<\/p>\n
Mariska Hargitay is about to host the Emmys, but the television job that made her famous is not one she is preparing to give up.<\/p>\n
The 62-year-old actor is currently filming Season 28 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit<\/em>, where she has played Olivia Benson since the series premiered in 1999. Asked directly about her future in an August Variety<\/a> interview, Hargitay\u2019s answer was uncomplicated \u201cDo I want to quit now? No.\u201d<\/p>\n Hargitay once worried that spending so much of her career as Benson was preventing audiences from seeing other parts of her, but directing, documentary filmmaking and Broadway eventually changed the equation without requiring her to walk away from SVU<\/em>.<\/p>\n There is another piece of unfinished business hanging around the series, too. Hargitay has confirmed that she and Christopher Meloni actually filmed a Benson-Stabler kiss that viewers never saw, and she now says she cannot imagine reaching a 30th season without him appearing again.<\/p>\n Mariska Hargitay Got Brutally Honest About Whether She Wants to Leave \u2018SVU\u2019 https:\/\/t.co\/F7X0QMywo4<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Good Housekeeping (@goodhousemag) September 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Around Season 25, Hargitay told former ER<\/em> costar Julianna Margulies that she thought she needed to leave SVU<\/em> before the role completely defined her. \u201cI\u2019ve got to leave the show too. I don\u2019t want people to think I\u2019m a one-trick pony,\u201d Hargitay recalled telling Margulies. Her friend\u2019s answer was blunt, \u201cSweetheart, that ship\u2019s sailed.\u201d<\/p>\n Hargitay said she loved the series but felt frustrated that her comedy background and other creative interests were going unused. People around her repeatedly suggested that she would have to leave in order to do comedy, host a talk show or pursue different kinds of work.<\/p>\n Instead, she started doing those things around Benson. Hargitay made and directed the documentary My Mom Jayne<\/em> while SVU<\/em> was in production, made her Broadway debut in Every Brilliant Thing<\/em> during her hiatus and is set to host the 78th Emmy Awards on Sept. 14. Her documentary has already won two Creative Arts Emmys this month.<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t ready to leave, because I loved it,\u201d she told Variety. \u201cAnd then I got to do all this other stuff, and that\u2019s why I don\u2019t think about leaving right now.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the stranger pieces of Hargitay\u2019s long run surfaced this year when she confirmed that Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler got closer on camera than viewers ever saw. Season 24\u2019s \u201cBlood Out\u201d aired a scene in which Stabler tells Benson that he cares about her and leans toward her before she pulls back.<\/p>\n Hargitay later confirmed that she and Meloni also filmed an alternate version in which the moment became an actual kiss. \u201cWe just felt like, after all these years, there was just so much between us that it was a moment that happened,\u201d Hargitay told PEOPLE<\/a>. \u201cBut Wolf didn\u2019t think so, so he cut it.\u201d<\/p>\n She said both actors believed the more intimate version had been earned by the characters\u2019 history, but Wolf and the editing team ultimately chose the near-kiss that aired. \u201cThere was a moment,\u201d Hargitay added of the abandoned take.<\/p>\n Meloni\u2019s place in the franchise changed considerably this year when Law & Order: Organized Crime<\/em> was canceled after five seasons. He had returned as Elliot Stabler in 2021 after leaving SVU<\/em> in 2011. Variety<\/a> reported the cancellation in April.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t imagine that I would be doing SVU<\/em> till season 30 and that he wouldn\u2019t be back,\u201d she told PEOPLE in May. \u201cThat\u2019s all I can say.\u201d Season 28 showrunner Michele Fazekas has also said she would like to bring Stabler back when there is a meaningful reason to do so. PEOPLE<\/a> reports that neither NBC nor the series has confirmed a Meloni appearance for the coming season.<\/p>\n The two actors have remained close away from the show. They were photographed together at the ACE Eddie Awards in February, and Hargitay has publicly supported Meloni since Organized Crime<\/em> ended.<\/p>\nShe Once Thought She Had to Leave to Prove She Could Do More<\/h2>\n
\n
The Benson-Stabler Kiss Really Was Filmed<\/h2>\n
Hargitay Still Expects Stabler Back Before Season 30<\/h2>\n
The Next Season Will Also Contain SVU\u2019s<\/em> 600th Episode<\/h2>\n