She portrays a captain of the Special Victims Unit, but Mariska Hargitay is also captain of the Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler ship.
The “Law & Order: SVU” characters have been in a partnership turned will-they/won’t-they situationship for years. Now, the woman who portrays one-half of that beloved duo is weighing in on their relationship after the characters shared an emotional scene in the Sept. 25 season premiere.
In the Season 27 premiere of the NBC drama, Benson and Stabler reunited following the death of their friend and former boss, Capt. Donald Cragen (Dann Florek).
Hargitay shared her thoughts on Stabler’s feelings for Benson during an interview with Peter Alexander and Laura Jarrett that aired Oct. 11 on Saturday TODAY. (More on that later. 👀)
The pair hugged after commiserating next to Benson’s car, and once Stabler opened the door for Benson to get inside, he looked at her and said, “Love you. Night.”
After the episode aired, Meloni responded on X to a fan who mentioned the quote from the scene, revealing he ad-libbed the “love you.”
As if that wasn’t shocking enough, Hargitay further elaborated on the scene during the interview on Saturday TODAY.
“He just threw that in,” she said about Meloni’s impromptu addition to the scene. “Oh yes he did.”
“That kind of feels like something that needs approval,” a surprised Jarrett replied.
“And yet, there was none,” Hargitay joked.
(Benson-Stabler fans haven’t been so lucky in the past when it comes to scenes that were supposed to air but ended up on the cutting-room floor.)
Alexander pressed Hargitay further about the scene, asking what her gut reaction was in that moment.
“It was true,” Hargitay responded, “and we do love each other.”
Mariska Hargitay Reveals Olivia Benson Was Supposed to Say ‘Love You’ to Elliot Stabler
Then, she dropped another bomb that will no doubt send fans spiraling.
“Originally, it was scripted that I said it,” she revealed.
“We did it both ways,” she explained. “And so, what happened was, is we did it with and without, you know, this is the line that we’re always trying to navigate and keep it nuanced.”
Hargitay said on the take she and Meloni filmed in which Benson didn’t say the line, “Chris did it.”
“And I think it’s because he just felt that was the truth of the scene,” she added.
Hargitay also mentioned the seriousness of the moment, as Benson and Stabler had just lost their “North Star” in Cragen, who shaped them into the people they are today — both inside and outside of the office.
“It’s a deeply emotional scene, and it’s also the beginning of a new era, and the end of an old one,” she said. “So, it was a very emotional scene, and as we know, when those things happen, when we lose somebody we love, we renew our connection, right? We plug in that way emotionally.
“I felt like he just needed to say it,” Hargitay said.
Mariska Hargitay Says Elliot Stabler Is ‘In Love’ With Olivia Benson
She didn’t stop there, however, and went on to say, with a smile, “Besides, Stabler’s in love with Benson. Hello!”
Stabler has seemingly declared his love for his partner turned close friend before, and the two nearly kissed in Benson’s kitchen.
Series creator Dick Wolf has made it known he’s more wary when it comes to a Benson-Stabler romance.
“Look, I never say never. But I do learn some lessons from history. When did ‘Moonlighting’ became unwatchable?” he told the Los Angeles Times in September.
Meloni, who wrote an episode of the Stabler-led spinoff “Law & Order: Organized Crime” last season, recently told “Entertainment Tonight” when asked about Benson and Stabler’s will-they/won’t-they that he did his “darndest to get us to the line and over.”
“But nope, they wouldn’t go for it,” he said about the episode, which Hargitay guest-starred in.
Stabler only made one brief appearance on “SVU” last season, but this season has already seen some changes, including with the cast and the showrunner.
The series is now led by a woman, Michele Fazekas, for the first time. Fazekas previously wrote for Hargitay on “SVU” in earlier seasons, and she also co-wrote Season 27’s premiere episode.
On Saturday TODAY, Hargitay, who also highlighted an initiative close to her heart, the Purple Leash Project, said she’s been wanting Fazekas as showrunner “for so long.” She credited Fazekas as well as co-stars Kelli Giddish and Aimé Donna Kelly for bringing “very powerful female energy” in Season 27.
“It’s very exciting, because sometimes it’s hard for me to sort of take in that I’ve been doing the show for 27 years,” she said. “But this year, it just has this renewed energy.”