In honor of the milestone, PEOPLE is publishing a special edition,Law & Order: SVU, featuring new interviews with Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, Kelli Giddish, Christopher Meloni, show creator Dick Wolf, and more.
Here, in an exclusive excerpt, Hargitay reflects on her 21-year journey with Olivia Benson, who has risen from detective to sergeant to lieutenant and, now, boss of the Precinct 16 squad room.
PEOPLE Special Edition — Law & Order: SVU, now available.
PEOPLE: Is it fair to say you identify with your character?MARISKA HARGITAY:I felt so deeply connected to Olivia Benson from the second I read [the script]. And yet as actors, we’ve seen so many projects come and go and not move forward. I think that the best way to describe it is: Even if I had been wildly, recklessly optimistic about the future, I couldn’t have ever dreamed that we’d be here in this moment in television history.
Do you remember your audition?Like it was yesterday. I had just finished a 13-episode arc onER.I remember actually saying, “Oh God, I’ve been on the best show on television, where am I going to go? There’s always one place for me, and that’sLaw & Order.” I said that. Maybe I am a little psychic. Then this audition came, and it was like lightning in a bottle.I met Chris Meloni. I just knew that he was Stabler.
Christopher Meloni played Det. Elliot Stabler for 12 years before leaving in 2011 — and the two of you are friends. Does reuniting your characters ever come up in conversation?I can’t tell you that; I’m taking the Fifth! There have been conversations, many a conversation.
PEOPLE’s new special editionLaw & Order: SVU, featuring the cast favorites and the most shocking of all 470 episodes, isavailable now on Amazonand wherever magazines are sold.
source: people.com
