Christopher Meloni knows why near kiss with Mariska Hargitay on ‘Law & Order: SVU’ ‘didn’t work’
Not so star-crossed lovers.
Christopher Meloni’s Elliot Stabler and Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson have long had a “will they or won’t they” relationship on “Law & Order: SVU.”
During a recent TVLine Spotlight conversation, Meloni addressed, “The kitchen thing,” referring to a scene during a Season 24 “SVU” episode where Stabler and Benson almost kissed.
“We were attempting something. I don’t think it worked. But I’m not going to tell you why it didn’t work, because you all have your opinion,” Meloni said.
He added, “I know what transpired.”
In a 2024 interview with Variety, Hargitay revealed that the near kiss almost had a different outcome.
“To be honest with you, Chris and I thought it should go one way and the powers that be didn’t, so it got changed at the last minute, that near kiss,” Hargitay said.
“Obviously [series creator Dick Wolf] gets final say. It’s his show and he didn’t want that.”
Both actors have starred in the show since 1999, so Stabler and Benson are a longtime “will they or won’t they” for the ages.
Meloni left “SVU” in 2011 but now stars in “Law & Order: Organized Crime,” which has crossover episodes with “SVU.”
During a 2023 episode on the latter show called “Blood Out,” Benson and Stabler’s chemistry ignites again.
In the episode, he tells her, “I care for you.”
Stabler and Benson hug and almost kiss, but Benson pulls away.
She says, “Elliot, I want to. But I can’t.”
“I don’t go, ‘That’s what’s going to go on TV. That’s what we’re going to air.’ We don’t have that power. We do the best we can to be honest with the scenes we’re given,” Meloni explained.
His goal with Hargitay is to “make it honest, not make it bait. If we do bait, at least for me, I always do it with a wink. I think it’s good-natured, but maybe you guys are over that, and that’s valid. But you give us too much credit for the power that we might have — will-they-won’t-they and all that stuff.”
Meloni, 64, and Hargitay, 61, are longtime friends in real life. Meloni has been married to production designer Sherman Meloni since 1995, and the pair have kids Sophia, 24, and Dante, 21.
Hargitay is Sophia’s godmother.
The “Law & Order” actress seems to have a close bond with Meloni’s daughter. On Hargitay’s birthday in 2023, Sophia posted a video of herself with Hargitay via Instagram and wrote, “Waving my wand to summon all things sparkly, shiny, beautiful and grand for my fairy godmamma today.”
Their fellow actors in the franchise have also acknowledged the long-simmering romantic tension between Benson and Stabler.
During an EW interview in 2024, “SVU” star Ice-T asked Hargitay: “Y’all haven’t hooked up yet at all? Close, right? Almost a kiss?”
Hargitay joked back, “No, just two times in Season 4!… No. We have not hooked up.”
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