Law and Order: Special Victims Unit is back for Season 27, and along with new episodes on the 2025 TV schedule comes a whole new season of hungrily hoping for new Bensler moments. The former SVU detective duo has been to hell and back together, flirting with death and romance along the way. They are one of the best will-they-won’t-they character duos of all time, and Christopher Meloni got surprisingly candid about what makes them so sexy to audiences.
There’s no doubt that Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni make a sexy on-screen duo. Part of it is their attractiveness; there is no denying that, but the thing that really keeps me coming back for more is the chemistry the actors have shared since their audition. The Snatched actor recently got honest with People about what makes Bensler so sexy, and his answer goes beyond just chemistry:
How well they know each other in kind of an unspoken way. You know, I think it’s the depth of their friendship. They’ve made these stabs or these attempts at making this thing another thing.
It’s probably clear to anyone who watches the show that Benson and Stabler have always had chemistry since day one. That chemistry eventually developed into a love and loyalty so strong that they were separated for a brief period in Season 7 for choosing each other over their case.
Of course, there are always moments where the audience is left to wonder: Does their love for each other ever dip into romance? The detective duo’s will-they-won’t-they thing existed for nearly their entire time together on SVU, and it has always been one of the most appealing aspects of the show for me (it’s why the early seasons are my favorite).
When audiences saw Stabler return to the Law & Order universe with Organized Crime, where his wife Kathy was killed in the crossover with SVU, many thought Bensler was finally going to happen. However, Detective Elliot Stabler has been back for five seasons now, and the two still have yet to finally go there, although they aren’t ignoring their feelings anymore. To that point, the Wet Hot American Summer actor got honest about the likelihood of the longtime friends becoming something more:
You know, I think if they get together, aw man, it’s such a difficult thing. For Benson and Stabler to get together it’s hard. It’s hard.
It’s been a hard watch too, as a fan. It’s mostly silent shared looks, awkward undercover situations that require them to pretend to be lovers, and risking their lives, families, and jobs for each other, which is pretty damn romantic if you ask me. The closest they’ve actually come to getting together, though, was a near kiss in Season 24 of SVU. I’m talking their lips were inches apart, but the timing wasn’t right, and so Benson pulled back.
Now, time is running out on a Bensler happily ever after. While SVU was renewed for Season 27, Organized Crime is still in limbo, awaiting its fate on Peacock. We last saw the ex-partners reunite in the SVU Season 27 premiere, along with a number of other familiar faces like Dr. George Huang (B.D. Wong) and Det. Brian Cassidy (Dean Winters), to attend OG SVU Captain Cragen’s memorial. Before they parted ways, Stabler told Liv he loved her, a line that was ad-libbed by Meloni. To me, though, there is no romantic weight to it.
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I’m not sure where this leaves the two of them, but here’s my SVU hot take: I don’t think I want them to get together. They clearly are very important to each other, but if the Season 24 near kiss confirmed anything for me, it’s that their relationship is almost too far past romantic to actually be romantic. It seems to me that the Happy! actor feels similarly when he says it would be “hard” and “difficult” for the two detectives to be a couple.
As for their future, Meloni’s wish for the pair is simple, and it’s the least they deserve after all the trauma they’ve been through:
Some conclusion to Benson and Stabler. That’s how I think — both characters, Stabler and Benson should ride off into the sunset.
If they ended up together in the end, I don’t think I’d be mad. I just hope the writers don’t force it, and they do it in the right way. However, Benson has to retire for any rides off into the sunset to take place, and I don’t see that happening soon. Mariska Hargitay has been playing SVU’s badass female lead for nearly 30 years, and I just can’t picture the Dick Wolf drama without her. I definitely think that when that happens, though, Christopher Meloni will be by her side.