Mariska Hargitay once opened up about why she still enjoyed playing Olivia Benson on 'Law & Order SVU' after so many years.

A romance has long been teased between Captain Olivia Benson (Hargitay) and Detective Elliot Stabler (Meloni), and, following the death of Stabler's wife upon his return to Law & Order: SVU in season 22, things have seemingly escalated between the partners. However, fans are still waiting to see them share a long-awaited kiss.

Mariska Hargitay reveals that she continues to fight to have Kelli Giddish return to “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”

While Christopher Meloni has only appeared in eleven episodes of SVU over the four seasons that Stabler has been back in the Law & Order world, Stabler is still very much synonymous with SVU for many longtime viewers due to his intense relationship with Mariska Hargitay's Olivia Benson over twelve seasons back in the day.

Special Victims Unit, there's been a long-running question about Mariska Hargitay 's Olivia Benson and Christopher Meloni 's Elliot Stabler: Will they or won't they? But if Hargitay had her way, they already would have.

SVU partners Benson and Stabler didn’t smooch in a pivotal Season 24 episode, get in line behind the procedural’s star. “Chris [Meloni] and I thought it should go one way, and the powers that be didn’t,

In a new profile for Variety, star Mariska Hargitay, who has played Olivia Benson since 1999, addressed a particularly cruel moment in the show's marketing. In January 2023, a promo for Season 24, episode 12 featured a moment where Benson held the face of her long-time friend and former partner Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and appeared to be going in for a kiss.

For more than two decades, fans have been wondering when Benson and Stabler will take their relationship to the next level.