Latest news with #LawandOrder:SpecialVictimsUnit
Perth Now
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Mariska Hargitay ‘devastated' when Meloni left SVU
Mariska Hargitay has revealed for the first time ever she was just as upset as Law and Order: Special Victims Unit fans were when co-star Christopher Meloni abruptly left the show. The 61-year-old star, who plays Olivia Benson in the long-running crime show, revealed on the Call Her Daddy podcast that she was 'devastated' when Meloni, 64, left at the end of season 12. 'The entire world was just devastated - it happened very quickly, and it was surprising,' she told host Alex Cooper of his 2012 departure. Hargitay and Meloni played Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler, partners in the Special Victims Unit from 1999 to 2012. Credit: Supplied 'It was over a negotiation, and I tried everything I could to fix or change it.' 'He left. I was devastated.' She followed up by saying despite missing him as a co-star, it was 'awesome' that Meloni was able to do 'all these other great shows' since his departure. Meloni's character Elliot Stabler has since become the star of spin-off Law & Order: Organized Crime, which has run since 2021. Elliott Stabler has starred as the lead in spinoff show Law and Order: Organised Crime Credit: NBC The actor briefly returned to the world of SVU during season 22 in 2021 and has continued to make occasional small appearances on the series in recent years. During the podcast Cooper, 30, also asked Hargitay one question SVU fans have been dying to know about the actors' on-screen personas: after 26 years of 'will they, won't they', will Olivia and Elliot ever end up together? 'Maybe on the last episode, that's when I think they should be together,' Hargitay teased the show's fans. 'We are soulmates in a way, we are, and I think that Chris has had a profound impact on my life, my artistry – let's see where the story takes us.'
Daily Mail
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Law & Order: SVU fan favorite breaks silence on possible return and where she stands with Mariska Hargitay
Stephanie March weighed in on whether or not she'd ever return to Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. She is best known for playing Assistant District Attorney Alex Cabot on the popular and long-running NBC series from 2000 to 2003 and then in special guest appearances until 2018. 'I think it would depend on the story, but they've got some good writers. Never say never, right?' March, 50, told People at the City Harvest Presents The 2025 Gala: Carnaval in New York City on Tuesday, April 22. She said that the power to bring her back may be in the hands of the show's fans. 'I guess if people still write, you could do a write-in campaign. That would be my only suggestion.' The Mr. and Mrs. Smith star also said that she catches up with her SVU co-stars on the regular. 'The good news is I get to see Chris [Meloni] and Mariska [Hargitay] and BD [Wong] and all of those other wonderful people with regularity, so that's good,' she shared. Stephanie also mentioned what she'd like to see next for her friends on the show. 'I just hope they keep their jobs like the rest of us,' she says. 'That's the most you can hope for any actor right now. Just keep ... our jobs.' March dished on the chemistry between Meloni and Hargitay's detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler. 'They're never not good,' she said. 'It's really amazing. The two of them together are fantastic. It's really unbelievable.' Even though she left SVU after season five, the show has had a major impact in her life and led her to her passion. She serves on the board of the Panzi Foundation, which is dedicated to ending the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. March is also on the board of OneKid OneWorld, which increases access, education and opportunities for women and girls in Kenya and Central America. She was inspired to join the organizations by a storyline on SVU during season 11. 'I remember it very clearly,' she said of the episode, titled Witness in which a potential witness in a rape case is reluctant to testify because she is an illegal immigrant who both witnessed and was the victim of unspeakable war crimes. 'And it was kind of stuck in my head at the time. And so I have to believe that to some degree, everything happens for a reason,' she said. 'I'm not sure that when I got the job, I intended for this to happen, but once I had the job, I became pretty deliberate about it because the subject matter I found disturbing and compelling. It was just not something I could put away when I came home at night from work.' 'I felt like my passion really was to advocate for women and girls who are survivors of sexual violence, and how sexual violence deprives us of our body autonomy and often our legal rights and our right to work. 'And it is, to me, where women and families are destroyed the most violently and the most quickly. I thought, "this is where I want to put my energy and my efforts." 'So, I became quite deliberate in my choices of how I wanted to participate and how I wanted to use my voice,' she added. 'And I have been lucky enough to find a few places where those interests intersect, and I'm very passionate about it.' Stephanie, who was formerly married to celebrity chef Bobby Flay for 10 years, married her current husband, financial advisor Dan Benton, 58, in 2017. The couple were introduced by a mutual friend in October 2015. 'They met for cocktails at the West Village bar Orient Express and had dinner afterwards,' a friend dished to People. 'But their first real date was a TED Talk [of educator Sal Khan of the Khan Academy] after which they talked for four hours. 'Dan adores her and supports her,' the friend added. They dated for a month before he proposed on July 24, 2017, the day after Stephanie's 43rd birthday, while they were on vacation in Greece. They tied the knot on September 1 at their home in Katonah, New York, surrounded by family and a few close friends.
