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‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’ Fans Go Wild Over Christopher Meloni’s New Selfie With Mariska Hargitay

“Law & Order: Organized Crime” fans are losing it over Chris Meloni’s most recent Instagram post. The star shared a snap of himself with Mariska Hargitay, one of his closest friends and star of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”

The pair have been friends for years, starring alongside each other on “SVU” as Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson for years. Meloni left the show in 2011 due to issues with contract negotiations, but the pair remained friends.

The two reunited when Meloni returned to the series in 2021, sending fans into a frenzy. “Law & Order” viewers also got to see the pair in action together, during a crossover episode with “SVU” and the new Meloni-centered spinoff, “Organized Crime.”

Chris Meloni Faced Physical Challenges Returning to ‘Law & Order’

For Meloni, jumping back into his “Law & Order” role after spending 10 years away has been deeply important to him. The star opened up on a fitness podcast, “Time to Walk” about the physical challenges that have come with reprising his role.  

“I actually focused on the character and where he’d been, but it was the physical I thought which was equally important,” Meloni said of his approach to the return. “…I felt as though many people would remember me/Elliot Stabler as he was 10 years prior, because that’s the last time they would have seen me physically.”

He continued, “I wanted to give that sense of he came back almost like chiseled in granite. I wanted him to be the most physically fit, focused, physical presence that they’d ever seen. And I was actually on a weight training physical fitness program with my trainer for over a year to prepare for the role. That paid dividends.”

Will Stabler and Benson Ever Have a Romance?

If Meloni’s on-screen appearance is any indication, his hard work has certainly paid off. However, it seems like fans are much more focused on a potential relationship between Stabler and Benson. 

“It’s all underneath percolating,” Mariska Hargitay said in a September interview with TODAY.  “Right now after Stabler being gone for 10 years and the way that he left and the complexity of what’s happened and how he came back surprising me, we’re still finding our way.”

However, the actress shares that one of the most special things about the relationship between the characters is the longevity. 

“..It complex and real, and I think what I love about it most is that it’s earned. This relationship is truly earned. Not a lot of people have a 23-year relationship,” she said. 

When it comes to the personal relationship between Meloni and Hargitay, the two have always had chemistry. 

“It was an instant, instantaneous connection that is inexplicable, that has only grown,” Hargitay said. “I look at it as a gift, but the second we met it was like *exploding sound*.”

The two actors are just friends, but hold a lot of gratitude for their relationship. “There’s so much love and there’s so much trust and there’s so much ease and there’s so much chemistry,” she added. “And the gift of it is that it has truly stood the test of time.”