Christopher Meloni & Mariska Hargitay Tease ‘SVU’ Fans With ‘Kiss’ Pic

Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler, Mariska Hargitay as Captain Olivia Benson in Law & Order: Organized Crime
Eric Liebowitz/NBC

Former Law & Order: SVU co-stars Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay got people very excited over the weekend by teasing something fans have wanted to see for years — a kiss!

For years, Law & Order fans have been willing the characters of Elliot Stabler (Meloni) and Olivia Benson (Hargitay) to share a smooch, and Meloni played into that desire by teasing fans with a steamy behind-the-scenes photo. On Saturday, the actor shared a selfie via Twitter showing him nose-to-nose with Hargitay, looking like the pair are about to kiss.

The pic was in response to a fan on Twitter who had tweeted on Friday, “Can y’all imagine if one day @Chris_Meloni and @Mariska posts a picture like this pretending they are kissing with the caption #Rehearsing? It would be the end of us and the end of the internet.”

Meloni responded to the tweet with the playful photo and the caption, “#rehearsing what @Mariska?”

“Are you blushing? It’s getting hot in here,” Hargitay responded with a fire emoji.

Fans, of course, lost their minds. “You are abusing your power over us!! I am dying here! Hopefully you are rehearsing for a real scene that will literally send us to the hospital! Oh! How I love you guys!” wrote one excited fan.

“This warms my heart and makes smile,” wrote another, while one person tweeted Hargitay, writing, “@Mariska your turn… and we know it’s gonna make us scream even louder!”

Meloni currently stars in the spinoff series Law & Order: Organized Crime, which debuted in April 2021. The second season is set to premiere on September 23, 2021. Time will tell if the Stabler/Benson relationship takes that next step that fans have been hoping for.

Law & Order: Organized Crime, Season 2 Premiere, Thursday, September 23, 8/7c, NBC