If Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 6 Doesn’t Happen, SVU Must Fix Stabler’s Awful Ending

Season 5 of Law & Order: Organized Crime ended with a development that tees up another part of the franchise in the wake of Joe Stabler’s death. However, the episode could also serve as a series finale, giving a final cap to the impressive story arc of Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) while leaving some stones unturned, setting up an opening for him to return to Law & Order: SVU.

No official word has been given regarding the renewal status of Organized Crime season 6, leaving Stabler out in the wind at least for the short term. Should we see Elliot Stabler return to SVU, I’m hopeful the writing team and creative forces will fix his odd and out-of-sync departure from the squad more than a decade ago.

Stabler Left The SVU On Bad Terms

The Law & Order: SVU Season 12 Finale Felt Rushed And Out Of Step

At the end of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit‘s season 12, both Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay, the main stars of the show, were renegotiating their contracts. While Hargitay came to an agreement, Christopher Meloni ultimately exited SVU when he wasn’t able to come to terms, shocking fans who weren’t prepared for the end of his time on the show.

In the season 12 finale, “Smoked”, Stabler finds himself forced to make a decision after gunfire erupts in the precinct that kills longtime SVU staple Sister Peg, as well as two perpetrators of the case he and Benson are working on. Stabler is forced to shoot Jenna (Hayley McFarland), the daughter of the victim whose case they were working, killing her.

Season 13 begins with the news that Stabler has turned in his papers for retirement, a narrative decision that felt antithetical to his character as well as a forced, rushed one to remove him from the squad. Both Meloni and Hargitay have been open about his SVU exit, with neither feeling it was handled well.

Stabler Returning To SVU Can Fix How Badly The Show Handled His Original Exit

Clunky And Unfair To His Character And To Meloni

In the event that Law & Order: Organized Crime isn’t renewed for season 6, an opportunity opens up to bring Stabler back into the fold of the SVU in a full-time capacity for the first time in 14 years. However, the SVU creative team needs to figure out a way to make his previous exit right, as his season 13 retirement explanation felt clunky and rushed, and an unceremonious end to a staple of the show.

Along with Meloni’s public criticism of the show’s handling of his exit, fans were left with an unresolved story for one of their favorite characters. If it’s possible to find a path forward for Stabler between the walls of the Special Victims Unit, should his time on Law & Order: Organized Crime come to an end, Stabler’s return should undo the wrongs of his Law & Order: SVU season 12 departure and give him his rightfully overdue hero’s welcome.