15 Facts About ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Even the Biggest Fans Don’t Know

According to Mental Floss, Law and Order: SVU officially became the longest-running primetime TV drama with the season 21 premiere in 2019.

Now going into its 27th season, the show has also achieved milestones for both Mariska Hargitay (as the longest-running drama character on U.S. TV) and Ice-T (the longest running Black character seen on primetime television).

According to Looper, both Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler’s names are homages to two of Dick Wolf’s five children. What’s more, Dick teased to Entertainment Tonight in 2021 how this may be the subconscious reason why Benson and Stabler’s bond never officially turned romantic.

“I don’t anticipate them running off and living together as much as the audience would like that,” he told the outlet at the time. “Anticipation is the most exciting part of most relationships … The chase is always better.”

Back in 2002, Mariska had been on the show for three seasons when she met actor Peter Hermann. The actor was guest starring as a defense attorney, and that moment was the start of their 20+ year relationship.

The couple later wed in 2004, and have since welcomed three children into their family: son August (born in 2006), daughter Amaya and son Andrew (the latter two adopted in 2011).

Back in 2009, Law and Order: SVU made history when it became the first TV show to film at the United Nations in New York City. According to the U.N.’s official website, the episode they shot was titled “Hell” and was seen by 9.5 million viewers in its premiere.

For Law and Order: SVU‘s 100th episode back in 2003, fans may have noticed a famed actor appear in the installment. Turned out they got to see Mariska’s dad, actor Mickey Hargitay, guest star as a grandfather giving a witness statement after encountering a crime scene in a subway station.

What’s more, this isn’t the only loved one of a cast member to guest star on SVU. Ice-T’s wife Coco has appeared on the show in multiple episodes, along with Kelli Giddish‘s son in later seasons.

Over the course of Law and Order: SVU‘s run on television, the show has picked up 23 Emmy Award nominations, winning six along the way. And if that’s not enough to celebrate, Mariska won one of the Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2006.

Fans know Richard Belzer played detective-turned-sergeant John Munch on Law and Order: SVU, but the character didn’t actually originate on the show.

Turns out Munch (and subsequently, Richard) first appeared on the NBC drama Homicide: Life on the Street in 1993, and was a part of the show throughout its seven-season run. The character of Munch also appeared on Law and Order, The Wire and 30 Rock.

With Law and Order: SVU being on the air for over 25 years, it’s clear the show has a major following from fans and celebrities alike. In fact, superstar Taylor Swift is such a fan of the show, she famously named one of her cats “Olivia Benson” after the main character.

Mariska later appeared in Taylor’s 2015 music video for “Bad Blood,” and the two remain friends today.

Viewers may not know Law and Order: SVU was inspired by a real-life murder case that dates back to 1986. Known as “the Preppy Murder,” prep school student Robert Chambers (seen left) was convicted of killing an 18-year-old woman in Central Park.

“It goes back to the Robert Chambers case, the preppy murder in Central Park, which we did a variation of in the first season of Law and Order,” Dick Wolf told the New York Times back in 1999. “Since then, I’ve wanted to get deeper into the psychology of crimes like that, the role of human sexuality.”

While Law and Order: SVU feels like the perfect name, it turns out the show wasn’t always going to be called this. According to Business Insider, the series was originally called Law and Order: Sex Crimes before the network decided to change it.

While there have been many people appearing on Law and Order: SVU over the years, fans may be surprised to learn about who’s been involved in every single episode.

According to The Maine Campus in 2009, former politician Steve Zirnkilton is the voice reading the famous opening of every SVU installment. As he told the outlet at the time, fans can also hear him at the beginning of the original Law and Order series.

When speaking with People in February 2021, Mariska revealed she wasn’t expecting Christopher to portray her beloved partner on Law and Order: SVU. In fact, Chris stated in the same interview his reaction to her thinking she’d be working with actor John Slattery instead.

“I walked in, she turns around and goes, ‘Slattery!'” he said to the outlet. “I go, ‘No, Meloni!'”

Remember how we mentioned Ice-T is the longest-running Black actor to appear on TV? Fans may be surprised to learn he was initially only supposed to appear in a handful of episodes.

“I wasn’t trying to do this show because at the time I was running a record label and they said, ‘It’s only four episodes,’ and I was like, ‘OK cool,'” he told News.com.au in 2016. “But at the end of the four episodes, they were like, ‘We would like to keep you on.'”

Peter Scanavino is famous for portraying ADA Dominick “Sonny” Carisi, but fans may not know this fun tidbit about him.

Peter was actually featured in a season 14 episode of Law and Order: SVU, where he portrayed a janitor named Johnny Dubcek. He returned to the show in a full-time capacity (and in a different role) two seasons later.

In 2004, Mariska founded the Joyful Heart Foundation, which seeks to raise awareness for those impacted by sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse. As she wrote in an official note on the organization’s website, it started after she began portraying Olivia Benson on the show.

“I obviously had my role to play on television, but I felt a great responsibility to these brave women and men and wanted them to know that they had been heard and that they could have hope,” she wrote. “I knew I wanted to play a role in healing that pain, ending the isolation and honoring the great courage survivors were showing by reaching out for help.”