Mariska Hargitay wants Benson and Stabler to end up together on Law & Order: SVU: ‘We are soulmates’
“Maybe on the last episode, I think that’s when they should be together,” Hargitay said.
Confirmed: Mariska Hargitay is the No. 1 Benson and Stabler shipper.
The Law & Order: SVU star has revealed she wants her fan-favorite character, Detective Olivia Benson, to end up with her ride-or-die, Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) … but not until the very end of the long-running series.
“Maybe on the last episode,” Hargitay said on Wednesday’s episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast. “I think that’s when they should be together… if it’s right. We’ll see when we get there.”
Hargitay added that the characters are “soulmates, in a way.”
“Chris has had a profound impact on my life, my artistry,” Hargitay said. “I think we’ve had a big impact on each other, and so Olivia and Elliot are [soulmates]. But let’s see where the story takes us, you know?”
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Elsewhere in the episode, Hargitay further elaborated on how she and Meloni are “so close” in real life.
“We are just connected,” she said. “It’s like we’ve been through the battle together. We know each other so well. We love each other so much. We respect each other so much. We connected, obviously, by living these stories and going so deep together for so many years [while] acting… We are so comfortable with each other. We deeply trust each other. We know, like, whatever he needs, I will always be there for him, and that’s mutual. And we have grown together. We’ve known each other 27 years.”
She added that she was “devastated” when Meloni left the show in 2011 after 12 seasons due to a contract dispute, and that she didn’t have any warning.
“It happened very quickly, and it was surprising,” Hargitay said. “It was over a negotiation, and I tried everything I could to fix it and change it. It’s one of these things in life… He was ready to go. [And] he did — he went on and did all these other great shows, great work.”
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After 10 years, Meloni eventually returned to the franchise with his own spinoff series, Law & Order: Organized Crime. Stabler’s absence was explained on-camera by the character retiring after fatally shooting a young woman who was avenging her mother’s murder.
A decade later, he reunited with his former partner Benson to solve his wife’s murder, and he told Benson he had been on a “walkabout” for a few years before working in private security in Europe, then joining a terrorism task force, and ultimately becoming a liaison to the NYPD. The two have flirted with the idea of a romantic relationship many times since then, but have yet to truly go there onscreen.
In fact, Hargitay previously revealed that Benson and Stabler nearly kissed in season 24 of SVU, but the long-awaited and much-hyped moment was ultimately cut right before filming.
“To be honest with you, Chris and I thought it should go one way and the powers that be didn’t, so it got changed at the last minute, that near kiss,” Hargitay said. “Obviously Dick [Wolf, the show’s creator] gets final say. It’s his show and he didn’t want that.”
In another interview, Meloni revealed he didn’t think that kiss would have “worked.”
“We were attempting something. I don’t think it worked,” he said at the time. “But I’m not going to tell you why it didn’t work, because you all have your opinion.” He added teasingly, “I know what transpired.”
But that doesn’t mean the kiss won’t eventually happen at some point in the future.
“We want to hold the tension,” Hargitay said at the time. “And do what’s right and truthful for both characters.”
Fellow SVU star Ice-T even expressed his own shock at Benson and Stabler still being in will-they-won’t-they territory during a recent Entertainment Weekly cover shoot.
