Ever since Law & Order: Organized Crime made the jump to Peacock and premiered on the 2025 TV schedule, fans have been itching for more Bensler, and they’ve been getting their wishes on more than one occasion. The first time was when Benson visited Stabler in the hospital in the second episode of OC’s fifth season, and they worked together a bit on a case. Then, SVU just tied up that loose end in the latest episode. But there actually could have been more scenes included between them on Organized Crime that didn’t make the cut.
It’s always a treat whenever Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni are able to work together, and not just because of their characters’ slow-burn relationship. It’s nice to see them working together and spending time with each other, which is why when the opportunity came up for Hargitay to appear on the latest season of Organized Crime, Meloni was all in and even offered to write, as he told TVLine when asked about the logistics of his colleague’s appearance:
This is how this went down. They said, ‘Hey, they want Mariska on your show for an episode.’ Great. So I go, ‘I want to write it, because I feel as though I’ll do a great job.’ ‘OK, great. You got it.’
Meloni explained that he had incorporated her throughout the whole script, and while he wouldn’t go into details of what specifically he had written, it was a lot more than what we got. He explained that when it came time for approval, Hargitay’s time was limited, and they were dealt a devastating blow:
They break it down, and they go, ‘We’ll need her for five days.’ SVU comes back to us and says, ‘You got three.’
It’s not surprising that they couldn’t get Hargitay for more than three days because she was also filming SVU at the time, and it’s hard to balance the schedule, even with the shows filming in the same vicinity. So he immediately had to come up with a new plan, saying:
So I go back to the drawing board, going, ‘She’s out of that!’
He had to cut her out of a lot of scenes and rework storylines, which is definitely disappointing, but again, it’s not so surprising considering how busy Hargitay was. It’s even a miracle they were able to get her for three days.
Meloni did eventually go into some specifics, revealing that towards the end of the episode, where it was Stabler and Jet going on a hunt, it was actually originally different:
It was going to be me and Benson on the hunt.
When asked how they could collaborate on future episodes, Meloni hilariously answered, “Girlfriend has a day job.” I so wish that they were able to get more scenes for Organized Crime, and I hope they get more moments on SVU, especially following that “I love you” moment in the Season 27 premiere.
However, hearing the logistics behind the appearances and how hard it is to really lock down days makes me grateful for the Bensler scenes we’ve been able to get thus far. Organized Crime has not yet been renewed for Season 6, but Season 27 of SVU airs on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, followed by Season 5 of Organized Crime, which is available to stream in full with a Peacock subscription.