Raúl Esparza Likes the ‘Messy, Hard, Painful’ Place ‘SVU’ Left Benson & Barba

Raúl Esparza at the 'Law & Order: SVU' Season 25 Anniversary Party — Cindy Ord/NBC

We might be stuck with Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Rafael Barba (Raúl Esparza) where Law & Order: SVU left them at the end of Season 23 for a while.

The two weren’t on speaking terms after he represented Richard Wheatley (Dylan McDermott) when he was on trial for the murder of Detective Elliot Stabler’s (Christopher Meloni) wife. Then, in Esparza’s last appearance on the NBC drama, the two met for last call at Forlini’s, with the bar closing. She saw what he did as a betrayal, while he just saw her denying and deflecting while defending Stabler. “It’s alright, I get it. It’s what you do when you love somebody unconditionally,” he said. “Please don’t tell me how I feel,” she told him. But “in this case I can because I do know what it means to love someone unconditionally. And when you’re ready to stop feeling betrayed by me, I’ll be here,” he said before going to leave. Before he did, she did tell him she missed him, too.

So, when TV Insider caught up with Esparza on the red carpet for SVU‘s celebration of its 25th season, we had to ask if we’d see him on the show again. Read on for that and more.

What are the chances of seeing you again on SVU?

Raúl Esparza: Never say never. You never know. Whenever they have a delicious enough storyline for Barba to come in and wreak some havoc, I’m sure that they’ll reach out. I like sort of where we left things, too. I like that messy, hard, painful, ouch ending with Benson and Barba. I was like, that’s good, right? It’s good television.

I was going to say that was very painful. So how is he feeling about Benson?

Oh, I think he just is someone who always thinks of her. I think that he’s someone who always has her on his mind. And I think he’s someone who will always love her and is deeply connected to her, as much a part of her family as I sort of became in the world of the show, just as an actor. Who knows? He’s also someone who’s just as stubborn as Benson.

That’s their problem.

That’s their problem.

Mariska Hargitay, Raul Esparza in Law & Order SVU

Michael Parmelee / © NBC / Courtesy Everett Collection

What’s Barba’s most memorable arc or episode for you over the years?

There was an episode we did about Trayvon Martin [Season 15’s “American Tragedy”] that I remember being incredibly thrilled by. Cybill Shepherd was part of it, Jeffrey Tambor and Sonja Sohn, too, and trying to find a voice where Barba would be someone who could sort of say the things that people were not saying about the Trayvon Martin case was really moving.

I also remember a night where we were filming very, very late. It was an episode about Rollins and her addictions [Season 15’s “Rapist Anonymous”] and it was a courtroom scene and it was almost 1:00 a.m. and Kelli [Giddish] just kept doing the takes over and over and over, weeping openly, in this completely open, vulnerable, emotional place. The episode featured Tommy Sadoski as well, and I had that so deeply in my mind. It was a courtroom scene with us, just Kelli’s sort of vulnerability and exposure. And for me, every day at work that I got to do stuff with Mariska was the icing on the cake. We never knew where we were going.

You two together are amazing. What do you attribute to the show’s success and longevity?

I think part of the reason that my character took off the way it did is because she and I hit it off the way we did. And the reason that she and I clicked, well, one, you can’t bottle that. You don’t know why it happened. We had this chemistry, we trusted each other. But another thing that happened for me as an actor having done mostly stage work up to that point, a couple of TV things here and there, is that I felt able to go anywhere and try anything and she would always be there to meet me or catch me and vice versa. If you can make mistakes, you can be brilliant. If you can fail, you can succeed. You can never be good if you try to get things perfect.

And so she treats every episode like that. That is unthinkable 25 years in. I’m not making this up, it’s not a platitude. Her generosity is enormous. She shows up ready to work and so that’s why it’s good. The stories, unfortunately, constantly stay relevant, but the character never stops developing, expanding, growing, changing, and you never quite know what you’re going to get.

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And I have to say, I’ve loved seeing Barba and Carisi (Peter Scanavino) going head to head.

Yeah, that’s always fun. It was great when they brought Peter on and that idea of Barba being such a sort of talent snob. [Laughs] He was written like a villain and yet with an enormously good heart and I got to play a complete badass — his sass, his style, his sarcasm, his sense of humor, those were all wonderful injections in the show. And so the character of Carisi was a great springboard. We were always looking for ways to make Carisi feel bad. [Laughs]

I feel like Barba always had the best objections in court.

Oh, totally.

Do you have a favorite?

Yes. Argumentative and ridiculous.

Definitely. Would you want to sing if you came back on SVU?

Oh hell no. That’s jumping the shark. [Laughs]

But your voice is so good.

I know, but saving it for something else.

So Barba wouldn’t be a good singer?

No, I don’t think Barba is a singer. He seems very uptight, doesn’t he? Maybe you get enough rum and Cokes in him, since he’s Cuban, he might do a ballad or something.