Do you love Law & Order: Special Victims’ Unit? Well, do we have good news for you! After so many years away from the franchise, Christopher Meloni will reprise his role as Elliot Stabler in a new Law & Order television show. Read on to discover everything you need to know about the exciting return of Sabler…
Welcome Back, Elliot Stabler
Recently, NBC Television has worked hard to please Law & Order: Special Victims’ Unit fans. First, the network broke TV records by renewing SVU for three more seasons, making it one of the longest-running shows of all time. Now, NBC has greenlit a 13-episode season of yet another Dick Wolf show, which stars Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler! After the announcement, SVU fans all around the world rejoiced. After all, Stabler has not been seen on the hit crime drama since 2011!
Apparently, the new show will feature Elliot Stabler leading an NYPD organized crime unit in the modern era. Drugs, mobsters, gangsters, it’s all on the table. Apparently, it will be like Law & Order meets The Wire The series also marks one of the biggest television deals ever made by NBC…
One Massive Deal With NBC
This show came out of an incredible, nine-figure deal that Wolf made with NBC Universal in March. The agreement lasts until 2025. The new Stabler-led show is just the first show of that deal, so expect much more L&O in the future! Meanwhile, plenty of trade publications say that Matt Olmstead, former Chicago P.D showrunner, is currently the front-runner for the showrunner position of the new SVU spin-off.
Of course, as the new show will take place in New York, many fans are excited at the proposition of an Elliot Stabler-Olivia Benson reunion. As many will recall, Meloni player opposite actress Mariska Hargitay’s Benson for 12 seasons on L&O: SVU. Thankfully, SVU‘s crew knew that’s exactly what fans wanted. So, as a result, the new show will actually start with a crossover episode with SVU. That’s right! We don’t know when or how quite yet, but fans will see Stabler and Benson team up once again!
Meloni left the show when season 12 ended, and the character was written off, with Stabler suddenly retiring from the police. In reality, NBC and Meloni could not agree on a salary for the actor, so he left the show. However, it seems that all parties have now worked through their differences!
Meloni Has Been Busy
While he may have retired Stabler for a bit, Meloni did not stop acting. In the years since, he’s been in several successful projects, including the show Happy! on Syfy, Surviving Jack, Underground, a critically acclaimed WGN show, and an incredible role in The Handmaid’s Tale. Of course, in the meantime, Meloni kept in touch with Hargitay and the Wolf family; they even appeared together in an SVU special on NBC this past January.
Currently, it’s unknown when the series will air. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many TV and movies have been postponed or put on hold. NBC remains tight-lipped about further details, but gave out enough information to keep everyone excited at the prospect of finally seeing Elliot Stabler once again, after all these years.
