Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson teams up with the detectives of the 2-7 in the latest Law & Order/SVU crossover event
As television viewers have watched the Law & Order universe expand over the past three-plus decades, it’s still an occasion whenever characters from one L&O show interact with characters from another. These crossovers have been beloved by fans, and this week NBC serves up another one, with a two-hour event bringing Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and the Special Victims Unit crew together with the cops and prosecutors of the “mothership.”
It all begins with a mysterious phone call to Benson, leading detectives to the scene of a brutal murder. When the SVU and the 2-7 uncover a pattern of rape and murder targeting marginalized women, Carisi (Peter Scanavino) and Price (Hugh Dancy) join forces to charge the suspect with multiple crimes.
Of course, this isn’t the first time that Benson has crossed paths with her Law & Order colleagues; she last appeared in the original L&O earlier this season, in the second episode.
“We’ve got this newcomer to television named Mariska Hargitay who’s kind of the guest star of our episode,” executive producer and showrunner Rick Eid joked at the time. “She’s got a really meaningful role.”
In fact, this marks the third L&O crossover with SVU since the original series was revived in 2022. Discussing Hargitay’s 2024 appearance on the show, L&O’s Mehcad Brooks — who plays Det. Jalen Shaw — described the reverence that which he and his co-stars held for Hargitay, who’s led SVU for 26 seasons and counting.
“I mean, listen, when the queen is in the building, the queen is in the building, you know what I mean?” Brooks said. “Whenever Mariska’s on set and whenever she’s in front of the camera, it’s magic — she’s a once-in-a-generation talent and a once-in-a-lifetime persona, so just having her there was a blessing for everyone. I hope she does more.”
As Hargitay approaches her third decade playing Benson, she credits the longevity of SVU to series creator Dick Wolf, who’s also had hits with his Chicago and FBI television franchises.
“I knew that Dick Wolf had this incredible track record, and I knew how smart he was and how respectful he was of his audience,” Hargitay said in a recent sit-down with Interview magazine. “But this has surpassed my wildest dreams in terms of a career, but also in terms of personal fulfillment . . . That’s been the gift of the character — she has evolved so much, going from detective to sergeant to lieutenant, and here I am now as captain, which is a completely new skill set from being a detective. And I’ve actually grown up in front of the country, became a parent, gone from being equals to, ‘Oh, now I’m your boss and have seniority.’ It’s a very interesting thing that we do, because it’s hard to be the boss. It’s hard to be in charge when you don’t want things to change.”
Meanwhile, Benson’s former partner, Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), continues to battle the mob in Law & Order: Organized Crime, which kicks off its fifth season on the same night of the crossover (debuting Thursday at 10 p.m.
on City).
Speaking with Soaps.com last year, Hargitay hinted that she and Meloni were far from done sharing the screen. “I think Organized Crime could move to Mars, we’d still be doing cameos in each other’s shows,” she said. “And if they don’t write the cameos for us, we’ll just find out where the other person is shooting and stroll through the background of a scene.”
Law & Order airs Thursday, April 17 at 8 p.m., on City & NBC
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit airs Thursday, April 17 at 9 p.m., on City & NBC