Christopher Meloni’s Elliot Stabler Returns to NBC — But Not ‘SVU’

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Virginia Sherwood © NBC / Courtesy Everett Collection

Law & Order: SVU fans have been eagerly awaiting the time they would once again see Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) together, and the possibility of that may be greater than it’s been in years.

Meloni is going to once again be playing Stabler on NBC, but in a new Dick Wolf series, Deadline reports. The crime drama, for which 13 episodes have been ordered, is part of Wolf’s newest deal with Universal Television. (NBC also renewed SVU and all three One Chicago series for three seasons at the time.)

In this new show, Stabler now heads up the NYPD organized crime unit. And since it takes place in New York, it seems like only a matter of time before there’s a crossover with SVU — and fans get to see Stabler and Benson together again.

After all, Wolf’s shows cross over all the time; Chicago P.D. has even sent Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) to New York to work to work with FBI. Meanwhile, the One Chicago series have their annual event as well as smaller crossovers, and SVU has mixed it up with the Chicago shows in the past. The two FBIs just had their first crossover as well.

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(Virginia Sherwood © NBC / Courtesy Everett Collection)

Meloni left Law & Order: SVU after Season 12. (Stabler retired.) Since then, his TV credits include Happy and The Handmaid’s Tale.

This new Stabler-centric series is executive produced by Wolf, Arthur W. Forney, and Peter Jankowski.