Chris Meloni has once again broken the internet by gifting “Law & Order: SVU” fans new photos with not one but two OG cast members.
The actor shared three new photos Aug. 2 to his Instagram page with two of his Day 1 co-stars: Mariska Hargitay, who plays Olivia Benson, and Dann Florek, who formerly starred as Capt. Donald Cragen.
“Hangin with friends on a Friday nite @therealmariskahargitay @dannflorek,” he captioned a trio of precious pics. In one photo, he holds onto Hargitay as she nestles into his shoulder. The second selfie shows the trio together smiling at the camera, and the third snap shows Meloni with his arm around a beaming Florek.
Meloni revealed he would see his longtime friend Hargitay on Friday in response to a fan’s question on X this week. He also had a hilarious reply when another fan wrote, “For f— sake, kiss her already!”
“I’m f—— trying,” he wrote back.
Florek portrayed Cragen on “SVU” since the show’s series premiere in 1999 until his retirement in Season 15. Meloni and Hargitay played two of his detectives, Elliot Stabler and Benson, and now, Hargitay’s character is captain of the Special Victims Unit.
“I think Cragen was a father figure to a lot of the people in the show, but for some wonderful reason, I think Dann Florek was kind of a father figure to a lot of the people and the actors,” Florek told TODAY.com in January 2024 on the red carpet celebrating the 25th season of “SVU.”
Florek’s character actually first appeared on the original “Law & Order,” which premiered in 1990, before “SVU.”
“I always made a point to go out of my way and welcome everyone when they came in, because I remember when people did it for me,” he added.
Meloni left the series after Season 12 but reprised Stabler on his own “L&O” spinoff, “Organized Crime,” in April 2021. Florek has shared scenes with both Hargitay and Meloni since his “SVU” exit, but never at the same time.
Meloni and Hargitay have appeared on each other’s shows multiple times over the past four years. Florek recently guest starred on “OC” and shared some sweet scenes with Meloni. He last made an appearance on “SVU” via a FaceTime call in the show’s 500th episode back in Season 23.
It wasn’t clear from Meloni’s Instagram post if they were on the set of “SVU,” which recently started filming its 27th season, but they did appear to be in their “Law & Order” characters’ attire. Another OG cast member, however, was seen on set this week filming.
Former “SVU” star Dean Winters, who was also part of the show’s Season 1 cast, was spotted on set July 31. His character, Brian Cassidy, had a fling with Benson in the first season and returned as a more permanent love interest for her after Stabler left. Benson and Cassidy eventually ended things for good, with Cassidy later saying, “You’ve got to admit to me that you were never going to bare your soul to me.”
Benson’s more recent potential love interest has been Stabler.
The two nearly kissed in her kitchen back in Season 24, but they stopped at the last second, with their faces inches apart.
“Elliot, I want to — I want to, but I can’t,” Benson said, adding she feared the repercussions if a romantic relationship didn’t work between them.
“And what if things work out?” he said.
“Elliot, I’m not ready for this,” she responded. “I’m not ready for this.”
Since that scene aired, both actors have respectively spoken out about it, revealing what fans saw on TV that night wasn’t how the scene was supposed to play out.
“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 in a May 2024 interview with Variety. “Obviously, Dick (Wolf, the show’s creator) gets final say. It’s his show and he didn’t want that.”
Meloni addressed the near kiss in a panel discussion with TVLine and fans in April.
“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; I know what transpired,” he said.
Meloni also said he has “no idea” what will ultimately happen with the characters and that those creative decisions are above him and Hargitay.
He did, however, have some creative control over “Law & Order: Organized Crime” in Season 5 when he wrote an episode Hargitay guest starred in.
“I intentionally wrote this because when she and I are together, I inevitably rewrite it, and not out of — you know, just simply because I don’t think there’s anyone alive that knows the relationship as intimately and as well as I do. Or she does,” he told TODAY.com in April.
Meloni also said the humor he infused into some of Benson and Stabler’s scenes, including one in which Stabler jokes to Benson she can watch him get naked, was “a nod to the fans.”
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