Mariska Hargitay (Captain Olivia Benson) may be 25 seasons in on Law & Order: SVU, but she’s still finding plenty to make her “excited” for what’s to come.
The star and executive producer stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on February 8, the same day that the fourth episode of the new season aired. “I feel like we’re dropping in in a new way,” she told host Jimmy Fallon.
“We’re getting more psychological into the bad guy’s minds and going more deeply into Olivia Benson’s mind,” she teased. “And it is a year sort of dedicated [to] and the arc is about healing because obviously my character has been exposed to so much darkness and that goes somewhere. So trying to process it and deal with it.”
The latest episode does begin with Benson in therapy, talking about Maddie, the teen from the premiere the squad couldn’t find and whose disappearance has been a constant in the captain’s mind since. As the therapist points out, she’s not the first missing child for her considering her years at SVU, so what makes her different? The question mark, though she’s had those, too.
But, the therapist asks, “Is it possible it’s not just this case that’s troubling you, but certain other unknowns?” For example, the compass Benson wears. It’s a gift from “a friend,” Benson says, stumbling a bit over using that word. (Her former partner, Detective Elliot Stabler, played by Christopher Meloni, gave it to her.) It’s an interesting symbol, the therapist notes. “He’s an interesting friend,” Benson tells her. Off that symbol, the therapist wants Benson to consider, “What are you hoping to navigate?”
Hargitay also told Fallon she’s excited about the “new contingent of female investigators,” adding, “it’s always new energy and it’s always learning.”
The latest in that “contingent,” Captain Curry (Aimé Donna Kelly) from Internal Affairs, ends the latest episode deciding to make what Benson points out is a lateral move at best to SVU. “Life’s about more than just career goals,” Curry explains. With Benson short-staffed (and the “plethora of Y chromosomes” on the team), she was all for it. Plus, with McGrath (Terry Serpico) now Acting Chief due to his actions during the investigation into the rape of his daughter, Benson and Curry know they can get a lot done together.
Then, as the interview was ending, Hargitay confused and surprised Fallon by adding, “By the way, I have a donut this year. Yeah, I eat a donut on the show. It’s nuts.” Watch the full video interview below.
