If you have not already heard the only good news of 2020, here it is: Christopher Meloni is returning to Law & Order SVU to reprise his role as Elliot Stabler in season 22, and I have literally never been more excited for anything in my entire life.
In a recent interview, he revealed that he wants to focus on “unresolved emotions” between Stabler and Benson.
In an episode of *The Law & Order: SVU* Podcast a few months ago, showrunner Warren Leight revealed that Christopher Meloni would be returning to the show for subsequent season.
“It’s pretty clear that Elliot will be in the SVU season opener,” Warren said.
“I think that much I know. Whether we get to see his family as well remains to be seen,” he added.
“We had heard distant thunder about Chris Meloni coming back in the fall and we were going to lay a little groundwork for that .”
“We were going to see [wife] Kathy Stabler come back very upset,” he continued.
“Her son had been rolled by a team of ne’er-do-wells and may have been drugged, and we were going to revisit [Benson’s half-brother] Simon’s seeming overdose and we were going to get to know the stresses on the Stablers – what had happened to the Stabler family after Elliot both left SVU and apparently left them. “
“We were just going to lay some groundwork down in anticipation of Elliot’s return of course in his own series.”
“We had the sense that the first episode of next year for SVU was going to bring Elliot back, so we were going to foreshadow that and explain a little more what happened to Simon,” he said .
It was also announced back in March that Chris would also be reprising his role, Elliot Stabler, in a brand new spin-off series.
So, we have a lot to look forward to! We’ll be seeing a lot more of Elliot Stabler!
In a more recent interview with the *New York Post*, he revealed that he’s looking forward to seeing how his and Mariska Hargitay’s character’s “inherent drama” unfolds.
Because, if you remember, they didn’t exactly leave things on ideal terms when he left 10 years ago…
He revealed that he believes there is a very important connection between those two characters.
“Benson and Stabler are inextricably linked, locked and connected,” he said . “I think there is truly and deeply a worthwhile, inherent drama in exploring that relationship”.
“And the complexity of how Stabler left — the unresolved emotions both characters feel and how the fans feel.”
“How my character left was really unsatisfying, I think,” he went on.
Unsatisfying? That’s an understatement!
Let’s recap: Back in season 12, Stabler was forced to retire following a jarring internal affairs bureau investigation.
He also had to submit to a psychological evaluation, personnel file review and participate in anger management classes.
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The season finale left us thinking that although he wasn’t being *totally* cooperative, that he would eventually come around and things would be resolved by the following season.
But come the season 13 premiere, we were informed by Benson that Stabler failed to comply with the terms, and wouldn’t be returning to work.
“It almost feels that we won’t do one or two [crossover] episodes and move on our merry way,” he continued.
He explained that in a way, this leaves the door open to a few different approaches.
“I just think there will always be possibilities there. “
“People will always be hungry to see how we interact and how that dynamic has changed,” he said.
“I left with zero animosity, but I did leave clearly and open-eyed in going forward and finding new adventures .”
“I was like, ‘That’s what I want to do, keep moving forward.’”
“I had done the ‘ Law & Order ’ way of storytelling, which they do really well, and I was interested in telling stories from a different angle “.
“Whether comedic or inhabiting a new world or doing it on different platforms.”
He revealed that the show’s creator, Dick Wolf, contacted him personally to ask him to return, and it was an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“I never thought this was going to happen, but the circumstances for me changed,” he said. “So, ‘yes’ became the correct answer.”
Let us know what you think of Christopher Meloni returning to Law & Order SVU in the comments below!