Law & Order: SVU is in its 27th season on the 2025 TV schedule, and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. It’s hard to believe that the show has been around since 1999, and it’s still bringing in fans. That being said, SVU wouldn’t be what it is without Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni, who had instant chemistry during their audition. Now, the Olivia Benson actress is giving more details about that audition, and the hilarious story involves a John Slattery mix-up and jokes about Jesus.
When Hargitay appeared on Amy Poehler’s podcast Good Hang, the host asked her about her first days on SVU and if meeting Dick Wolf was “scary.” The actress explained that it wasn’t, and that led her into the story about her “magical” audition with Meloni. She pointed out that she and her co-star bonded over their similar personalities and sense of humor, and the two ended up getting paired up for the callback. She said:
So, I had read for SVU; he, obviously, had read for SVU. And so our callback was three women, three men. And we got to the audition, and we were to be paired up.
However, initially, she didn’t think she’d be paired with Meloni; she thought she would be with John Slattery.
Poehler and Hargitay both shared how chemistry reads can make or break auditions and your chance to be on a show. So, when the actress heard that Slattery was at the audition, she wanted to do everything she could to impress him and bond with him. However, she wasn’t paired with him…as she explained:
So my agent said, ‘Oh my god, there’s an amazing guy there. His name is John Slattery, and he’s reading for the role as well.’ In walks Chris Meloni, and I go, ‘Slattery!’ And he goes, ‘Meloni!’ And so minute one, that’s how it opened. That’s how it opened, because I didn’t know what either of them looked like in 1999.
As Poehler continued laughing, Hargitay continued her story, revealing that she didn’t know there were going to be 47 people in the room. So the initial back-and-forth between her and Meloni was a bit awkward. However, once she found out the real reason he had a Jesus tattoo, she knew she liked him, as she recalled:
Chris comes in, and, you know, he’s wearing no clothes. Big surprise. And so he has this huge cross [points at her shoulder], and I’m like ‘Oh my god, you’re a Christian.’ And he goes like this: ‘Yeah, no.’ And I go, ‘Then why do you have Jesus Christ on your arm?’ He goes, ‘Because I admire his commitment.’ And I’m like ‘OK, got it.’
I just love that a joke as ridiculous as that one is what really cemented their bond and made Hargitay know that her eventual co-star was guy she’d get along with. It’s certainly a different reason to have a Jesus tattoo, but that turned out to be for the better. And it was in that moment that Hargitay knew the show had found its Elliot Stabler:
I was like ‘OK, well, there’s that. I’ve never met anyone like you, but I like it.’ And so we’re sitting there, and then everyone comes and. And then we got paired up, and that was the end of it, because I knew he was going to get it. I knew that he was Elliot Stabler.
Hargitay wasn’t the only one who felt that way, as Meloni had a similar thought about her. And when they were paired up, she knew immediately they were partners. Her feelings turned out to be right. To this day, the actors are best friends and always joking with each other, and it’s always a treat when Benson and Stabler are on-screen together as their relationship continues to be a “Will they/won’t they?” scenario.
It’s hard to imagine how different SVU would have been had Hargitay been paired up with John Slattery. Not that he wouldn’t be a good Stabler, but Meloni as Stabler and Hargitay as Benson just worked out, and they’re definitely part of the reason why SVU has been going so long. It was just an instant connection, even if their relationship wasn’t so great in the early years.