunson certainly imposed his will at Madison Square Garden not only during the NBA Finals but during the Knicks’ entire 2026 playoff run. I feel like it just makes too much sense for the former Villanova Wildcat to appear on the show. Plus, let’s not forget that during this playoff run, Brunson has forged a fast friendship of sorts with Olivia Benson actress Mariska Hargitay, who was cheering on the team in a big way and also attended the recent parade.

I wouldn’t be surprised if others were enthusiastic about the notion of seeing Hargitay’s Benson cross paths with a fictionalized version of Brunson. That aside, though, there’s still a question regarding whether SVU will welcome Meloni’s Stabler back for future episodes.

What’s Going On With Christopher Meloni’s Law & Order Future?

Meloni’s Law & Order: Organized Crime had been canceled after five seasons by Peacock in April. Since then, fans have been requesting that Stabler be brought back to SVU to reunite with Benson and his other cohorts. As of this writing, there’s been no official indication as to whether Stabler will appear on SVU, which will return to the 2026 TV schedule this fall for its 28th season. Despite the lack of a confirmation on Stabler’s hoped-for return, showrunner Michele Fazekas expressed interest in utilizing the character under the right circumstances.

Meloni hasn’t just been sitting on his hands and waiting for the phone to ring, though. In addition to rooting on the Knicks amid their championship run, Meloni also wrapped on his football-centric show, The Land, and it’s the latest drama series from Dan Fogelman. Meloni also recently worked with daughter Sophia on her short film, Chop Cheese.

But, even though Christopher Meloni is staying busy, I’m hopeful that he’ll be called upon to reprise his role as Stabler for Law & Order: SVU Season 28 and once again share the screen with longtime friend and co-star Mariska Hagitay. Let’s also keep our fingers crossed that Jalen Brunson’s wish to appear on the show is granted as well and, if so, I’d love for it to coincide with Meloni’s theoretical return. In the meantime, stream episodes of SVU and Organized Crime using a Peacock subscription.

Mariska Hargitay is not just a New York City icon; she’s also a top-tier New York Knicks fan. Of course, we already knew that, seeing as she’s the only celebrity allowed to hug Jalen Brunson. However, as the NBA Finals aired on the 2026 TV schedule, seeing her courtside made her adoration for the team even clearer. Now, her son has also proved to be quite the Knicks fan, as he attended the victory parade with her while wearing a punny T-shirt that both honored his mother and kept the tradition Taylor Swift and her squad started alive.

The shirt in question, obviously, said “Marknickska Hargitay.” So, it fit right in with the Stevie Knicks shirt both Swift and Hargitay wore at Game 4 of the Finals. And Hargitay’s 18-year-old son, August Hermann, looked fantastic in it. Take a look at this photo of the mother-son duo at the Knicks’ victory parade:

I love this moment for so many reasons. First of all, Mariska Hargitay’s love for the Knicks has been infectious, and viral photos of her celebrating their wins have been one of my favorite things to come out of the NBA Finals. Plus, as I said, her friendship with Brunson, the NBA Finals MVP, is wonderful. Now, this photo proves that her family loves the team, AND they had fun playing with the tradition of wearing punny T-shirts that Taylor Swift and the Haim sisters started.

In the days since Swift rocked the Stevie Knicks shirt that was made by Alana Haim (she also made tops that said Knickole Kidman and Knickelback), there have been so many new shirts and puns made. However, my favorite moment regarding this whole situation was the fact that this squad had extra shirts with them and were able to give one to the SVU star mid-game. They all looked iconic, it further proved how special both Swift and Hargitay’s friendship is, and it helped cement this trend as one of the viral highlights of the Knicks Finals run.

Now, we can add Hargitay’s son to the list of people hopping on the trend. While his mom rocked a Stevie Knicks shirt at a game, and I loved that, I think him rocking a “Marknickska Hargitay” top really takes the cake. She really is one of the great celebrity Knicks fans, alongside Spike Lee, Ben Stiller and Timothée Chalamet, so I think she deserves to be recognized as that by way of a punny shirt.

Meanwhile, Hargitay’s shirt matched Hermann’s, but it said “Brilliant Thing #11: The Knicks.” That is a reference to the Broadway show she’s in, Every Brilliant Thing. She took over the gig from Daniel Radcliffe earlier this summer, and has been performing eight shows a week while also rooting on the Knicks. So, this is a fun nod to her Broadway debut; however, it’s also a brilliant acknowledgement of her friendship with Jalen Brunson, seeing as 11 is his number.

Instantly, this moment became one of my favorites. I’ve loved seeing Mariska Hargitay root for the Knicks over the course of the Finals. To see that series of events end with her and her son rocking fantastic T-shirts at the parade felt like the perfect conclusion to this epic saga involving pun-tastic tops.

The New York Knicks are NBA champions for the first time in over five decades, and team leader Jalen Brunson played a big part in that. All eyes were on the NBA Finals MVP as he plotted his first moves post-championship, and I think it's hilarious he's angling this win into getting closer with Knicks superfan and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Mariska Hargitay.

Hargitay, who went viral not long ago for her shocked expression after a historic comeback by her favorite team, also holds the honor of being one of the only celebrities Brunson will hug at games. Apparently, the NBA star is interested in turning their casual relationship into a professional venture, such as angling toward another appearance on the 2026 TV schedule via SVU. He signaled as much when asked what he was doing after this big victory:

For those unable to watch the video, Brunson answered with:

Jalen Brunson wants to be on Law & Order: SVU, and I have a feeling Mariska Hargitay and NBC will move the Earth to make it happen. After all, is there going to be a more famous New Yorker in the area by the end of the year? I think it'd be an easy ratings win, especially with Knicks fans knowing how much he's into the show.

Brunson would not be the first NBA player to appear on Law & Order: SVU either. Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and Isaiah Thomas have all appeared on the show previously, and all cameo'd as themselves on the program. Presumably, Jalen Brunson would do the same, and maybe they'd make it canon that Brunson and Olivia Benson are real-life besties off the court.

It'd be super cool if Law & Order: SVU could do an episode set during the latest NBA playoff run, and cast other celebrity notables from Knicks celebrity row as well. Imagine a super-sized episode featuring Brunson, Fat Joe, Tracy Morgan, and even Ben Stiller, provided the episode isn't also set during the Met Gala.

Of course, whether this happens or not anytime soon depends on the filming schedule for Law & Order: SVU and Jalen Brunson's availability. I'm sure he's going to be busy doing a lot of things in between now and next season, so hopefully the stars align and he gets to live out his dream of being on a crime procedural series. It's still so funny to me he didn't say Disney World like other sports stars, but maybe he just didn't want to remind anyone of that dreadful bubble season.

Law & Order: SVU returns to NBC in the fall, and so does the NBA season. Fortunately, Jalen Brunson will be able to show up to film whatever cameo is cooked up for him, assuming it happens. If not before the end of this year, maybe he can pop up in an episode that'll air during the midseason in early 2027?

Law & Order: SVU wrapped up its 27^th season on the 2026 TV schedule, and the show continues to be a hit on NBC. As it inches closer to its 30^th anniversary, SVU is keeping things fresh for fans while also bringing in some nostalgic touches, whether it be storylines that call back to earlier seasons or fan-favorite characters. In fact, one of Mariska Hargitay’s scenes in the Season 27 finale marked a full-circle moment for the director, and I absolutely love it.

In the finale, “Monster,” the squad was on the hunt for a serial killer, with the climax happening in the rain. Showrunner Michele Fazekas wrote the script for the episode and added the rain element, which probably only heightened the stakes because they’re wet, they can barely see, and it’s a lot more slippery. For Brenna Malloy, however, directing the finale brought her back to the very beginning of SVU, as she told Variety:

This was the very first scene in which fans met Olivia Benson during SVU’s pilot back in 1999. In that first scene, it's raining, Benson and Stabler are called to a crime scene, and the rest is history. For the Season 27 finale to somewhat call back to the pilot, it’s definitely pretty special. And Malloy knew just how special it really was, especially since Hargitay didn’t mind shooting in the rain late at night:

It’s nice to know that even after all these years, Hargitay is down for almost anything while filming Law & Order: SVU. Since filming in the rain, whether real or fake, can probably be hard logistically, depending on what it involves, I’m glad that it worked out.

While the scene in the pilot and the scene in the Season 27 finale are pretty different from each other in terms of what’s going on, just the fact that Malloy and the fans, and likely Hargitay, are able to have this full-circle moment because of one very important element is pretty great.

Even though it is a full-circle moment, don’t expect this to mark the beginning of the end of the Law & Order franchise. Both the Mothership and SVU are coming back for new seasons this fall, and while Law & Order: Organized Crime is done, it wouldn’t be surprising if Christopher Meloni’s Elliot Stabler popped up on SVU in the near future. Fans are hungry for more Bensler, and OC’s cancellation certainly won’t stand in the way of that.

More details on the upcoming season of SVU should be coming soon. In the meantime, fans can watch the full-circle moment that Malloy was talking about with a Hulu subscription for the pilot and a Peacock subscription for the Season 27 finale.

The New York Knicks shocked the world with their Game 4 win on Wednesday, overcoming the largest deficit in NBA Finals history. It was a game that felt out of reach until the final moments, and even the celebrities in attendance couldn't believe what they witnessed. This included Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Mariska Hargitay, who went viral after fans spotted her shocked expression while being consoled by Taylor Swift.

Olivia Benson isn't returning to the 2026 TV schedule until later this year, but fans are well fed after seeing Hargitay's face minutes after the Knicks took the lead thanks to a last-second putback by OG Anunoby. They're now one game away from winning their first NBA championship since 1973, and the face of this famous Knicks fan really says it all:

No, Tracy Morgan didn't throw up courtside again; that's the look from a fan who realized she may be witnessing history as it unfolds. I'd say she got her bang for her buck for those courtside seats, but I recently learned that celebrities don't pay for those seats.

Now, after seeing her reactions, of course, fans of Hargitay had a lot to say. So, I'll kick it over to the Law & Order fans who reacted to the moment on X, and had all sorts of jokes tied to the show:

• I have seen Olivia Benson attacked and shot at and look less traumatized than she does here.
• She just took down the biggest criminal in SVU history
• Looking like she just seen William Lewis again
• Or had Noah stolen for the 12th time
• There are SVU episode blocks of Olivia getting kidnapped/tortured that had Olivia Benson look less emotionally traumatized then last night.
• “Dun dun” gotta be the new “badum”
• It's like Taylor caught the bad guy.

It's all hilarious, but only because Noah Benson is a fictional character and the actor who plays him has a lot of fun behind the scenes with the actors. Mariska Hargitay is getting a lot of flak from the internet for her reaction to that moment, but as we've seen in pictures, just about everyone was losing it during the Knicks' historic comeback:

I love how Ben Stiller looks absolutely locked in on his phone, because he's reportedly working on a documentary that chronicles the Knicks' 2026 playoff run (via THR). Hopefully, he has someone with footage he can borrow for the playoff game he skipped to attend the Met Gala, so maybe Mariska Hargitay can lend him some videos she took.

Ultimately, Mariska Hargitay is just a passionate sports fan, and at the end of the day, her exhausted face will be one of the many headlines to come out of this NBA Finals season. So, I'll continue to laugh about reactions to this face and how people are likening it to Michael Jordan's flu game picture.

The New York Knicks will look to close out the series against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, June 13th at 8:30 p.m. ET. It's do-or-die for Victor Wembanyama's team, and I have to wonder if this massive collapse from the Spurs started when he took them to see Obsession. Meanwhile, I'm going to hope that we'll get to see more of Mariska Hargitay's passionate reactions (and matching shirts with Taylor Swift) as the Finals continue.

I love Taylor Swift, I love her girl squad, and I love a good pun. When Game 4 of the NBA Finals aired on the 2026 TV schedule, we got all that and more courtside, as the singer and the Haim sisters wore T-shirts with Knicks puns on them. Plus, on top of that, somehow, Mariska Hargitay acquired a matching pun shirt, and now I’ve fallen down quite the rabbit hole.

Taylor Swift And The Haim Sisters Showed Up To The Knicks Game In Matching T-Shirts

Alright, this all started with Este and Alana Haim using their band’s Instagram to post about the shirts they were wearing with Taylor Swift to the Knicks game. Captioning it “Girls just wanna have PUN,” the three women showed off their pun-tastic Ts. Take a look:

As you can see, Swift’s shirt says “Stevie Knicks,” Alana’s says “Knickelback” and Este’s says “Knickole Kidman.” Talk about perfect puns! While the "Opalite" singer is the talk of the town no matter what she wears (as proven the last time she went to an NBA game), these fits certainly entertained the internet. However, I got even more excited when I realized Mariska Hargitay got her hands on one of these fantastic tops mid-game.

Mariska Hargitay Sat Next To Swift And Co. At The Finals Game

Now, before we get to Hargitay’s shirt, we have to talk about what she was wearing at first. She did not show up to the Knicks game in the same tops as Swift and the Haim sisters. No, she was wearing a plain black T-shirt at first, take a look:

It wasn’t surprising to see the Law & Order: SVU star courtside. I mean, she’s the only celeb who gets to hug Jalen Brunson, and she was at the last game with Christopher Meloni. Plus, it’s well documented that the “Fate of Ophelia” singer is a massive fan of Hargitay – her cat is literally named Olivia Benson and the actress was in one of Swift’s best music videos, “Bad Blood.” So, it didn’t shock me that they were cheering on the Knicks together, either. What did shock me was the actress’s costume change mid-game.

At Some Point, Mariska Hargitay Acquired A T-Shirt So She Could Match Taylor Swift

At some point, Mariska Hargitay got her hands on a T-shirt to match with Taylor Swift, and for the duration of the game, she was rocking a top that said “Stevie Knicks.” So, ultimately, she got to celebrate the team’s win with the “Bad Blood” singer and her girl squad while also matching them perfectly.

I would assume and hope that Swift and co. brought this shirt for Hargitay. That would also explain why she wasn’t wearing Knicks gear at the start of the game. However, no matter how the T was acquired, I’m so happy it was, because seeing them all celebrate in these punny outfits made my day.

Now, will Swift, Hargitay and the Haim sisters continue this trend at Game 5? Only time will tell. However, I sure hope they do, so the SVU lead can match with them for an entire game instead of only part of one.

It’s no secret that since the first season of Law and Order: SVU, fans have been shipping Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler. And while the two have many iconic moments between them, there is one thing that has never happened. They have never kissed, much to the dismay of every fan. So when Mariska Hargitay was asked what advice she would give her character about the relationship, she gave fans exactly what they want to hear.

Fans have remained dedicated to the pairing of Benson and Stabler, even after Christopher Meloni left the show. Talk about never giving up. Even during the actor's absence, Hargitay has been asked repeatedly about the duo. So I wasn’t surprised when the relationship was brought up in her interview with Time. However, she didn’t hesitate to say:

But is that really what fans want to hear? When Christopher Meloni returned to the Law and Order universe, it finally seemed like Benson and Stabler would rise as a couple. It has yet to happen. With the actor’s stint on the short-lived Organized Crime, it was hard not to be hopeful for something more.

Seeing Benson and Stabler back together after so long nearly broke the internet. Since then, the two have reunited multiple times. And each time, the possibility of a kiss is teased a little more. Even Hargitay knows this, as evident by this exchange between her and a reporter:

• Interviewer: And you should kiss.
• Hargitay: And we should kiss. And then we should kiss. Always. It always ends like that!

Benson and Stabler’s reunions are always charged, always talked about, and always leave fans wanting more. The chemistry between the two actors is so obvious that even their SVU costars are shipping it, such as Ice-T who has previously stated he is all for Benson and Stabler hooking up. That’s just further proof that they belong together.

One of the most talked-about moments between them was a near-kiss in the kitchen that left fans screaming. However, Christopher Meloni argued that that wasn’t the right time for a kiss. And while his argument was valid, fans can’t help wondering, will there ever be a right time?

It doesn’t help that Mariska Hargitay has teased that there is a version of the characters that did kiss. The actor dished that the kiss was filmed, and even teased that it was a loving, lengthy one at that. But it didn’t get approved by Dick Wolf and the other executives. When Hargitay announced her Broadway debut, fans were briefly concerned that the end was near for the long-running series.

However, fans can remain hopeful that another team-up will happen since SVU was renewed for another season and is part of the 2026 TV schedule.

Who knows, maybe season 28 will be the season Benson and Stabler will finally kiss.

I know when I read that Mariska Hargitay literally told Daniel Radcliffe she was the real Harry Potter, I couldn't fathom what exactly she meant. However, the actress dove into detail about why she felt the urge to tell the actor behind The Boy Who Lived this, and I have to say, this story packs a surprisingly emotional punch.

For context, Hargitay is taking over the role Daniel Radcliffe originated in the Broadway play Every Brilliant Thing. However, before she made her Broadway debut in the play, she got to get to know Radcliffe a bit. As they bonded, she had to tell him that she's, in fact, the real Harry Potter, as she recalled to People:

Instead of looking at her like she was crazy, Hargitay described the actor as having already embraced what she was going to say before she said it. It’s no secret that in the past, Radcliffe has been reluctant when the subject of Harry Potter came up. He’s often spoken about how it used to stress him out to be known as Harry Potter. However, in recent years, he has re-accepted the role with open arms.

It's no surprise that he would embrace what she had to say. Mariska Hargitay remembers the conversation vividly, especially Radcliffe's astonishment when he discovered that she was the girl who lived. She shared:

This emotional moment solidified something between them. The accident in which she lost her mother, Jayne, occurred when she was 3 years old, leaving her with a noticeable scar. You can learn more about her mother in My Mom Jayne, which is a heartbreaking documentary about her late parent. But just a heads up, the ending will make you cry. In this film you can stream with an HBO Max subscription that's directed by Hargitay herself, you delve into who her mother was as a person and an actress.

When sharing this story with Radcliffe, she showed him the perfect lightning shape across her forehead. The same that he wore for eight films. She explained that she was very excited about all this, saying:

Mariska Hargitay spoke fondly about the actor, describing him as lovely and gushing about how she thinks the world of him. She dished that the two even send each other videos.

This isn’t the first bonding moment Radcliffe has shared backstage. The actor has previously spoken about the one piece of advice he gave Tom Felton before his Harry Potter Broadway debut.

With Hargitay's time on stage, many have been concerned about how it could impact Law & Order: SVU. However, they can rest easy as SVU has been renewed and her role in this play will last for a limited time. Starting in July, Tracee Ellis Ross is expected to take over the role. Meanwhile, the iconic show will remain part of the 2026 TV schedule as it goes into its 28th season.

Until then, fans can enjoy watching Hargitay's time on Broadway, proving she's more than just Olivia Benson (and she is actually Harry Potter).

Warning! Spoilers ahead for the Law & Order: SVU Season 27 finale, streaming now with a Peacock subscription.

Law & Order: SVU has dominated television since the late ‘90s, and that’s continued with Season 27, which just wrapped on the 2026 TV schedule. Mariska Hargitay has been part of the ride the entire time as Olivia Benson, and while it’s unclear how much longer the Law & Order franchise will be around, it is clear she’s not ready to step away just yet. But could Benson be thinking about stepping away from SVU? The showrunner weighed in after her retirement comments on the show.

Benson’s future at Special Victims was in question in Thursday’s finale. She was rewatching an interrogation she did with a serial offender and told Fin she doesn’t know how much longer she can do this, and wonders if he had the right idea about retiring. Fin, who had previously brought up the subject, insisted he’s never retiring “or dying.” While Chief Tynan wanted to take Benson’s badge after claiming she put her team in danger, Benson was ready to put up a fight.

Obviously, Benson has been through a lot in her career, and not just with the 27 seasons that fans have seen. It’s hard to imagine the Manhattan Special Victims Unit without her, but there are only so many stories that can be told without it seeming repetitive. Michele Fazekas, who has a long history with SVU, told TV Insider just how much longer Benson can realistically be on the team and why she’s just now questioning the future:

Hargitay is the longest-running Law & Order actor, with Olivia Benson being the longest-running primetime live-action character of all time. At some point, you do have to question when the end will come, and as SVU inches closer to 30 seasons, that question seems to be coming up a lot, for both the show and the characters. There’s also the fact that Ice-T’s Fin has been on SVU almost as long, so he probably knows what Benson is feeling and can be there for her, like she is there for him:

Benson can’t be a detective forever. She knows that, Fazekas knows that, Hargitay knows that, everyone knows that. Just like how we all know that SVU will eventually have to end. While the final ended with Benson confident that she’s not going anywhere, no matter who tries to take her badge away, she might still be thinking about it.

At the very least, when Benson eventually retires, that would be the perfect way to end SVU. So if the writers choose to take it in that direction in the future, fans may not even have to see her retired era. For now, we can still look forward to Season 28, premiering this fall on NBC.

Don’t you wonder sometimes why it seems like the people in charge of our favorite TV shows seem dead-set against doing the thing that audiences want the most? Take the Law & Order-verse, for instance, where viewers have spent literal decades clamoring for Mariska Hargitay’s SVU lead Olivia Benson to get together with Christopher Meloni’s Elliot Stabler. Back in Season 24, the ep “Blood Out” finally reached a romantic precipice, but only resulted in a wildly invigorating-plus-frustrating near-kiss moment.

Despite that episode airing more than three years ago, the biggest Benson and Stabler shippers will never forget about it. And Mariska Hargitay just made it that much harder to not dwell on for years to come, as the actress confirmed she and Meloni did indeed film their characters sharing a loving, if not lengthy, kiss. So what happened? It apparently didn’t pass muster with Dick Wolf and other execs. How DARE.

Hargitay spoke with The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast ahead of Law & Order: SVU’s Season 27 finale hitting the 2026 TV schedule, and shared that she and Meloni had the freedom to perform the scene in different ways, even if they didn't get final say. In her words:

The actress then brilliantly stoked the crowd, and earned some big cheers in the process, before addressing why the kiss never made it to our eyeballs.

For whatever baffling reason, the editors and other powers that be chose to use the near-kiss take for the final cut. But for as and powerful as it was, I have to imagine that the unused scene was literally singed up and turning to ash as soon as the cameras stopped rolling. Because it's so hot, you see?

Mariska Hargitay had zero issues with defending her and Meloni's beliefs for why they felt this was the right time for these two characters to make that physical connection. As she put it:

To be sure, I'm not even of the notion that Benson and Stabler's kiss would actually lead to anything substantial, since the noted complexities would make it nearly impossible for the duo to survive as a proper couple. But still, the catharsis!

Like a genius, Hargitay left a vocal olive branch for fans, indicating that something could still happen one day. But then laughingly shot it all down again by pointing to franchise overlord Dick Wolf, saying:

The future could indeed be pointed in that direction, considering Meloni's spinoff Law & Order: Organized Crime was canceled by Peacock this month, leaving fans clamoring for Stabler to make another timely return to SVU later in the year and/or beyond.

Find Law & Order: SVU's Season 27 finale airing on NBC on May 14, at 9:00 p.m. ET.

Though NBC’s pair of Law & Order series remain lawful and orderly in the broadcast realm, the franchise’s latest streaming push was cut short, as Law & Order: Organized Crime was canceled at Peacock. It was a blow to fans, but arguably a bigger blow to the cast and crew putting it together. At least Christopher Meloni was able to keep good company in the aftermath of the news, in the forms of Mariska Hargitay and Rachel McAdams.

Not that it’s completely unheard of for Meloni and Hargitay to be hanging out well beyond the sets of any and all procedural dramas; their off-screen friendship has gone a long way to keeping fans so interested in their characters Stabler and Benson sharing a lusty and romantic future together, despite all odds. (I mean, the actual crossover appearances haven’t hurt.) But this get-together comes at an awkward and bittersweet crossroads, so soon after he learned his latest run as the dutiful investigator was extinguished. Check it out below.

It’s impossible to tell that anyone in those photos is dealing with a career setback, but I can imagine it’d be hard to hold anything but a smile on one’s face while sharing a meal with this trio. (Despite his endlessly stern looks within the L&O world, his comedy chops in the Wet Hot American Summer movie and Netflix series is top-notch.) Now, would it have been fun to see Hargitay and McAdams wiping tears from either side of Meloni’s face with napkins? “Fun” might be too far, but “unique” counts, I think.

The comment section was unsurprisingly lit up with fans and followers’ excited reactions to seeing the trio spending time together, with a couple of familiar faces among them.

• ❤️❤️ - DEBI MAZAR
• My two favorites. Miss you both! - NICKY TORCHIA
• How about you work part time on SVU as Olivia’s partner. Her other half. ;) We can’t not ever see Stabler again. He’s the stabler! - @mwkline
• Stable BETTER end up w Olivia in svu I swear!!!!😍😩 - @mrsrachelcecil
• Yea yall look good together on and off tv 😍 - @deena_dean
• JUSTICE FOR ELIOTT STABLER!! - @paigeclewiis
• She needs to convince Dick Wolf to bring elliot to svu again. 🥹😭 cause peacock and wolf is f-n up…AGAIN - @future_so0_bright
• I’m just going to pretend this is Olivia and Stabler having a romantic dinner and planning their wedding. - @daniplz12
• What’s Regina George doing with them?! - @jonatan_huazano

I’d much prefer these kinds of happy posts, compared to, say, Meloni looking back on 17 years of playing Elliot Stabler (non-continuously) and making me feel all sad and extremely old simultaneously. But I’ll take more of those as well, because duh.

One silver lining here is that Meloni was able to gab it up with Hargitay and McAdams because he was still in Los Angeles fresh off of finishing up the production on the new series The Land, the football-centric new drama from This Is Us and Paradise creator Dan Fogelman. So we'll hopefully see him popping up later in the 2026 TV schedule, even if it isn't as Elliot Stabler.

Although let’s be real: unless Chris Meloni has heaps of unreported beef with someone behind the scenes of this franchise, the chances are extremely high that he’ll show up again in some capacity on Law & Order: SVU in a future season, even if it doesn’t happen immediately. Until then, the Law & Order franchise is available to stream via Peacock subscription.

Law & Order: SVU is wrapping up its 27^th season on the 2026 TV schedule, but the end is not yet here. NBC has renewed the series for Season 28. However, Law & Order is still awaiting news, and Law & Order: Organized Crime just got canceled after five seasons. So, now, the big question is: Are we reaching the end of Dick Wolf’s mega Law & Order franchise? Mariska Hargitay had some thoughts.

It’s hard to believe that SVU is still going on, and has been going on consistently since 1999. The show is a staple not only on NBC but on network television as a whole, and it’s hard to imagine a world without it. Despite its long reign, Hargitay, who has been playing Captain Olivia Benson since the start and is the longest-running franchise actor, still loves being on the show. That being said, there has to be an end at some point, so how long does she see SVU going? When asked by Deadline if the show could make it to 35 seasons, she just had one goal in mind:

SVU is already closing in on 600 episodes, a feat it will accomplish next season, so hitting 30 seasons seems like the next ultimate goal. At this point, it doesn’t seem too hard to achieve, but it's also not guaranteed. However, if any show has a chance to go the distance, it’s definitely SVU, which is practically considered to be the Law & Order show now instead of Law & Order itself.

The Mothership already got canceled once, and while it’s made a successful comeback, the fact that it hasn’t secured a spot for next season is troubling, especially since NBC has a handful of drama pilots to consider as well. However, the franchise managed to hold its own with SVU, so it wouldn’t be surprising if that were to happen again. It can be assumed that if there is ever one Law & Order show left again, it would be SVU. So theoretically, if it’s the last one standing by the time it reaches Season 30, that could very well be it.

Technically, there is still another Law & Order show at play, Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent. It’s based on Law & Order: Criminal Intent and is separate from the franchise. The series premiered on Canada’s Citytv in 2024 but only made its way to the States last fall on The CW. L&O Toronto is wrapping up its third season in May, with Season 2 airing on The CW sometime this fall. But, counting the actual NBC franchise, only SVU and possibly Law & Order are left.

At the very least, fans can breathe knowing there’s at least one more year left of SVU, and it shouldn’t be long until NBC makes a decision on the Mothership. Dick Wolf's TV franchise began with the Law & Order Universe, which has been around since the early ‘90s, and unfortunately, it’s bound to end someday. However, hopefully, they can do what Mariska Hargitay said and make it a few more years, if not longer.

You know, Law & Order has a reputation for casting actors who go on to become quite famous. However, it’s not as common for an actor to go on Law & Order after they have their big break. But that's what happened this week, though, as Melissa McCarthy surprised Mariska Hargitay with a cameo in an episode that aired on the 2026 TV schedule. Let me tell you, the BTS video of it happening is absolutely priceless, too.

In Melissa McCarthy’s words, she was “sneaking around behind boss lady’s back, lovingly” to surprise her with a guest spot on SVU. This included her wearing a grandma mask on her way to work, and then absolutely stunning Hargitay when she walked on set in her costume. Take a look at the delightful video the Bridesmaids actress posted on her Instagram of the whole ordeal:

As you can see, Hargitay was very surprised. She literally took a step back before screaming in happy shock and hugging McCarthy. Truly, they pulled off the surprise; the Olivia Benson actress was clearly shellshocked. However, it wasn’t easy to do all this, as the Spy actress said:

I bet she is, especially since, as McCarthy pointed out, Hargitay is the “boss lady” on SVU. Oh, and apparently, it took six years to plan this, further proving how hard it was. That makes sense, though. Hargitay is very involved in the show, she’s been working on it for 27 seasons and is a producer. It feels like she’s in a place where she would have seen it all. But that’s not the case, turns out, you can still surprise Olivia Benson, as the actress said:

Hargitay’s reaction truly is priceless, and it’s been added to the list of my favorite Law & Order BTS stories, which does include the time she found out what Dick Wolf’s ringtone was and the time she and Christopher Meloni tried to remember their first lines. However, the celebration was not limited to the set; in fact, it continued on social media as the Olivia actress commented the following messages:

• Happy feet
• WORTH THE WAIT

It was worth the wait, because all of this and the actual scene in the episode are wonderful. In the 19th episode of Season 7 (which you can now stream with a Peacock subscription), McCarthy played a boxer named Jasmyn Jewell, and Olivia stopped by her table at a convention to question her about the case she was working on. Of course, the interaction was funny, I mean, we’re talking about the absolutely hilarious Melissa McCarthy here. However, it was also surprisingly flirty, which I found very fun, especially since Olivia didn’t know how to react to Jasmyn.

All in all, this was the perfect way to add Melissa McCarthy to SVU, and it was the perfect (and I mean perfect) way to surprise Hargitay.

Now, to see what other surprises await, you can catch new episodes of Law & Order: SVU on NBC every Thursday at 9 p.m. ET.

Peacock announced it's pulling the plug on Law & Order: Organized Crime, bringing the series to an end after Season 5. Fans' pleas for a Season 6 renewal fell upon deaf ears. Now that it's over, fans are already plotting for when we'll see Christopher Meloni's Elliot Stabler again.

Deadline reported the cancellation, and while there will still be more of the Law & Order franchise on the 2026 TV schedule, the story for Stabler's standalone series is tentatively over. Of course, there's always a possibility that another crossover happens with Special Victims Unit, which is exactly what fans are suggesting.

Law & Order Fans Want Stabler Back In SVU

With Christopher Meloni's spinoff over, it's no surprise that Law & Order fans are already campaigning for him to go elsewhere. For every reaction disappointed about the cancellation, there are just as many requesting to see Stabler return to SVU:

• GOD DAMN IT!!! WE BETTER STILL HAVE STABLER MENTIONS/APPEARANCES IN SVU. WE CAN'T LOSE HIM AGAIN #SVU - @Sgriffiths_17
• I only enjoyed the first season with Dylan McDermott as a mob boss, rest of seasons been quite meh. Just bring Stabler back to SVU… - @lexveraux
• I had a feeling this was coming in a way, but thought maybe it would get a S6, and that be the Final Season, hopefully #LawandOrderSVU brings on Stabler and some of the characters in future episodes. - @k50cullen
• @NBCUniversal @WolfEnt I would like to remind you that SVU still exists and you do NOT need to let the character Elliot Stabler drop off the face of the earth for 10 years again. - @ashleyyxeo
• I will miss this show! Chris Meloni was excellent - as was the supporting cast. I hope Stabler can return to SVU soon. - @LawrenceHughes

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is still rolling on strong over at NBC, and one has to imagine Christopher Meloni's Stabler would always have a home there. Of course, the character was absent for quite a long stretch, so I get why so many are being loud about seeing him return to the series.

Fans Want Benson And Stabler Back Together

Bringing Stabler back to Law & Order: SVU is only part of the mission, it seems, because it's all about seeing him back together again with Olivia Benson. I'm not surprised, considering people lost their minds when the two characters almost kissed. People want real resolution between the characters, and some payoff to the years of tension between them.

Of course, Law & Order has notoriously teased this romance for years, and its foundation is built on the chemistry of Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay. I'm holding out hope that this cancellation will have a silver lining in Meloni returning to SVU, though we'll all have to wait and see if it actually happens.

Law & Order Thursday resumes with new episodes on NBC on Thursday, April 23rd. SVU was just renewed for Season 28, so there will be opportunities for Stabler to show up, should the writers have a reason for it to happen.

You might think that Mariska Hargitay has already been pretty much everywhere in New York City after nearly three decades as the star of Law & Order: SVU, but the actress is now heading somewhere new: the Broadway stage. Yes, once Season 27 of SVU wraps in the 2026 TV schedule, Hargitay will be found performing on stage rather than screen. While that’s certainly exciting news, fans who aren’t anywhere near NYC may be more concerned about what it means for the prospects of a Season 28 renewal.

Fortunately, I’d wager that there’s much more to celebrate than to worry about at this point, and plenty of SVU costars and celebrities are all-in.

Mariska Hargitay’s Broadway Debut

Just days before SVU returns from its latest mini hiatus, news broke that Mariska Hargitay is stepping into the lead (and only) role of Every Brilliant Thing. She’ll take over the part from Daniel Radcliffe, who has become an NBC star in his own right thanks to Tracy Morgan’s The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins. Every Brilliant Thing is a solo play with one lead interacting with the audience throughout the performance. Via EW, Hargitay had this to say about her Broadway debut:

A brief video of Mariska Hargitay celebrating her new gig showed her not only looking a lot happier than Captain Olivia Benson generally has reason to be on SVU, but sporting a haircut. Check it out:

Unsurprisingly, the comment sections of the various Instagram posts about her being cast in Every Brilliant Thing are full of congratulations for Hargitay from fans, SVU stars, and even stray celebrities as a reminder that, at some point or other, pretty much everybody has probably seen at least a glimpse her in the Law & Order world over her 500+ episodes. Take a look at just some of them:

• Kelli Giddish: "WOOHOO!!!!!"
• Kevin Kane: "👏👏👏👏"
• Danny Pino: "⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️"
• Good Hang with Amy Poehler: "🥳"
• Wolf Entertainment: "Our multitalented Captain Benson 💙"
• Lindsey Vonn: "🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥going to be amazing!!!"
• Jessica Capshaw: "OPENING NIGHT, baby!!"
• Lindsay Lohan: "😍😍😍"

So, with Mariska Hargitay moving from screen to stage after the end of SVU Season 27 and apparently cutting off some of her Olivia Benson hair, what does the future hold for the long-running NBC drama? I for one am not worried.

What About Season 28?

While it’s certainly true that NBC has not yet renewed Law & Order: SVU for Season 28, there’s also no reason to believe that Mariska Hargitay’s Broadway gig will impact the fate of the show. Her run as the lead of Every Brilliant Thing will last for just 40 shows from May 26 - June 28, with the actress following up on Daniel Radcliffe’s final performance on May 24.

Filming on Season 27 of SVU would have already been well over by that May 26 Broadway debut date, and production on Season 28 wouldn’t begin until after the late June ending. Whatever the future holds for Captain Olivia Benson, it shouldn’t be impacted by Every Brilliant Thing.

Of course, I can’t blame any fans who might be getting antsy about the wait for renewal news. After all, every other corner of the Dick Wolf TV universe has been renewed for the 2026-2027 TV season, with FBI already guaranteed Season 9 by CBS in 2024, CIA renewed shortly into Season 1 on CBS, and the three shows of One Chicago renewed by NBC in one fell swoop. Both Law & Order and SVU are waiting on word from NBC, while Law & Order: Organized Crime’s future on Peacock has been uncertain for nearly a year now.

That said, SVU wasn’t renewed for Season 27 until May last year, so the news might not come for another month or so if NBC follows a similar timeline this year. Plus, in a recent Instagram video about his return to the SVU set, Ice-T said that “going into Season 28, Fin will still be alive and breathing,” then clarified in the comment section:

So, if you were concerned that Mariska Hargitay coming to Broadway in any way boded poorly for the future of Law & Order: SVU, I’d stop worrying. Ice-T says it's "looking good"! In fact, the only show that seems likely to be in danger on NBC’s Law & Order Thursdays is probably The Hunting Party, which took over Law & Order: Organized Crime’s former time slot at 10 p.m. ET on Thursdays in the new year.

For now, the wait continues for renewal news, but you can at least count on the return of SVU for its first new episode in a few weeks on Thursday, April 2 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC. You can also stream past episodes with a Peacock subscription and/or a Hulu subscription.

For many athletes, there is no bigger competition than the ones they hope to be involved in during the Olympics, and now the 2026 TV schedule is helping to show off the hard work and sacrifice of thousands of them during the Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games. Unfortunately, when it was time for renowned skier Lindsey Vonn to head down the mountain at the games, it was on a torn ACL and she sadly crashed. Now celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mariska Hargitay have opened up about her “gutsy” performance.

How Did Lindsey Vonn Crash At The 2026 Olympics And What Are Celebrities Saying About It?

While the pomp and circumstance surrounding the games always involves things like watching the Olympic flame be carried from city to city by stars like Snoop Dogg, and the participants getting sweet messages from celebs like Taylor Swift, the focus is usually on how competitors actually perform during their contests. Skier Lindsey Vonn has a long Olympic history (she debuted at the 2002 games in Salt Lake City), with three medals to her name, and she was hoping to add to that when she took to the slopes during opening weekend, but a crash early in her race (which she spoke about on Instagram) led to her being airlifted away from the mountain:

Vonn had, only eight days prior, suffered a tear to her left ACL (a ligament that helps stabilize the knee), and though she noted that this injury and previous ones didn’t cause the accident, many now see her performance so soon after it as “inspirational,” with Arnold Schwarzenegger saying on his own Instagram, in part:

When the gold medalist was able to post about the crash, she pointed out the cause, which was actually due to her being “5 inches” off of the race path, as she said:

The skier showed a photo where we can see that she accidentally leaned too far to her right, which led to her hooking that arm under the flag that connects the gate posts. She added that she “sustained a complex tibia fracture that is currently stable but will require multiple surgeries to fix properly.” Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay posted about the event, and said:

Meanwhile, other celebs like Reese Witherspoon took to the comments on Vonn’s post to share how inspiring her performance was, with The Morning Show star saying, “You are & will always be a true Champion.” Though Vonn admitted that the injury caused “intense physical pain,” she also noted “I have no regrets,” because “knowing I stood there having a chance to win was a victory in and of itself.” It’s pretty clear why so many have championed her performance, and here’s hoping that she makes a full recovery sooner rather than later.

Law & Order: SVU is in the midst of its 27^th season on the 2026 TV schedule, and it’s been as entertaining as ever this time around. After saying goodbye to two detectives at the start of the season, fans also said hello to Kelli Giddish as she returned full-time as Sergeant Amanda Rollins. Giddish is one of the longest-running actors in the Law & Order franchise and continues to be a fan-favorite. While she seems to have the time of her life on the show, there are some regrets she has related to co-stars Mariska Hargitay and Ice-T.

Giddish first joined SVU in Season 13, but she immediately fit right in, and it was hard watching the show without her following her exit. Even Hargitay admitted to being upset over Giddish’s departure. Now that she’s back as a series regular, the actress has been able to make even more memories with her longtime co-stars, but with over ten seasons under her belt, Giddish told People that there’s one particular regret she has about working and being friends with Hargitay and Ice-T:

Considering there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight for SVU, it’s never too late for Giddish to ask for business advice, or any advice from Hargitay. She’s been in the business for a long time, and grew up in the business as well. She’s breaking records with her portrayal of Captain Olivia Benson, and she serves as an EP on SVU. Not to mention the fact that Hargitay frequently advocates for domestic and sexual abuse victims!

As for Ice-T, I get why Giddish is kicking herself for not writing down things the rapper has said. He delivers some much-needed laughs on such a dark show with Fin’s out-of-pocket one-liners, so I can only imagine what it's like when cameras aren’t rolling. While his role has been cut back, it's still not too late for Giddish to start writing down things he’s said, but it is unfortunate that she missed out on years of hilarious quotes.

At the very least, Law & Order: SVU probably won’t be ending any time soon as long as Mariska Hargitay wants to keep going, and now that Giddish is back on the show, there are plenty of new memories to be made. Unfortunately, there is nothing to be done about the past, so Giddish will just have to look toward the future, and maybe even start doing what she wanted to do, no matter how late in the game it is.

Meanwhile, Season 27 of SVU is streaming now with a Peacock subscription. Due to the Winter Olympics, the series is going on a brief hiatus, but rest assured, SVU will return on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.

The 99^th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade brought out the stars, floats, and balloons on Thursday, as part of the 2025 TV schedule, including some surprises. This included Law & Order icons Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni. And I love that their appearance came with them rocking the viral Starbucks bear glass.

Earlier this month, to get customers ready for the holidays, Starbucks released a glass bear cup that included a straw and a little cute Starbucks hat as the lid. The company only released very limited quantities in every store. People were waiting in line for hours before the café opened and were going nuts over the collectible. So much so that some were detailing their experiences on TikTok, and even sharing how baristas bought them or hid them before customers had a chance.

Of course, with their NBC connection and promotion of Starbucks, Hargitay and Meloni were each able to get their hands on a Bearista cup. Meloni couldn’t help but show off their cups on Instagram, and I have an inkling that even if it wasn’t for a promotion, he would still proudly show off the cup because who wouldn’t?

Both Hargitay and Meloni popped up during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to promote Starbucks, which was on the parade route. During their appearance, they talked about the different flavors that Starbucks has and wanted to give some hot drinks to the crowd outside, which were later shown holding Starbucks cups – just not the Bearista ones.

It’s unknown if these cups are actually Hargitay and Meloni’s or if they were just for show, but either way, I’m absolutely loving it. As long as these cups don’t find their way to Law & Order by way of a Game of Thrones-like mistake.

Meanwhile, it’s always great to see Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni together, regardless of the reason. The two have been close since the very beginning of Law & Order: SVU, when their audition sparked instant chemistry. Even with Organized Crime moving to Peacock, Olivia and Elliot have still managed to find their way to each other on both shows. Whether or not that will continue into the new year as SVU Season 27 continues is unknown, but it wouldn’t be surprising if fans saw Elliot again.

With the holiday season in full force, some people may be lucky enough to curl up with their Starbucks Bearista cup and settle in with some Law & Order, streaming with a Peacock subscription. There are many Olivia and Elliot moments that fans can look back on and plenty of moments that Hargitay and Meloni will continue to bring in the new year, whether on screen or on social media, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for them.

Law and Order: Special Victims Unit is back for Season 27, and along with new episodes on the 2025 TV schedule comes a whole new season of hungrily hoping for new Bensler moments. The former SVU detective duo has been to hell and back together, flirting with death and romance along the way. They are one of the best will-they-won’t-they character duos of all time, and Christopher Meloni got surprisingly candid about what makes them so sexy to audiences.

There’s no doubt that Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni make a sexy on-screen duo. Part of it is their attractiveness; there is no denying that, but the thing that really keeps me coming back for more is the chemistry the actors have shared since their audition. The Snatched actor recently got honest with People about what makes Bensler so sexy, and his answer goes beyond just chemistry:

It’s probably clear to anyone who watches the show that Benson and Stabler have always had chemistry since day one. That chemistry eventually developed into a love and loyalty so strong that they were separated for a brief period in Season 7 for choosing each other over their case.

Of course, there are always moments where the audience is left to wonder: Does their love for each other ever dip into romance? The detective duo’s will-they-won’t-they thing existed for nearly their entire time together on SVU, and it has always been one of the most appealing aspects of the show for me (it’s why the early seasons are my favorite).

When audiences saw Stabler return to the Law & Order universe with Organized Crime, where his wife Kathy was killed in the crossover with SVU, many thought Bensler was finally going to happen. However, Detective Elliot Stabler has been back for five seasons now, and the two still have yet to finally go there, although they aren’t ignoring their feelings anymore. To that point, the Wet Hot American Summer actor got honest about the likelihood of the longtime friends becoming something more:

It’s been a hard watch too, as a fan. It’s mostly silent shared looks, awkward undercover situations that require them to pretend to be lovers, and risking their lives, families, and jobs for each other, which is pretty damn romantic if you ask me. The closest they’ve actually come to getting together, though, was a near kiss in Season 24 of SVU. I’m talking their lips were inches apart, but the timing wasn't right, and so Benson pulled back.

Now, time is running out on a Bensler happily ever after. While SVU was renewed for Season 27, Organized Crime is still in limbo, awaiting its fate on Peacock. We last saw the ex-partners reunite in the SVU Season 27 premiere, along with a number of other familiar faces like Dr. George Huang (B.D. Wong) and Det. Brian Cassidy (Dean Winters), to attend OG SVU Captain Cragen’s memorial. Before they parted ways, Stabler told Liv he loved her, a line that was ad-libbed by Meloni. To me, though, there is no romantic weight to it.

I’m not sure where this leaves the two of them, but here’s my SVU hot take: I don’t think I want them to get together. They clearly are very important to each other, but if the Season 24 near kiss confirmed anything for me, it's that their relationship is almost too far past romantic to actually be romantic. It seems to me that the Happy! actor feels similarly when he says it would be “hard” and “difficult” for the two detectives to be a couple.

As for their future, Meloni’s wish for the pair is simple, and it’s the least they deserve after all the trauma they’ve been through:

If they ended up together in the end, I don’t think I’d be mad. I just hope the writers don’t force it, and they do it in the right way. However, Benson has to retire for any rides off into the sunset to take place, and I don’t see that happening soon. Mariska Hargitay has been playing SVU’s badass female lead for nearly 30 years, and I just can’t picture the Dick Wolf drama without her. I definitely think that when that happens, though, Christopher Meloni will be by her side.

I'm 47 years old. Let's just get that out of the way, if only to establish where I'm at in terms of my own life years. And, I say my age without embarrassment or shame, just gratitude and a sense of... well, that's-how-old-I-am factual accuracy. I grew up well aware of the reality that life offers us no guarantees, including how many years we get, so while I understand some of the reasons why people (especially women) decline to share their age, I'm ok to say mine, especially when it's right before I can share my appreciation for someone else talking about their own. In this case, that appreciation is for Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay and her recent comments about aging.

I like to hear women -- whether they're younger or older than me -- speak openly about their age and provide insight into their experience, as there’s always something to learn. So, when I listened to Mariska Hargitay's interview with Amy Poehler on a recent Good Hang episode, and they talked about age, I absolutely loved hearing Hargitay's words about being sixty.

Hargitay shared her age with pride as she talked about the turns life took for her over the years, and where she's at at this point. She starts out by talking about the decades leading up to now, saying,

And then she gets into how things are going at 60:

When I was younger, I think I imagined everything over the age of like 35 to be this sort of blurred-together portion of adulthood where I would be more or less the same version of me over the next few decades, which would hopefully someday lead into my senior years. Obviously, the older I get, the clearer the sometimes-vastly different stages of adulthood have become to me.

Understanding who I am or who I want to be at whatever age I am is surely a challenge, but it's also become sort of the point. It isn't all flowers and rainbows here in my 40s, and I don't assume it was for Hargitay either, though she speaks positively about that time of her life. I just love how she maps out her own major steps in each of the last few decades of her life, and especially the joy she expresses when talking about being in her 60s.

As I said earlier, I understand why people (especially women) are reluctant to talk about their age. I'm not an actor, but I have no doubt that it presents challenges for people in the entertainment industry, particularly as they move further into adulthood, as it can impact the work they can get – actresses like Maggie Gyllenhaal and Naomi Watts have shared their own experiences on the topic.

I'm not judging anyone who prefers to be vague about the exact number of years they've had on this earth if they think it'll hinder their professional options. But, as someone who wants to hear about different perspectives and life experiences, as I continue to try to process my own, I love that Hargitay is being open and talking about the clarity she's experiencing as she steps into what Poehler describes as the "top of Act III."

At this point, before I wrap this up, I’ll add that Hargitay isn’t the first actor to share their thoughts on their age in recent months. Helen Mirren had some delightfully candid insights on the topic when doing press for The Thursday Murder Club, particularly in response to an interviewer who described her as a “young spirit.” As she described, to People, the story of her response to this person:

I can see why the unnamed interviewer might’ve thought they were complimenting her by calling her a “young spirit,” but I can just as easily see why Mirren might be put off by the comment, as it suggests that her general nature gives off something that typically applies to younger people, when in actuality, you can be in your 70s or 80s and display those same personality traits.

The optimistic side of me does hope that the more people speak openly about their perspective at whatever age they are, maybe there won't be so many inaccurate assumptions about what it means to be a certain age. Even if that doesn't happen, I'm grateful for whatever people (celebrities or not) are willing to share, especially if it helps me navigate my own life and whatever years I’m fortunate enough to have in it.

Watch Mariska Hargitay’s interview on Good Hang with Amy Poehler below. Her comments and their discussion about age can be found around the 15 minute mark.

Law & Order: SVU is in its 27^th season on the 2025 TV schedule, and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. It’s hard to believe that the show has been around since 1999, and it’s still bringing in fans. That being said, SVU wouldn’t be what it is without Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni, who had instant chemistry during their audition. Now, the Olivia Benson actress is giving more details about that audition, and the hilarious story involves a John Slattery mix-up and jokes about Jesus.

When Hargitay appeared on Amy Poehler’s podcast Good Hang, the host asked her about her first days on SVU and if meeting Dick Wolf was "scary." The actress explained that it wasn't, and that led her into the story about her "magical" audition with Meloni. She pointed out that she and her co-star bonded over their similar personalities and sense of humor, and the two ended up getting paired up for the callback. She said:

However, initially, she didn't think she'd be paired with Meloni; she thought she would be with John Slattery.

Poehler and Hargitay both shared how chemistry reads can make or break auditions and your chance to be on a show. So, when the actress heard that Slattery was at the audition, she wanted to do everything she could to impress him and bond with him. However, she wasn’t paired with him...as she explained:

As Poehler continued laughing, Hargitay continued her story, revealing that she didn’t know there were going to be 47 people in the room. So the initial back-and-forth between her and Meloni was a bit awkward. However, once she found out the real reason he had a Jesus tattoo, she knew she liked him, as she recalled:

I just love that a joke as ridiculous as that one is what really cemented their bond and made Hargitay know that her eventual co-star was guy she'd get along with. It’s certainly a different reason to have a Jesus tattoo, but that turned out to be for the better. And it was in that moment that Hargitay knew the show had found its Elliot Stabler:

Hargitay wasn’t the only one who felt that way, as Meloni had a similar thought about her. And when they were paired up, she knew immediately they were partners. Her feelings turned out to be right. To this day, the actors are best friends and always joking with each other, and it’s always a treat when Benson and Stabler are on-screen together as their relationship continues to be a “Will they/won’t they?” scenario.

It's hard to imagine how different SVU would have been had Hargitay been paired up with John Slattery. Not that he wouldn’t be a good Stabler, but Meloni as Stabler and Hargitay as Benson just worked out, and they’re definitely part of the reason why SVU has been going so long. It was just an instant connection, even if their relationship wasn't so great in the early years.

Law & Order: SVU’s 27^th season has been airing on the 2025 TV schedule, and it’s brought some surprises already. The series officially wrote off Octavio Pisano’s Joe Velasco and brought back Kelli Giddish’s Amanda Rollins. However, the season also kicked off in September with a death that changed the franchise forever, and Mariska Hargitay is getting real about it.

SVU’s season premiere opened with a memorial for Dann Florek’s Captain Donald Cragen. Given Florek's status one of the longest-running actors in the L&O franchise, fans were shocked, and the death seemingly came out of nowhere. Florek was also seen on the set of SVU over the summer during which he hung out with his co-stars. While appearing on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Hargitay shared how difficult the loss was for Olivia, and I’m getting emotional all over again:

Cragen’s death was definitely surprising but, with it, came the returns of some familiar faces and some sweet character dynamics. That included Elliot’s love confession to Olivia. And, as Clarkson was saying, there hasn’t really been a show like SVU with such longevity. That familiarity is what Hargitay appreciates most when it comes to an emotional segment such as Cragen’s memorial:

Even though it was great to get some heartfelt scenes between Olivia and Elliot, it was still heartbreaking having to say goodbye to Cragen. Florek originally left SVU after Season 15 but returned as a guest star in Season 17. A beloved fixture of the franchise, Florek also appeared in multiple episodes of Organized Crime as recently as 2024, which is a big reason why his death came as such a shock. But it certainly brought characters closer together, and it’s possible that will continue as the season progresses.

It's surreal knowing Florek was on the set of SVU the day the memorial scene was filmed, and I wonder if that was both weird and cathartic for him. That aside, it seemed like he enjoyed catching up and reminiscing with former co-stars. So I guess, if there's any consolation, Cragen's death brought together some fan-favorite characters, and he left an indellible mark on the Law & Order franchise.

Meanwhile, SVU’s 27^th season has been keeping fans on the edge of their seats, with disturbing cases, growing relationships and much more. An episode also tied up a loose end that carried into Law & Order: Organized Crime’s fifth season, which has been airing on NBC after releasing on Peacock earlier this year. With the season still early into its run, it’s hard to predict what else will happen and what other surprises, both good and bad, will happen, but fans will just have to tune in to see.

New episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit air on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription. Fans can also access the show with the help of a YouTube TV subscription.

I’ve been playing catch-up with a lot of the 2025 movies I missed throughout the year, and that exercise recently led to me watching My Mom Jayne. Mariska Hargitay’s outstanding and profound HBO documentary about her late mother, Jayne Mansfield, and how the Hollywood star’s impact can still be felt nearly 60 years after her tragic death, is honestly one of the best docs I’ve seen in quite some time.

In the weeks since watching the documentary film that’s equal parts Hollywood history and exploration of the impact of family and legacy, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about its biggest and most powerful moments. I’ve been thinking about how watching My Mom Jayne taught me to be a better son and father. Allow me to explain…

First Off, I Didn't Expect My Mom Jayne To Make Me So Emotional

Going into My Mom Jayne, I had a feeling the long-time Law and Order: SVU star’s tribute to her late mother would be an emotional experience. However, I didn’t know it would make me as emotional as it did (I wept multiple times both watching and talking about a few scenes). Knowing that Hargitay’s mom died so young after being in a horrific car crash that also injured Hargitay and her siblings, I thought I was prepared for what was to come. I wasn’t.

From Hargitay talking about being so young when her mother passed away to her decades of trying to put together the pieces of Mansfield’s personal life, to finding and buying her mother’s piano and bringing it home, this documentary was an unforgettable and undeniable tear-jerker. You know, it was a cathartic experience that led me to think about the relationship I share with my mom as well as those with my three young kids.

Since Watching The Doc, I've Been So Much More Appreciative Of My Parents

Though there is no comparison between my upbringing and everything Hargitay went through in her formative years (and even in adulthood), My Mom Jayne has made me much more appreciative of my parents. Over the course of my life, and those of my two brothers, they’ve made countless sacrifices, been there in times of need, and have provided open ears and hearts, as well as a shoulder to cry on.

This documentary is clearly about Hargitay, her mother, her family, and everything they’ve gone through over the years, but it’s also a beautiful film that forces the audience to look at themselves in a mirror and contemplate their own lives. That’s what happened while I was watching. Though I’ve always known my parents have my back, watching this journey helped me better appreciate them and realize how lucky I was to have them in my corner growing up and how lucky I am today to still be able to call them.

I've Also Been Making Efforts To Be A More Present Father

This isn’t really a shocker, but parenting is hard. Honestly, it’s the most difficult thing I’ve ever done in my life, and it’s only getting harder as my kids grow older. There have been countless times over the years where I’ve tried to rush through the process in the hope of getting through the day, but that doesn’t really fly when it comes to parenting. You can’t rush or game the system and not expect there to be some consequences.

Since watching this doc, I’ve been making a stronger effort to be a more present, empathetic, and open father. I take that extra time getting them ready for school, I try to involve them more when I’m cooking dinner (this is still a work in progress), and I make sure their day ends with some kind words, a warm embrace, and the promise I’ll be there tomorrow. As Townes Van Zandt once famously sang, “close your eyes, I’ll be here in the morning; close your eyes, I’ll be here for a while.”

I'm More Cognizant Of How My Actions Impact Their Lives

Numerous times throughout My Mom Jayne, it’s stressed how a parent’s actions can deeply impact their children, both in the moment and over the course of their lives. Similar to how I felt the need to be a more present father after finishing the documentary, I have also been more cognizant of how my words and actions impact my son and daughters.

There’s no telling what’s going to happen today, tomorrow, next week, or next year, but I am of the thinking that I want my kids to know and understand that they are loved, they are cared for, and they matter. For someone who has struggled with expressing their emotions and practicing empathy over the years, this is a work in progress. However, it’s something I strive to do each and every day.

Similarly, I Realize How Lucky I Am To Have So Many Memories With My Mom

It doesn’t escape me how lucky I am to have so many memories with my mom. She kept meticulous notes in my baby book, has a record of pretty much every art project from school (she sends pictures constantly), and has always made it her top priority to support her three sons no matter what it takes. Watching the old footage of Hargitay and Mansfield, either on TV shows or home movies, gave me a greater sense of appreciation for those memories I share with my mom and how lucky I am to be able to make new ones with her today.

Though I don’t call my mom as much as I should, and I only get to see her a few times a year, I know that we have 37 years of shared memories that we both cherish dearly. Those memories, the stories we share, mean so much to me, and I hope they mean just as much to her.

All in all, My Mom Jayne is one of the best experiences I’ve had all year, and this critically acclaimed documentary is a must for sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, and everyone else with a beating heart.

Ever since Law & Order: Organized Crime made the jump to Peacock and premiered on the 2025 TV schedule, fans have been itching for more Bensler, and they’ve been getting their wishes on more than one occasion. The first time was when Benson visited Stabler in the hospital in the second episode of OC’s fifth season, and they worked together a bit on a case. Then, SVU just tied up that loose end in the latest episode. But there actually could have been more scenes included between them on Organized Crime that didn’t make the cut.

It's always a treat whenever Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni are able to work together, and not just because of their characters’ slow-burn relationship. It’s nice to see them working together and spending time with each other, which is why when the opportunity came up for Hargitay to appear on the latest season of Organized Crime, Meloni was all in and even offered to write, as he told TVLine when asked about the logistics of his colleague's appearance:

Meloni explained that he had incorporated her throughout the whole script, and while he wouldn’t go into details of what specifically he had written, it was a lot more than what we got. He explained that when it came time for approval, Hargitay’s time was limited, and they were dealt a devastating blow:

It’s not surprising that they couldn’t get Hargitay for more than three days because she was also filming SVU at the time, and it’s hard to balance the schedule, even with the shows filming in the same vicinity. So he immediately had to come up with a new plan, saying:

He had to cut her out of a lot of scenes and rework storylines, which is definitely disappointing, but again, it’s not so surprising considering how busy Hargitay was. It’s even a miracle they were able to get her for three days.

Meloni did eventually go into some specifics, revealing that towards the end of the episode, where it was Stabler and Jet going on a hunt, it was actually originally different:

When asked how they could collaborate on future episodes, Meloni hilariously answered, “Girlfriend has a day job.” I so wish that they were able to get more scenes for Organized Crime, and I hope they get more moments on SVU, especially following that “I love you” moment in the Season 27 premiere.

However, hearing the logistics behind the appearances and how hard it is to really lock down days makes me grateful for the Bensler scenes we’ve been able to get thus far. Organized Crime has not yet been renewed for Season 6, but Season 27 of SVU airs on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, followed by Season 5 of Organized Crime, which is available to stream in full with a Peacock subscription.

Law & Order: SVU Season 27 kicked off in the fall 2025 TV schedule by delivering a major death, to the dismay of many fans: Captain Don Cragen, played across more than twenty years in the franchise by Dann Florek. Fortunately, Florek is still alive and well, and his character's death was honored in the Season 27 premiere (which is available streaming now with a Peacock subscription). The tragedy comes not too long after he opened up about handing the leadership of the unit over to Mariska Hargitay's character, with Olivia Benson stepping up as Captain of Special Victims following Cragen's retirement.

Florek, who starred in three seasons of Law & Order before starring in fifteen seasons of SVU, was among those who celebrated the series in honor of its 25th anniversary last year. Speaking with People, he said this about Cragen retiring and being succeeded by Benson:

Following his retirement in 2014, Cragen was (mostly) able to enjoy eleven years off the job. He did appear in one Season 16 episode the next year, and was pulled into the action by Stabler on Law & Order: Organized Crime for several episodes between 2022-2024. His most meaningful return after his Season 15 retirement, however, was also very quick: he appeared via video call in the 500th episode. Reflecting on the moment he shared with Mariska Hargitay in that milestone episode, Florek said:

If you revisit the 500th episode, which is streaming on Peacock as well as via a Hulu subscription, you'll find that Benson also looked like she was gonna cry when she got that vote of confidence from her former captain. What made it even more special, as far as I'm concerned, is that Cragen waited to say it until they were in a one-on-one chat, instead of when he was video-calling the larger group of detectives about their case of the week.

At the time, I'd been hoping that Christopher Meloni as Stabler would pop up in the 500th episode, but Dann Florek as Cragen was really the more effective choice. The episode also brought back former regulars Danny Pino as Nick Amaro and the one and only Tamara Tunie as ME Chief Melinda Warner. Other recurring actors to return were Ryan Buggle as Benson's son and attorney Trevor Langan, played by Mariska Hargitay's real-life husband Peter Hermann.

While I'm certainly sad that Season 27 began on such a tragic note as the off-screen death of Captain Cragen, I did appreciate that SVU brought Dann Florek back to record a speech that played at Cragen's memorial. Plus, considering that it resulted in Benson, Fin, and even a visiting Stabler starting to consider their own mortality, it could pack a punch throughout the season if this is an arc that the show continues.

While Cragen is seemingly gone for good now, barring any flashbacks or recordings, his legacy lives on in the form of Captain Olivia Benson. You can catch new episodes this fall on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET, between Law & Order Season 25 at 8 p.m. ET and Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 at 10 p.m. ET, all on NBC. (Organized Crime's uncensored fifth season is already available on Peacock.) You can find Captain Cragen's best episodes streaming on Peacock and Hulu as well.

NBC’s Law & Order Thursdays are back in the fall 2025 TV schedule, with the original series kicking off Season 25 with an unceremonious cast exit and SVU killing off a beloved character to start Season 27. This year, Organized Crime is back in primetime despite making the move to streaming for viewers with a Peacock subscription earlier this year. NBC is airing an F-bomb-free version of Season 5 on Thursday nights, and any fans who loved Christopher Meloni’s appearance in SVU’s premiere won’t want to miss the next episode of OC that will air with Mariska Hargitay as a guest star.

Christopher Meloni’s SVU Ad-Lib

The one perk of SVU’s premiere killing off Dann Florek’s Captain Don Cragen (who had been in the franchise going back to Law & Order’s pilot) was that it led to some reunions from classic seasons of the show. BD Wong was back as Dr. George Huang, Dean Winters reprised his role as Brian Cassidy, and Christopher Meloni made his long-awaited return to share the screen with Mariska Hargitay as the Stabler to her Benson.

Benson and Stabler shared a bittersweet moment outside of Cragen’s memorial gathering, reflecting on their years working together when he was their captain. It was exactly the kind of comfortable interaction that I was missing between the former partners during all the tension of the first few seasons following his return to NYC. The scene ended with Stabler dropping a “Love you” on Benson, in a much more appropriate setting than the first time he did it, before she drove away.

And as it turns out, fans have Christopher Meloni to thank for that moment. On X (formerly known as Twitter), the actor responded to a fan asking for a comment on the “Love you” by revealing that it was an “Ad lib” that “Made the cut.”

As somebody who loves when Meloni and Mariska Hargitay share the screen but definitely doesn’t need a romance out of their characters, the ad lib really worked for me, and reminded me of the last time that I’d seen the duo on screen together on Organized Crime.

Mariska Hargitay’s Episode Of Organized Crime Season 5

Now, I won’t spoil the events of Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 here for any who are watching for the first time on NBC rather than streamed it on Peacock over the summer, but Mariska Hargitay’s guest appearance was highly hyped ahead of time. As NBC viewers recently saw with the Season 5 premiere, Stabler ended the episode in a car crash, and the promo afterward showed that he 1) ends up in the hospital and 2) is not happy to be in the hospital.

And of course, Mariska Hargitay appears as Olivia Benson. Without getting into big spoilers, I’ll say that Benson and Stabler’s interactions in this episode of Organized Crime might be my favorites from any of the years since Meloni returned to the Law & Order world in 2021. And that's despite my soft spot for their relationship in SVU’s Season 24 finale! It also delivers something that I’ve wanted for a long time: Benson meeting one of Stabler’s brothers.

Basically, if you enjoyed Christopher Meloni adding a "Love you” to the SVU Season 27 premiere, I think you’ll enjoy seeing how Benson and Stabler interact in the second episode of Law & Order: Organized Crime, which will air on NBC on Thursday, October 2 at 10 p.m. ET. If you’d rather see it sooner, you can find it streaming on Peacock now. (If you’ve already seen it, check out what Dean Norris told us about one of my favorite scenes.)

Law & Order: SVU is gearing up for its 27^th season on the 2025 TV schedule, premiering this Thursday on NBC. With the show’s return, Mariska Hargitay continues her reign as not only the longest-running Law & Order franchise star, but also as the actress behind the longest-running primetime live-action character of all time: Olivia Benson. However, these records almost didn’t happen because of a decision the Emmy-winning actress made about her hair way back in Season 3, and she finally told the story.

Considering SVU has been on for 26 seasons, there have been some changes when it comes to the cast, from who has come and gone, to even appearance transformations. This includes hair, and just a few seasons in, Hargitay revealed she was coaxed into a change. She recalled to Allure how her pixie cut during Season 3 came about, and it sounds like it wasn't even her idea.

Through the course of the show, Olivia Benson's signature look has included medium-long hair, but the pixie cut was drastically different for the character. Sure, it was early in the show's run, but it was a drastic change, and if you've been watching the show since it's inception, I'd be willing to bet your remember it. And it came around the time some other famous names like Keri Russell infamously cut their hair for TV.

Of course, it’s not like a haircut changed anything with Benson's storyline, and her hairstylist probably didn’t assume backlash would ensue. But there were some tense moments...

Say it aint' so! Hargitay has been on SVU since the show’s inception in 1999, and at this point, it’s hard to imagine the show without her. Longtime star Ice-T has even gotten real about how long the series could last, noting that its longevity is due to the actress' devotion and choice to continue these days. However, during SVU’s early years, that power and involvement wasn’t always the case, as evidenced by Hargitay’s story. It’s pretty crazy she almost got fired over a haircut, but luckily, she stayed on, and it’s definitely a good thing she did.

I can't say for certain what would have happened had Hargitay actually gotten fired from SVU, but I'd be willing to bet the show would have turned out completely differently and, more than likely, would not have reached 27 seasons.

A while back, Ice-T did reveal what could happen “if you die on SVU,” saying you could either come back depending on circumstances surrounding your character, or even move on to a different Dick Wolf show. I do think it would have been fun to see her on a different show in the Wolf Universe, especially if she were playing a different character. But if they fired her, who knows what could have happened on that front?

Since almost getting fired, Olivia’s hair hasn’t been nearly as short, so she probably learned a lesson from the surprise cut. That being said, it’s never too late for another change, even if it is a subtle one. Maybe producers will let her get down with a more interesting cut again in the future.

Stars from all three current Law & Order shows came together ahead of the 2025 TV schedule returns for the 77th Primetime Emmys to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the franchise, with Special Victims Unit’s Mariska Hargitay placed front and center on stage as the one star who has been with her show from the very beginning in 1999. The actors got giggly behind the scenes, as Organized Crime’s Christopher Meloni shared a cute video of Hargitay teasing him about never winning an Emmy… and then belatedly realizing that he was recording her.

While none of the Law & Order shows had scored any nominations for the 2025 Primetime Emmys, SVU’s Mariska Hargitay remains the franchise’s only star to win an Emmy as a lead actor, taking home the trophy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2006. Back in his days as an SVU co-lead, Christopher Meloni was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series that same year, but lost to Kiefer Sutherland for 24.

The two are longtime friends, and that friendship was clear in the unfiltered video that Meloni shared from behind the scenes at the Emmys. Take a look at the second slide of his Instagram post for the clip:

I’m not sure what my favorite part of the video is, but the top two candidates are the look on Mariska Hargitay’s face (followed by her laughter) when she realized that Christopher Meloni recorded her saying that he'd "never" win an Emmy, and him gleefully saying “And she curses!” to the camera after her “Oh shit!” reaction. It’s definitely a fun contrast to how they presented themselves on stage. (The Emmys are available streaming with a Paramount+ subscription, while SVU can be found with a Peacock subscription.)

Hargitay and Meloni kept straight faces and stayed on script during the Law & Order segment of the Emmys alongside current Law & Order star Tony Goldwyn, former Law & Order star (and current Chicago Med series regular) S. Epatha Merkerson, and SVU’s Ice-T. Those straight faces were nowhere to be seen behind the scenes with the two pals walking by a tray full of Emmys, and now I’m even more excited to see Meloni reprising his role as Elliot Stabler opposite Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson in the upcoming SVU Season 27.

As for whether Meloni will ever win an Emmy… well, the wait is currently on for Law & Order: Organized Crime to be renewed for Season 6, so let’s cross our fingers for that news before anything else! Meloni also shared a photo of the full SVU reunion, with Ice-T sporting a big smile:

These three stars don’t often have reasons to smile like this when playing their characters in the franchise, especially Ice-T and Mariska Hargitay when their show is about – to quote the opening narration – ”sexually based offenses” that are “considered especially heinous.” So, it’s nice to see them dressed to the nines and looking happy in real life.

All three stars will be back in primetime this fall, and not just with Meloni making an appearance on his old show. On NBC’s Thursday nights, Law & Order Season 25 airs at 8 p.m. ET, Law & Order: SVU Season 27 airs at 9 p.m. ET, and Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 (which is already available streaming on Peacock) will air at 10 p.m. ET. Tune in to NBC on Thursday, September 25 to see the first new episodes since back in the spring!

Twenty-six years is a long time to wait for pretty much anything, and that’s especially true when it comes to television fans who’ll go into the 2025 TV schedule longing for two of their favorite characters to finally (FINALLY!!?) hook up already. This is what millions of Bensler shippers have been going through since they first saw the palpable will-they-won’t-they-when-will-they sexual tension between Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson and Christopher Meloni’s Elliot Stabler on Law & Order: SVU way back in 1999. Co-star Ice-T has seen the on-screen relationship since Season 2, and while he’s on board the Bensler ship with the rest of us, he also has some tough love for fans who ask for it.

What Did Law & Order: SVU’s Ice-T Say About A Benson/Stabler Romance And The Couple's Fans?

When Law & Order: SVU viewers found out that Olivia Benson and her former partner/friend Elliot Stabler were going to be reunited in 2021, many of us were in a tizzy over the potential romantic hopes that had been renewed. Alas, with the exception of an emotional and notable near-kiss a couple of years ago (which really annoyed fans), we’ve gotten bupkis (a.k.a. the wrong kind of “kiss”). Now, long-time SVU star Ice-T has shared his view on the possible romance with Entertainment Weekly, and said:

Man, there are so many people who are rooting for him to succeed here, right? If there are two things that SVU (which will enter another record-breaking set of episodes this fall when Season 27 hits NBC) fans know, it’s that not only are the powers that be not ready to have Benson and Stabler romance one another actively, but Hargitay and Meloni are also really good buddies off screen, who’ve always acknowledged their “good chemistry” on camera and off.

With that, you might think this whole “Olivia and Elliot sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g” situation should be a slam dunk, particularly now that we KNOW they’re both into each other. Well, Ice-T noted that while there are additional positives that could help things along, there are also some potential reasons to keep the duo apart in all horizontal ways:

Yes, yes…Obviously one of the reasons that people keep watching is not just because of all those ripped-from-the-headlines stories, but the desperate hope that our romantic notions of a world where Benson and Stabler end their long days at work and come home to each other will be fulfilled at some point. Are they just stringing us along for the ratings?!?!

As we all ponder that possibility, the hit-making rapper also had some blunt words for every fan who’s dying to see some Bensler action:

Basically, if those in charge are simply uninterested in having Olivia and Elliot give in to their passion, it’s not gonna happen. While I can see that reality check helping some shippers calm way down, after nearly 30 years, I don’t think it’s going to completely stop most of us from hoping the hard-working detectives go there ASAP.

Law & Order: SVU is entering its 27^th season on the 2025 TV schedule, and it’s hard to believe how long the show has been around for. The Dick Wolf drama premiered in 1999 on NBC and has become a staple on the network. Ice-T recently posted a picture from the set of Season 27, and now Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni are celebrating by recalling their first lines on the show. And their reactions are A+.

Hargitay and Meloni were the original duo on SVU, both making their debuts in the first episode of the series. They have been through a lot since then, with Meloni making the switch to his own spinoff, which is streaming with a Peacock subscription. To show just how much they have been through, the actors were asked by NBC to call their first lines ever on SVU, and it makes me love them even more:

The fact that they were both able to remember their first lines spoken after 26 years is pretty impressive. Of course, it can be assumed they have watched the pilot more than a few times over the years, but filming something that ultimately changed your life is different. It’s not surprising that they were able to remember their lines since it’s probably stuck with them, but it is fun to see their reactions to it and seeing that they were right.

There’s also the fact that Hargitay and Meloni remember the exact setup and other lines in the scene, and it’s making me want to go back and rewatch the first episode. Additionally, I love that Hargitay’s first line on SVU was literally “Olivia Benson.” It just foreshadowed how iconic she would become and how iconic she still is after all these years. Back then, they probably never knew that almost 30 years later, they’d still be playing the same characters and become two of the longest-running actors in the Law & Order franchise, and it's crazy to think about.

It helps that Hargitay and Meloni had instant chemistry when they were auditioning for SVU, which is a good thing. There’s a possibility that SVU would not have gone as long as it had if Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler were played by different actors. Luckily, fans won’t have to imagine that and will be able to look forward to hopefully more Bensler scenes in the new season of SVU and many more memorable lines.

There won’t be too much of a wait for Law & Order: SVU Season 27. It’s set to premiere on Thursday, September 25 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, following the Season 25 premiere of Law & Order. Season 5 of Law & Order: Organized Crime will be airing after SVU, bringing the spinoff back to the network after moving to Peacock for Season 5, meaning that Law & Order Thursdays are coming back this fall on NBC.

Since the ‘90s, the Law & Order franchise has seen a whole host of guest stars that fans can watch with a Peacock subscription, and to this day, actors are still putting their hat in the ring to appear in any of the shows, even if it’s as a corpse. At the SAG Awards earlier this year, celebrities were asked to take a shot if they guest starred in the franchise and not surprisingly, almost the entire room did. Now, another celebrity wants to appear on Law & Order: SVU, and Stabler should watch out because she wants to play Olivia Benson’s lesbian lover, and I would love to see it.

While answering eight questions before 8 a.m. for TODAY, singer and actress Reneé Rapp was asked if she had a guest starring role on SVU, who would she play? She immediately loved the question, pointing out whoever wrote the question did more for her community than they can even imagine, and by community, she means her. Rapp knew exactly who she would play, and I need it immediately:

It sounds like Rapp has had this idea for a while, as she even remembers exact lines from a specific episode. This definitely would shift SVU if Olivia were to date a woman, even if she was just experimenting, but it would be pretty great.

How it would come about story-wise is unknown, but not surprisingly, Rapp has a whole storyline planned in her head, and I feel like Dick Wolf needs to be listening in on this:

At the very least, if SVU won’t make Olivia gay or even bisexual, it would be fun to see her go undercover with a female cop who isn’t Rollins, where they pretend to be a lesbian couple. Whether or not it will actually happen is unknown, but after 26 seasons, it would be nice to have a bit of a change, and this would be pretty perfect to switch things up. If anything, Law & Order: SVU doesn’t seem to be ending any time soon, so Rapp probably has plenty of time to make her dream come true.

Rapp has been open about her sexuality and came out on Saturday Night Live while performing on the variety sketch show during Season 49. While at the time she identified as bisexual, she admitted on Good Hang With Amy Poehler that she felt “very much lesbian” after going over sketch ideas and having a conversation with her girlfriend.

As of now, it’s unknown what Olivia Benson’s love life will look like on Season 27 of SVU, but the show has kicked off filming, as evidenced by Ice-T’s post of him looking beat up. There’s no telling what will happen in the new season, and even if it doesn’t include Olivia’s lesbian lover, there will still be a lot to look forward to.

Mariska Hargitay is a beloved actress who will forever known for playing a signature role, in this case Law and Order: SVU's tough-as-nails detective Olivia Benson. The character has been a trailblazer when it comes to female characters on television. Benson is strong, independent, intelligent, and multifaceted, setting a new standard for how women are depicted on the small screen. Hargitay is proud of the work she’s done on the show, and as time has gone on, she has been able to see parts of her famous late mother, Jayne Mansfield, in her iconic procedural character.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Hargitay opened up about her new HBO documentary titled My Mom Jayne, which hit the 2025 TV schedule in June and is avialable to stream with a Max subscription. The project, which she directed, examines Mansfield’s life as both an actress and sex symbol before she passed away tragically at 34, and it also delves into Hargitay’s relationship to her mother’s legacy.

Now, I can't imagine anyone would look at L&O's Olivia Benson and immediately start making direct comparisons to a Golden Age starlet like Mansfield, but Hargitay has put a lot of thought into that over the years. She actually does see some similarities between her mom and her franchise character, telling EW that they share a key trait:

Even though Benson is fearless and has a tough exterior, fans are drawn to her because of her undying compassion for the victims in the show. Benson will fight to the end to make sure victims get justice, and perpetrators are punished to the full extent of the law. While Jayne Mansfield was far from a police detective, she was incredibly loving and compassionate towards her daughter and people around her, as Hargitay recounts. This is incredibly sweet, and I love that Hargitay is reclaiming her mother’s legacy all these years later.

However, Hargitay was keen to note the differences between Benson and the public image of her mother. With Olivia Benson, the Emmy winner was able to explore strength in womanhood, and an uncompromising attitude towards injustice. She noted her mother didn’t exactly have that opportunity due to the restrictive nature of the time period, and her “bombshell” reputation that she was sequestered to. She believes these limitations her mother experienced made her the way she is, and was likely one of the reasons she was drawn to Benson as a character. She said:

Clearly, Mansfield had a major influence on Hargitay and how she approaches her iconic television role. Even if she didn’t know it at first, Hargitay has learned how deeply she’s been impacted by how she’s interpreted her mother’s pop culture status as a figure in the media. Whether she is subverting it or examining it, Mansfield’s legacy has become a major influence on Hargitay’s own approach to stardom as a “female powerhouse”, and how she sees her character Olivia Benson.

You can see Mariska Hargitay’s documentary by streaming My Mom Jayne airing on HBO or streaming on HBO Max. Fans of the actress can also see her continue her role as Olivia Benson on Law and Order: SVU, which is streaming now with a Peacock subscription.

Mariska Hargitay is a television icon after more than two decades leading Law & Order: SVU, but she’s making headlines over SVU’s summer hiatus in the 2025 TV schedule due to her new documentary, My Mom Jayne. Released on HBO and available streaming now with an HBO Max subscription, the documentary about Hargitay’s late mother not only dug deep into the real story behind the Hollywood star’s life and tragic death, but also followed Hargitay herself coming to terms with difficult elements of her family history.

I was always planning to watch the documentary, since I knew almost nothing about Jayne Mansfield, have only ever heard great things about Mariska Hargitay as a person from co-stars, and just generally enjoy a good doc. Hargitay directed and produced the project herself. But seeing hype on social media and positive review after positive review, I decided to prioritize watching it. I couldn’t be happier that I did, but I wasn’t expecting the end to make me cry.

My Mom Jayne, A Film By Mariska Hargitay

I won’t get too heavily into spoilers here, because the documentary really deserves to be experienced rather than just read about in summary, but I will say that the story of Jayne Mansfield packs an emotional punch even if you’re not at all familiar with her history as a Hollywood icon with a reputation for playing “dumb blonde” roles.

Mansfield died at the age of just 34, when Mariska Hargitay was just three years old. The SVU actress candidly speaks about why she avoided digging into her mother’s history for so much of her life, and there were extremely personal points in the documentary that I was honestly impressed that she and her siblings remained on camera. Interviewees included all of Hargitay’s siblings, her stepmother, and her mother’s press secretary, among others.

There’s plenty of footage of Jayne Mansfield from the ‘50s and ‘60s, cut together in a way that, when combined with stories from some of the people who knew her best, told a story that was profoundly sad at times. I’d be lying if I said that there weren’t sequences in the middle of the documentary that had me shedding my first tears.

The finished product also provides further context to Mariska Hargitay's big reveal to Vanity Fair earlier this year that Mickey Hargitay was not her biological father, and fleshes out Jayne Mansfield’s story by devoting solid amounts of time to telling the stories of the people around her.

Suffice it to say that I 100% understand why I was seeing so much hype around My Mom Jayne, and my question of whether I’d be invested when I didn’t know anything about Jayne Mansfield was certainly answered. It was the story of Mansfield’s hopes, dreams, and undervalued talents that had me tearing up before the end of the film.

But the cathartic end was what really got me.

Why My Mom Jayne’s Ending Was So Powerful

Here’s where I will get deeper into specific spoilers, because it’s impossible to really explain why the end was impactful without details. Not only did Mariska Hargitay devote a solid amount of time to her father, Mickey Hargitay, and her biological father, but she took the time to acknowledge how important her stepmother was to her. Yes, there was that profound sadness from so much of Jayne Mansfield’s story, but joy in seeing her family as it is today.

And two back-to-back sequences really guaranteed that my ending tears were actually happy from the catharsis of how the story was told rather than just sad for Mansfield's untapped potential in the industry and life ended too soon. Mariska Hargitay was joined by siblings Jayne Marie Mansfield, Mickey Hargitay Jr., and Zoltan Hargitay in exploring a storage unit filled with memories and belongings of their mother.

In one of few funny moments from the documentary, the siblings discovered a very old trophy in one of the boxes and Mariska Hargitay immediately identified it as a Golden Globe. Understandably so! The actress, of course, won a Golden Globe of her own for playing Olivia Benson on Law & Order: SVU back in 2005, and her brother immediately suggested that she put their mom’s 1956 “International Stardom Award” with her “Best Actress in a TV Series – Drama” award.

But the kicker came at the very end courtesy of Mariska Hargitay’s husband, Peter Hermann, to pay off on her ongoing effort to get her mother’s beautiful Steinway & Sons grand piano back. The piano had one-of-a-kind painting on it, but the instrument had belonged to another family for decades.

Hermann had found and gotten the piano for Hargitay for her 60th birthday, with footage showing the instant she learned that the piano was finally theirs and a sweet moment with the whole family embracing. (In a bonus sweet note, Hargitay and her daughter were wearing matching Taylor Swift Eras Tour sweatshirts after the actress had spoken about their shared appreciation for the artist.)

Did my happy tears temporarily stall out of nerves when that beautiful grand piano was being hoisted several stories up into the air on a rainy day? Yes! Was it the perfect lead-in to Hargitay’s closing monologue about getting to know her mom during the making of the documentary? Also yes.

All of this is to say that I can’t recommend My Mom Jayne highly enough for anybody who enjoys documentaries, especially as somebody who knew Mariska Hargitay’s work just from Law & Order: SVU and nothing about Jayne Mansfield before tuning in. It remains to be seen if she’ll be inspired to work on more documentary feature films in the future, since this was such a personal project, but Hargitay has branched out from performing in the past by directing episodes of SVU, all of which are available with a Peacock subscription now. Check out the trailer below:

You can check out My Mom Jayne for yourself streaming now on Max, in case you missed the broadcast on June 27. Even if you’ve somewhat spoiled yourself on the doc by reading this far, there’s plenty that I didn’t reveal. In fact, even if this had been a play-by-play of the nearly two-hour production in minute detail, it would be worth watching for the public and personal archive footage of Jayne Mansfield.

It's not uncommon to spot celebrities courtside at New York Knicks games, or anywhere they're playing, as we learned from Pat McAfee's short feud with Ben Stiller and Timothée Chalamet. Some celebrities get more attention than others, of course, and some even get a hug from superstar Jalen Brunson if they're lucky. Only one gets that hug, actually, and that's Law & Order: SVU actress Mariska Hargitay.

Hargitay appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers and was asked by the host how she received this special honor. The actress, who recently talked about a fortune teller predicting her fame, spoke about the first time she hugged the NBA all-star, and how that was even possible given the widespread security in the arena:

Sure, it's nothing to spot someone like former Knicks good luck charm Kylie Jenner courtside at a game, but how often do you get to link up with Olivia Benson? Law & Order: SVU seems to be one of those shows that everyone has some familiarity with, to the point that even other celebrities get starstruck when Mariska Hargitay is around. And if Christopher Meloni is there as well? I mean, past events like that have broken the internet!

Seth Meyers went on to point out that Jalen Brunson attended the premiere of Mariska Hargitay's documentary, My Mom Jayne, which explores her mother, 1950s movie star Jayne Mansfield. Hargitay was only three years old when her mother tragically passed away in a car accident in 1967, and has since learned that her biological father was not the man who raised her. The documentary delves into this discovery, as the actress reveals a long-kept secret within her family.

It's super cool to see celebrities get so excited about their favorite teams and vice versa, and we saw a lot of that during the New York Knicks' latest playoff run. Timothée Chalamet was posting hype videos, Pat McAfee was feuding with John Mellencamp, and Spike Lee was offering to give up one of his Oscars if the Knicks won the NBA championship.

The team fell short of making the finals this season, losing to the Indiana Pacers in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals. I'm sure Mariska Hargitay was disappointed, but at least the team has next season to make a run all over again.

Catch the new season of Law & Order: SVU when it premieres this fall on NBC on the 2025 TV schedule. Until then, there are still plenty of episodes in syndication on television to binge in the meantime, so check your local listings!

I don’t know about you, but when I think about Mariska Hargitay, I immediately think about Law & Order: SVU. Since 1999, she has been playing Detective Olivia Benson, and now, 574 episodes later, the show is still going strong with its 27th season slated to premiere this fall on the 2025 TV schedule. Now, the actress has shared a “fun story” about a psychic predicting that she’d get famous for playing a character just like Benson, and my mind is blown.

While stars come and go from SVU, Hargitay has been there and stayed there since day one. However, before landing the gig, she never thought she’d be famous for a very serious legal procedural. That all changed, though, when her friend made her see a Long Island psychic. Telling the full story on Call Her Daddy, the actress said:

While she went along for the ride, Hargitay wasn’t having it. She has famous parents – her mom is Jayne Mansfield – and she figured the psychic could easily look her up. However, when they started talking, the psychic said something that wound up being very true, he said:

In the video, which you can see below, Hargitay makes a serious expression, and that’s the fact the psychic was referring to. Well, considering you know where this story is going, it’s easy to draw the parallels between this prediction and her eventual role on SVU.

However, hindsight is 20/20, and in the moment, she didn’t believe it.

The actress wanted to be in the world of comedy, and she lived in Los Angeles, with no plans of moving. However, this psychic was convinced she’d star in a drama based in New York, as she said:

Well, that all proved to be true, obviously, but the real kicker is how fast it came true. After telling this wild tale, the woman behind Olivia Benson revealed that she auditioned for SVU alongside Christopher Meloni and booked the gig not that long after this run-in with the Long Island psychic:

Well, that’s absolutely bananas, and now, nearly 30 years later, we can look back on this and relish in how right this guy was. I wonder if he had correct predictions about the various actors who appeared on L&O who went on to have big careers? I bet he’d guess right if he did based on this.

Now, this psychic can say “I told you so,” and Hargitay will continue to play the beloved and very serious Detective Olivia Benson on SVU. Meanwhile, you can stream the Law & Order show alongside the other projects in the franchise with a Peacock subscription while we wait for the new season.

Law and Order: Organized Crime is back and better than ever on the 2025 TV schedule, with its first two episodes available now on Peacock. The Season 5 premiere was heavily teased with some pretty intense promos that showed Christopher Meloni’s Det. Elliot Stabler in the hospital following a car crash. Of course, his longtime partner, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit’s Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), shows up to visit Stabler in the hospital. Obviously, fans are desperate to know if this is the season the two former SVU partners finally get together. Thankfully, Meloni got real about their near-kiss, trying not to "bait" fans and the future of their relationship.

Some Context On Benson and Stabler’s Near Kitchen Kiss

Before last week’s Dick Wolf Universe extravaganza, Benson and Stabler hadn’t been on screen together since 2023. Season 24 of Dick Wolf’s long-running detective drama provided some serious romantic tension between the two, resulting in a semi-awkward near kiss in Benson’s kitchen. In a recent interview with TV Line, Meloni got real about why the kiss didn’t happen, although he leaves most of the reasoning up for fan speculation:

The two ex-partners kissing isn’t itself awkward, but Elliot’s timing wasn't ideal. The reason he showed up at her apartment in the first place was to check on her after a gang attack. While I think Stabler’s presence was welcome and most likely comforting, Olivia was too emotionally overwhelmed to deal with their complicated relationship.

After Elliot told Liv he cares about her and went in for a kiss, she pulled away at the last moment. The two were about to finally lock lips when she rested her head against his and whispered, “I want to, but I can’t.” He asked why, and she admitted she wasn't ready.

I don’t know about you, but I was holding my breath for the entire scene. Two years later, with #Bensler finally reuniting and breaking the internet, I’m left to wonder if Olivia is finally ready to take that next step.

Christopher Meloni Speaks On Baiting Fans With The Will-They-Won’t-They Relationship

Benson and Stabler are a couple 26 years in the making…and it is still being dragged out.

Ever since SVU premiered in 1999, it’s been clear Meloni and Hargitay have some serious chemistry, something the latter admitted she felt at their initial SVU audition together decades ago.

Their closeness and unconditional loyalty were almost always a factor in Elliot’s marital problems with his wife, Kathy. In an unexpected twist, Kathy died in the SVU crossover with the L&O: Organized Crime pilot. It was a devastating twist for both fans and Stabler. But for the first time, the dedicated detective was able to fully acknowledge his underlying feelings for Benson.

Now, over Organized Crime’s 4-season run, we’ve seen the detectives have more romantic interactions than their entire 12 years together on SVU. However, it hasn't resulted in anything besides obvious confessions of feelings.

Overall, fans have been left wondering if they are about to be tricked by the writers again, and Christopher Meloni finally addressed the Bensler baiting, saying:

It’s nice to know that the actors are very genuine with these characters. Like the fans, Mariska Hargitay admitted to Variety she was rooting for a Bensler kiss, and I think this interview with the Happy actor is confirmation that they are on the same page.

Unfortunately, as Meloni said, it’s up to the powers that be. Hopefully, SVU’s first female showrunner, who was a main writer and producer for SVU Seasons 4-7, including the moment Stabler chose his partner’s life over a victim’s, will take the fate of their romance into her own hands.

While the Organized Crime Season 4 finale left Benson and Stabler in a good place as friends again, I think this could be the season they finally get together. However, we'll just have to wait and see.

New episodes of both SVU and Organized Crime can be streamed every Thursday with a Peacock subscription.

The 2025 TV schedule has a treat for fans of Dick Wolf's nine-show TV universe, with a two-part primetime crossover event between Law & Order Season 24 and Law & Order: SVU Season 26. With more than two years since the last time both shows were brought together for a multi-parter, the crossover has been a long time coming. It also teamed Reid Scott's Detective Vincent Riley up with Mariska Hargitay's iconic Captain Olivia Benson for the first time, and he was overflowing with compliments for her when he spoke with CinemaBlend.

I recently spoke with Reid Scott about Riley "getting triggered" in a big episode for his character, which is available streaming with a Peacock subscription now. He also shared why he's a fan of Law & Order embracing "unsatisfying" endings in Season 24, but nothing sounds unsatisfying about the crossover on April 17, based on how he described it. He shared:

Mariska Hargitay appeared on Law & Order way back in early Season 24, but that was more like a cameo than Benson properly crossing over as part of the case from start to finish. That's not going to be the case this time around. With the episodes called "Play With Fire Part 1" and "Play With Fire Part 2," Benson will be brought into the Law & Order mix after a mysterious phone call and a brutal murder.

True to form, the SVU half of the crossover incorporates sexually-based offenses. All in all, it sounds like a grim pair of episodes, but Reid Scott had a lot of fun while filming it. He went on:

It's always great to hear new takes on working with Mariska Hargitay, because the consensus seems to be that it's always a great experience. Ryan Buggle, who plays Benson's son on SVU, told CinemaBlend that his "favorite thing" he learned from Hargitay is to always "act with your heart and only act because you love performing." Season 26 guest star Donna Lynne Champlin, whose episode included a twist on the usual SVU format, told me that the leading lady is "so clearly loved and respected on that set."

Ice-T, who is Mariska Hargitay's longest-running co-star by this point, shared that he thinks "the show will stay on as long as Mariska wants to do" it and "it's her show." Christopher Meloni even raved about knowing she was a great actress from the very beginning, telling Kelly Clarkson on The Kelly Clarkson Show that he knew he was "as good as gold" to be cast on SVU as soon as he was paired with Hargitay.

And those are just the people who have known her in person! Hargitay herself shared that celebrities always want to play dead bodies to be on SVU, and there's a reason why she had Olympians freaking out in Paris and Taylor Swift named one of her cats "Olivia" in a nod to the TV character.

Suffice it to say that Reid Scott is in good company in his praise of the leading lady. While he didn't want to spoil all the twists and turns, he went on to share one plot point that brings Riley and Benson together:

The wait is nearly over to see the Law & Order/SVU crossover, but I think it's already a safe bet that Riley and Benson aren't going to be cracking each other up quite like Reid Scott and Mariska Hargitay were between scenes. For now, check out the promo for the two-parter:

Tune in to NBC on Thursday, April 17 starting at 8 p.m. ET for the doubleheader of Dick Wolf TV action with Law & Order and SVU crossing over. The Season 5 premiere of Law & Order: Organized Crime will air in its old 10 p.m. ET time slot that night as well, although the rest of the ten-episode fifth season will stream exclusively on Peacock.

The long wait for Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 is nearly over, and new looks at what's in store confirm that releasing on streaming doesn't mean Christopher Meloni and Co. are cut off from the NBC shows. SVU's Mariska Hargitay will appear in an early episode of Organized Crime's in the 2025 TV schedule, reuniting Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler on screen for the first time since back in May 2023. The new sneak peeks reveal the reason why, and while it's bad news for Stabler, I'm certainly excited to watch with a Peacock subscription!

The first trailer for Season 5 was packed with clues about Stabler's next undercover assignment, but no hint that Benson would be dropping by. Fans will in fact see Mariska Hargitay back on screen with Christopher Meloni in the second episode. As a treat, both the first and second episodes will begin streaming on April 17 on Peacock, with the first also airing in Organized Crime's old 10 p.m. ET time slot on NBC. Check out the newest promo, which reveals why Benson turns up:

We've seen Elliot Stabler shake off many things over the first four seasons of Organized Crime and all twelve of his seasons of SVU, but apparently being T-boned in a car – which then flips! – isn't going to be one of them. The longtime detective winds up in the hospital, and it looks like he's in rough enough shape to have the option of heading into the light.

We'll need the full context of the episode to know for sure, but some photos reveal that Benson will visit the hospital to visit her old partner/friend/possible love interest. Take a look:

Stabler is looking rough and seemingly either asleep or unconscious in that first photo, but I'm on the record as loving hospitalizations in TV dramas for the usual character development... as long as nobody actually dies, anyway. I still haven't forgotten what happened to poor Jamie Whelan! Fortunately for the Organized Crime leading man, Benson won't be the only person who cares about him at the hospital:

Danielle Moné Truitt is of course back as Sergeant Ayanna Bell, and Breaking Bad alum Dean Norris was promoted to series regular for Season 5 as Elliot's brother Randall. The first trailer also confirmed the return of Ellen Burstyn as Bernie Stabler, and I'm wondering if we'll also see any of the Stabler kids in the epsiode. It does look like we'll get more than just a cameo from Mariska Hargitay, though.

All things considered, Law & Order: Organized Crime is getting a strong launch. Since the first two episodes will release on April 17 on Peacock, fans won't have to wait into late April or May see Mariska Hargitay's guest appearance, and NBC airing the Season 5 premiere after the Law & Order two-part crossover with SVU will surely give Christopher Meloni's show a boost.

Law & Order: Organized Crime will release episodes weekly on Thursdays starting with the first two on April 17, while you can catch the other two shows crossing over on the same night, starting at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. Organized Crime getting a special primetime slot that night at 10 p.m. ET means a week off for Mark-Paul Gosselaar's Found, but certainly a treat for any fans who have been missing Law & Order Thursdays.

The 2025 TV schedule is an exciting time to be a fan of the Law & Order franchise, and not just because the original show and Law & Order: SVU will deliver their first multi-part crossover in quite some time this spring. Law & Order: Organized Crime will also finally return in mid-April for its first season streaming exclusively for viewers with a Peacock subscription. Leading man Christopher Meloni added to the buzz when he shared some sweet photos with longtime SVU co-star Mariska Hargitay, resulting in a wide variety of comments from fans. My favorites, though, have to be the ones from the Applebee's and IHOP accounts.

Meloni shared a pair of photos with Hargitay on his Instagram account, with a cute caption calling her out for not smiling in the first and then smiling in the second. As a fan of SVU going back longer than I care to admit and a viewer of Organized Crime from the beginning, I wasn't surprised to see that these were the top comments with the most likes:

• leesaraej: "It's time Elliot, go get your girl..... I'm getting OLD!!"
• sassenachhistorian: "When are Liv and Elliott gonna kiss?? It’s quite literally been more than 25 years"

I've personally never rooted for Christopher Meloni's Elliot Stabler and Mariska Hargitay's Olivia Benson to start a romantic relationship, but I can respect the dedication of shippers who have been holding onto hope for a pairing that's almost 30 years in! SVU put shippers through the wringer with an almost-kiss a couple years ago, and the comments on Hargitay's post with Meloni are pretty similar to the ones on his.

But as I scrolled down through the comments, I was surprised to see that the accounts for two restaurants shared their two cents in a pair of messages that are weirdly cute as well as pretty darn funny. Take a look:

• applebees: "how it feels with you @ihop"
• ihop: @applebees same bestie <3

The Instagram accounts interacting isn't totally random, as both Applebee's and IHOP are owned by the same company, so it's not quite as strange as if McDonald's and Burger King were making vows of friendship or Coke and Pepsi were declaring mutual love in Christopher Meloni's comment section.

But just as I love to look back at how many stars have played repeat roles in the Law & Order franchise, I get a kick out of seeing how far the fandom for the shows – and in this case, the iconic duo of Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay – extends. Who knows? Maybe fans will be motivated to tune in to the first episode of Organized Crime this year with a plate of pancakes and/or a platter of boneless wings.

It remains to be seen if Meloni and Hargitay will actually share the screen before the end of the year, although Organized Crime's Season 5 premiere on April 17 will release before SVU's Season 26 finale, so I'm not ruling it out. After all, I may not be rooting for a romance, but I do love seeing the longtime on-screen partners sharing scenes. With The OC premiere airing on NBC directly after Law & Order and SVU's crossover, I'd honestly be surprised if we don't see one of them on the other's show.

For now, though, check out the promo for Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 and all the cast members who joined Christopher Meloni in the move from NBC to Peacock:

While Law & Order: Organized Crime will release all of its Season 5 episodes weekly on Peacock, the premiere will also air on NBC on Thursday, April 17 in its old 10 p.m. ET time slot to build hype. Hopefully that will be enough to hook fans to follow Stabler and Co. over to Peacock. To prepare for the long-awaited return, you can also revisit the first four seasons on the streaming platform.

Even if you don’t watch every show in the incredibly large Dick Wolf universe, you likely know at least one thing about the characters within it: Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler are the ones. The former partners from the early days of Law & Order: SVU have been reunited for some time now, and are the tightest of friends who have each other’s backs whenever possible…and are definitely in love with one another. It seems like the 2025 TV schedule is about to bring fans more Bensler, and with portrayers Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni being reunited on set, L&O fans are delivering some A+ comments.

What Are Law & Order: SVU Fans Saying About Benson And Stabler Being Back Together?

If you enjoy some romantic moments in your police procedurals, then you will understand that the people who ship Benson and Stabler are a committed bunch. People have been ride or die for the characters who’ve been brought to life by Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni pretty much since day one, and anytime the good, real-life buddies with amazing on-screen chemistry are together fans basically lose their minds.

This includes what Hargitay has given us with a recent Instagram post, which shows the duo smiling and laughing and kinda sorta looking like a romantic pairing who’s been together for years:

Sigh…As you may imagine, fans who saw this post got all up in their feels, and took to the comments to let everyone know. Let’s start with Ryan Buggle, who’s experienced the magic firsthand, as he portrays Benson’s son, Noah:

He’s not kidding about breaking the internet, either. After he got the comment party started, the post was flooded with adoration:

• mom and dad! your kids missed you! 😭😭😭😭
• I think we all been collectively crying for 2 hours now and I love that for us 😂❤️❤️
• We just want yall together damn it..😭 its been 25 years Oliva just give it to him😂😂🫶🏽
• I wasn't ready Mariska! My heart is fine I guess... ❤️
• Guess, you could say it’s getting pretty serious if it’s IG official! 😉 So, is Stabler officially off the market now, Captain? 😍
• Chriska/Bensler back and sending the internet into frenzy! Feel like I just died and went to heaven for a moment
• Don’t think you can comprehend how much we love you both. Just a picture like this will feed the fans for a whole month. Heck we are still nibbling from the Emmys pictures. 😁😇Thank you for sharing❤️❤️
• Y’all play too much. 😍🥰

I must say, that last comment is my favorite, because Hargitay and Meloni are both fully aware of how the fans feel about them, to the point where her actual husband was once jokingly asked about sharing her with the Law & Order: Organized Crime star! I mean, just look at this super cozy and adorable photo:

We don’t know if this is Hargitay and Meloni just enjoying some downtime on set or if filming was actually going on while these photos were being taken. But, my bet is the former, because I don’t think we’ve seen either Benson or Stabler look so happy, at peace, and lively in a single scene of any L&O drama!

Organized Crime returns (with its first season for Peacock) with Season 5 on April 17, while SVU is currently rocking its Thursday time slot on NBC. Time will tell if we ever get to see these two be so blissed out on either drama!

Spoilers ahead for Episode 11 of Law & Order: SVU Season 26, called "Deductible."

Law & Order: SVU continued in the 2025 TV schedule with a case that was bad enough to start with one victim, only to get even worse for Captain Benson and Co. when they discovered a string of women who had been coerced into sexual favors in the workplace over many years. Carisi wasn't getting the evidence he needed to be 100% certain of a guilty verdict, leading Benson to approach the one woman whose testimony could put the bad guy behind bars. In the process, SVU called back to Mariska Hargitay's character's career even before the show started, and I want to know more about those pre-Special Victims days.

When Benson attempted to appeal to Grace's conscience and get her to testify, Grace tried to argue that an NYPD cop could never understand the corporate culture that had led her to protect a rapist for so long. That obviously didn't work, prompting Benson to say:

Fortunately, Benson did successfully talk Grace into testifying, helping Carisi to earn another win after recently getting a much-needed wake-up call. But that's not the takeaway from the conversation or the episode as a whole that leaves me wanting more from Olivia Benson's backstory. Her mention of being with the NYPD for 30 years reminded me that even though SVU has been on for a whopping 26 seasons and (hopefully) counting, the character's time as a cop goes back further than we've seen.

After all, she was already a junior detective in the pilot of SVU back in 1999, and one doesn't become a detective straight out of the academy. In fact, both Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and Munch (the late Richard Belzer) had seniority on her. Even if Benson was just rounding up or down in "Deductible," there are years of her career that haven't been fully explored on screen.

And I'm ready for SVU to revisit those years in some form or other beyond what has happened so far. In the scene from the latest episode, she even acknowledged to Grace that "things have changed," which just makes me want to learn more of the status quo Benson was working in before the pilot. (You can find the pilot streaming with a Peacock subscription now.)

Of course, anybody who has rewatched SVU's older episodes in recent years (like how I rewatched the pilot for its 24th anniversary) knows that the show tackled certain subjects in ways that certainly wouldn't fly in 2025, ranging from how the unit addressed topics of gender and sexuality to police brutality. I could see Benson alluding to her earlier years in a conversation with Fin, since Ice-T didn't join SVU until Season 2, or even if Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni ever share the screen again for Law & Order: Organized Crime crossover.

For now, SVU appears to be going about business as usual ahead of the next episode on Thursday, February 13 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC. Take a look at the promo:

Will Law & Order: SVU go in-depth on Olivia Benson's pre-Special Victims years in the NYPD in the foreseeable future? Only time will tell on that front, but at least the promo proves that fans can look forward to Law & Order's Tony Goldwyn crossing over and apparently sharing at least one scene with Mariska Hargitay and Peter Scanavino.

Throughout the long-running Law & Order franchise, many actors have come and gone, with very few sticking around for 20+ years. Mariska Hargitay has been the face of Law & Order: SVU for over 25 years now, and built a strong legacy because of it. She previously received an honor from the Smithsonian National Museum, which displayed one of Olivia Benson's costumes. She’s previously opened up about auditioning with Christopher Meloni, and now she’s admitting how challenging it was to work with him and others during SVU’s early days.

While speaking with Today, Hargitay recalled the beginnings of SVU and her instant chemistry with Meloni. Despite the two immediately clicking, doing the series wasn’t initially so easy. On top of having to relocate from her hometown of Los Angeles to New York City where the show films, she was working alongside some pretty legendary people in television and joining a beloved franchise. Unsurprisingly, she was nervous:

Of course, SVU was far from her first television role, having starred in the short-lived sitcom Can’t Hurry Love and having a brief stint on ER. But working with people like Dick Wolf and Meloni, among others, was understandably intimidating. She didn’t let that stop her from doing the best she could, however, and Hargitay had to learn and grow as an artist among some of the best of the best in television:

Whatever Mariska Hargitay did worked, because she is certainly considered to be one of the best of of network television and is the longest-running actor in the Law & Order franchise. Plus, she's close with both Meloni and Wolf, who has a Law & Order ringtone. Even though she couldn’t have predicted the impact that SVU would go on to have when the show first started out, it’s clear Hargitay was aware of just how special the show was. It's hard to believe nowadays that someone like Hargitay was once intimidated, but it shows just how much can truly change in 25 years.

Law & Order: SVU is continuing its 26^th season in the 2025 TV schedule, although it has yet to be renewed for Season 27. There is still much to look forward to, and I wouldn't be surprised if the procedural makes it to the milestone 30th season.

Meanwhile, Hargitay’s friendship with Christopher Meloni is also continuing, whether they do episodes together or just hang out and stumble across an SVU reference. Although a crossover between SVU and Organized Crime may be harder now that OC is set to stream exclusively with a Peacock subscription, that still shouldn’t be too bad. Fans will just have to wait and see for Bensler to reunite again.

Within Law & Order: SVU’s 26-season history, one element that has remained a fan-favorite is the relationship between Olivia Benson and Chris Stabler. Although Stabler isn't a regular on the show anymore, viewers remain invested in the dynamic between the two law enforcement officials. The writers deserve a lot of credit for that, but a lot of it can also be chalked up to Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni’s undeniable chemistry. Ahead of SVU's return on the 2025 TV schedule, Hargitay recalled discovering that spark amid her audition with Meloni years ago.

Mariska Hargitay's recent comments suggest that she has fond memories of auditioning for the show that would ultimately change her life and career. While speaking with Today, Hargitay opened up about her audition with Christopher Meloni, specifically detailing the first time she laid eyes on him:

It’s great just how spot-on the ER alum's intuition was. Few would probably deny that Christopher Meloni looks like leading man material but, of course, there's more to acting than having a look. Meloni also had to gel with his eventual co-star and, according to Mariska Hargitay, it didn't take long for the pair to find their rhythm:

Almost 30 years have passed since Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni met each other, and I love that they remain close today. Whether they're appearing on SVU or Organized Crime together or just hanging out off-camera and even coming across Law & Order references, their bond seems unbreakable. Hargitay knows how great their connection is, and she summed it up with the following comments:

It's interesting when either of the L&O alums provide BTS insight into their work. Over the summer, Hargitay revealed a key Bensler moment was improvised by Meloni back in Season 9, which saw the two character hug after Kathy was in an accident and she and their new baby were doing well. There honestly are few on-screen partners who stack up to these two characters, and few actors have quality chemistry like the stars who portray them, too.

Needless to say, it's a treat whenever Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni share scenes, and seeing them together ahead of the Law & Order finales last year made me seriously miss Benson and Stabler. I don't know when these two characters will share the screen again, but I'm hoping it happens again soon.

You can check out the awesome Hargitay/Meloni chemistry by streaming past episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Organized Crime using a Peacock subscription.

Law & Order: SVU is currently airing its 26th season on the 2024 TV schedule, and there's no end in sight. That shouldn't surprise anyone either, because the show's following is huge, and includes some massive A-listers (like Taylor Swift). Keke Palmer, who actually guest-starred on SVU back in the day, is also a big fan. In fact, she's such a big fan that she slid into Mariska Hargitay's DMs a few years ago.

The Nope actress guest starred on Law & Order: SVU back in 2005 when she was just 12 years old. She played the oldest sister of three girls who were abducted from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and brought to New York in Season 7, Episode 10. Even before she was on the show, it had an impact on her when she was 6 because she had experienced sexual abuse the year prior. Palmer told Us Weekly she was starstruck when she was on set:

Not only was little Palmer on what was probably her favorite show, but she also worked directly alongside both Hargitay and Christopher Meloni since her character helped Benson and Stabler find her kidnapper.

It was likely a dream and an experience that she would never forget. It turns out Hargitay didn't forget either. Palmer revealed she had a sweet exchange with the actress years later when she slid into her DMs:

The fact that SVU has gone through hundreds of guest stars throughout its 20 seasons and Mariska Hargitay still remembered Keke Palmer's role is impressive. However, as we all know now, the Joyful Noise actress is an unforgettable performer.

Now, what I really need is Keke Palmer to return to SVU. She could play the same character she played when she was 12 or someone completely different. I don't really care, but no matter what, I need it to happen.

Since Palmer is one of many former child stars still acting today, it wouldn’t be surprising if she made another appearance on SVU or any other show in the Law & Order franchise. However, for now, nothing is in the works. Although, it seems like she'd be down to do it based on the sweet DM she sent Hargitay a few years ago.

Thanks to streaming, those with a Peacock subscription can watch Keke Palmer’s episode of Law & Order: SVU and see the impressive little actress that she was and still is. Then, start crossing your fingers that her path will cross with Mariska Hargitay's again sometime soon.

Mariska Hargitay may be in her 26^th season of Law & Order: SVU, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t still surprised by her L&O colleagues, including her boss. Dick Wolf has a variety of shows on the 2024 TV schedule, including all the One Chicago and FBI series, plus he's the mastermind behind L&O. So, considering all of that, you can understand why Hargitay cracked up while telling the story about the time the world found out about her boss's funny ringtone.

The actress was appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers, where the host brought up Wolf, and just from Hargitay’s expression, she knew exactly where this was going. She and Wolf were doing a panel at the Smithsonian, and that's when her boss's phone went off, despite being told to turn it off beforehand.

While it wasn’t the first time Hargitay heard her boss’ ringtone, she pointed out that it was extra funny because people were saying beautiful, meaningful words, and they were "all half-crying." And then you just hear the Law & Order "dun dun" in the middle of all that. Meyers played a clip of the moment too, and it’s as hilarious as you’d think it’d be:

Honestly, it’s not so surprising that the Law & Order theme song is Wolf’s ringtone, because it really is one of the best and most iconic jingles out there. But it’s the fact that his phone went off during a panel when it was all quiet and everyone was emotional that just makes the entire thing.

I don’t blame Hargitay for continuing to laugh about it. Plus, I bet that it’s going to be one of those moments that randomly comes back to mind every once in a while, and she’ll laugh all over again.

The Law & Order franchise has been around since the early ‘90s, and tons of actors have come and gone. But the one thing that has stuck through all these years is the theme song. Just hearing the “DUN DUN” part of the opening credits gets me all amped up. Not to mention that Seth Meyers had the fun idea, saying that after answering a call with that ringtone, the person should say “There’s been a murder” after getting off the phone. It’ll be like you’re truly in the show.

While one might get tired of constantly hearing the Law & Order theme song, it seems like Dick Wolf or Mariska Hargitay are not over it, in fact, they love it. It just shows the kind of impact the franchise as a whole has had and how a simple moment can instantly break the tension. There are plenty of retro theme songs that still slap, and Law & Order's is certainly one, as proven by this hilarious story from the show's lead actress.

To see Hargitay solving murders after that iconic theme song plays, you can catch new episodes of SVU every Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on NBC or stream it the next day with a Peacock subscription.