After 24 seasons of Law & Order: SVU, it’s time to give Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson the happily ever after she deserves, no matter who it’s with.
When Law & Order: SVU began in 1999, the romantic tension between Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) was immediately evident. Though Stabler was married, a “will they-won’t they” dance developed that lasted until Meloni departed from the show in 2012. Now that audiences have seen Olivia with actual romantic partners, the question has become less about whether Elliot and Olivia will get together and more about whether Olivia will get a happily ever after at all.
Over the last 24 seasons, Olivia has built a life she is proud of as captain of the Special Victims Unit, a single mother to her son Noah and a consistent advocate for survivors. The show’s writers wrote Olivia as a strong woman who doesn’t need a man to be happy. While viewers believe that to be true, they also know this: even if she doesn’t need a partner to be happy, she deserves one.
Olivia Benson Was Put in a Romantic Box
Initially, Olivia was written as a lonely, single woman who dated many men, mostly to escape the terrors of working for the Special Victims Unit. Except for a brief fling with Detective Brian Cassidy (Dean Winters) in Season 1 and her complicated relationship with reporter Kurt Moss (Bill Pullman) in Season 9, Olivia mostly spent time with unnamed men to whom she said hurried farewells when called back to the precinct. Olivia found early on that men either didn’t want to hear about her work or were too interested, like when crime reporter Nick Ganzer (Thomas McCarthy) wanted to role-play the rape Olivia was investigating in Season 1, Episode 19, “Contact.”
Her career wasn’t the only thing in the way, though. Benson and Stabler’s will-they-won’t-they made it easy for the writers to put Olivia in a specific romantic box. Episode after episode, the show set up Olivia’s relationship failures. By the end of Season 12, she was no longer the same woman who dated a round-robin of men in SVU’s early seasons. Instead, she was a woman madly in love with her partner, and when Elliot put in his papers in Season 13, Episode 1, “Scorched Earth,” he broke her heart.
Who Is Olivia Benson Without Elliot Stabler?
After Stabler’s departure at the end of Season 12, Olivia had to take stock of who she was, both as a detective and a person. Olivia began to work her way out of the disappointment and betrayal she felt by taking it out on her new squad members — mostly Nick Amaro (Danny Pino); however, she eventually realized that she was capable of so much more without Elliot. She became a leader in the squad room, following in the footsteps of John Munch (Richard Belzer) as she mentored her fellow detectives.
Olivia began to grow professionally, moving from detective to sergeant to lieutenant and finally to captain, all in less time than she was partners with Stabler. Her squad became her found family, and eventually, she did the one thing she always wanted but thought might be out of reach for her: she became a mother. Adopted at the end of Season 16, Noah Porter-Benson’s (Ryan Buggle) young life brought multiple bouts of illness, an investigation from child services and, in Season 19, the appearance of his biological grandmother, Sheila Porter (Brooke Shields), who attempted to kidnap him. Olivia never intended to be a single mother, but raising a son has proven to be both her greatest challenge and greatest triumph.
Olivia’s life after Elliot wasn’t all sunshine and roses, though. Already dealing with PTSD from her time undercover at Sealview Correctional Facility in Season 9 and from her childhood, Olivia’s mental health worsened after being kidnapped and held for several days by sadist William Lewis at the end of Season 14 and the beginning of Season 15. The ordeal Lewis put Olivia through has stayed with her, coloring how she interacts with suspects, perpetrators and even victims since Season 15.
The Men in Olivia Benson’s Life
Olivia has long struggled to build strong relationships with men, thanks partly to her abusive alcoholic mother, who never healed from Olivia’s conception via rape. Spending 12 years as Elliot Stabler’s partner was important for her, but it wasn’t always the healthiest relationship. It took living without him for Olivia to build better friendships with men and allow herself to have the romantic relationships she desired. Executive Assistant District Attorney David Haden (Harry Connick, Jr.) was Olivia’s first relationship post-Stabler. Haden offered Olivia the safety she craved and proved to be grounding for her. Their relationship, though short-lived, allowed her to move out of her anger about Elliot leaving and set her up for one of her most important relationships: Brian Cassidy.
Though they spent just one night together in Season 1, Cassidy’s return to SVU at the end of Season 13 proved life-changing for Olivia. Olivia supported Cassidy when he was demoted due to mistakes he made while undercover. Cassidy was there for Olivia as she recovered from her harrowing ordeal with William Lewis, and he remains the only man Olivia has ever lived with on SVU. Though their relationship ended, his role in her romantic and personal life allowed her to heal from the trauma she had experienced on the job in new and important ways.
Olivia’s strongest and most controversial relationship came in Season 17 when she began dating Captain Ed Tucker (Robert John Burke). As a member of the Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB), Tucker nearly cost both Olivia and Elliot their badges at least once, so it surprised viewers when Olivia began spending time with Tucker outside of work, even platonically. When Olivia is in a hostage situation in Season 17, Episode 11, “Townhouse Incident,” she calls Tucker for help as someone who cares about whether she lives or dies, and later in the season, Ed takes Olivia and Noah to Paris.
While many viewers struggled to enjoy Olivia’s relationship with Tucker due to his behavior in the early seasons, he was Olivia’s healthiest relationship. Though they parted ways due to differing ideas about the future, it was Tucker’s brain cancer diagnosis and death by suicide in Season 21 that was most devastating for both Olivia and SVU’s viewers. In Season 2 of Law & Order: Organized Crime, Olivia admitted to Elliot that she could have ended up with Ed but wasn’t ready, and it was clear that his death had left her heartbroken.
Olivia Benson Deserves to Be Loved
Throughout SVU’s 24 seasons, what viewers have wanted most for Olivia is a happy ending. As one of the strongest female characters on television, Olivia has proven time and time again that she doesn’t need a partner, but not needing one and wanting one are two very different things. It isn’t about needing someone to handle things for her, as she can obviously handle herself, or needing someone to help her raise her son. Olivia simply wants the love that a partner can provide; she always has.
After growing up in a home where her mother offered love sparingly and conditionally, Olivia knew she wanted to build a family and a life with someone who loved her no matter what. Olivia became a detective to be the person her mother didn’t have when she reported her rape in 1967, and she became a mother to raise a child differently than her mother did — to become the mother she never had. Though she has built a family with her friends and colleagues, there is something different about building a family with a partner. After caring for so many people her entire life, Olivia deserves a loved one who cares for her in return.
Though Olivia’s relationship with Elliot, affectionately referred to by fans as “Bensler,” has long been the show’s primary “ship,” viewers have also begun to wonder if Olivia should end up with someone else. Some fans would prefer to see Olivia with Rafael Barba (Raul Esparza), the former ADA who left the show in Season 19. Barba returned to the Law & Order franchise in 2021, appearing on both SVU and Organized Crime as the defense attorney for Richard Wheatley (Dylan McDermott), who was on trial for the murder of Kathy Stabler (Isabel Gillies), to Olivia’s shock and dismay. Fans of “Barson,” Olivia and Rafael’s portmanteau, were disappointed to see him defending Wheatley and hope to see Barba and Olivia repair their relationship in coming seasons.
Other fans would prefer that Olivia and Rafael stay friends and would rather see her end up with someone else entirely. A few fans have even suggested that Olivia could end up with Trevor Langan, the defense attorney played by Mariska Hargitay’s real-life husband, Peter Hermann, or perhaps someone who hasn’t yet arrived on the show. Whether Olivia ends up with Elliot, Rafael, Trevor or someone completely unknown, it is clear that it’s time for her to have a relationship that gives her the love and support she so often gives others.
