For the first 12 seasons ofLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit,Mariska HargitayandChristopher Meloniwere the face of the popular crime drama as detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler.
So when Meloni, 59, abruptly left the show in 2011 after contract negotiations fell apart, Hargitay, 57, says she was “devastated.”
“I was just so sad, because we started this thing and built it together,” she tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “And we went through so many milestones and spent so much time together and understood so many things that nobody else could understand.”
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Ruven Afanador
Meloni says he saw things differently, though. “She was left in the familiarity of what we were. And I’m sure there were echoes, constant reminders, everywhere,” he says. “But for me, it was about how things fell out—and the word I’ll use is that it was inelegant.”
“I couldn’t have been happier. But she and I,” he insists, “we stayed connected.”
Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni inLaw & Order: SVU.Craig Blankenhorn/NBCU
Mariska Hargitay and Christoper Meloni inLaw & Order: SVU.NBCU Photo Bank
Though both actors moved forward and remained close as ever, Hargitay notes that fans ofSVU"never moved on" after Stabler left — leaving the door open for the character’s upcoming new spinoff,Law & Order: Organized Crime.
“In television, when somebody leaves, obviously there’s a grieving period, but the fans never moved on,” Hargitay says. “And I think that is just so incredibly beautiful and so incredibly powerful.”
The two will first reunite onscreen for an episode ofSVU, airing right before the premiere ofOrganized Crimeon April 1. And according to Hargitay, the moment was “so emotional.”
“It was this thing that I had really dreamed about,” she adds.
Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay.Ruven Afanador
Their onscreen connection came right back, too, Meloni says: “It was Pavlovian: Ring that bell, and you get right into Stabler and Benson.”
“There was so much shorthand between us, which all goes back to the trust we have,” Hargitay says. “He’s always made me feel like I could just jump off the ledge, the cliff, the bridge, and he would catch me, in so many ways, whether it was comedy or acting or friendship.”
source: people.com
