See Olivia Benson in Every Season of ‘Law & Order: SVU’
She’s gone from NYPD detective to commanding officer of the department’s Special Victims Unit. She’s gone from aspiring parent to adoptive mother. She’s gone from Elliot Stabler’s (Christopher Meloni) professional partner to Stabler’s possible romantic partner. She has even gone from namesake for one of Taylor Swift’s cats to costar for one of Swift’s Easter egg drops. And Law & Order: SVU fans have watched Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) every step of the way.
With SVU returning to NBC for its 28th season on Thursday, October 8, at 9/8c, see the season-by-season evolution of Benson — and Benson’s hair — in the photo gallery below.
Law & Order: SVU, Season 28 Premiere, Thursday, October 8, 9/8c, NBC
Season 1
In “Payback,” the very first episode of SVU, Benson and Stabler investigate how a New York City cabbie came to lose his life (and a certain appendage).
Season 2
SVU’s sophomore season kicked off with “Wrong Is Right,” and Benson, here, reacting to a suspect suddenly admitting to the murder of his abuser.
Season 3
In the Season 3 opener, “Repression,” a girl’s false childhood memories leads to a tragedy. (Meanwhile, we see Benson with a pixie cut as she meets the girl in the squad room.)
Season 4
After a murder at a men’s club in Season 4’s “Chameleon,” Benson and Stabler interviewed one of the victim’s coworkers, played by future Grey’s Anatomy star Sara Ramirez.
Season 5
Season 5 kicked off with “Tragedy” and Benson investigating the carjacking and kidnapping of a pregnant woman, a crime that turns out to be part of a ransom plot.
Season 6
In the Season 6 premiere, “Birthright,” a young girl played by Abigail Breslin is almost abducted in Central Park, and the case leads back to a fertility doctor’s fraud.
Season 7
Reemerging with longer hair in Season 7, Benson interviews a recently paroled rapist, played by Robert Patrick, to determine if he returned to his criminal ways in “Demons.”
Season 8
The Season 8 premiere, “Informed,” starts with a bloodied woman with a shaved head seeking a morning-after pill from a clinic. And she rebuts Benson’s offers to help.
Season 9
Rocking a shorter haircut, Benson looks into the possible dissociative identities of a woman — played by Cynthia Nixon, who won an Emmy for her performance — in “Alternate.”
Season 10
Benson indeed endures “Trials” in the Season 10 premiere as she investigates a 7-year-old car thief, reopens a haunting cold case, and recovers from the trauma of a recent undercover assignment.
Season 11
In “Unstable,” Benson and Stabler not only have to work with a volatile cop (Wentworth Miller) but contend with the possibility Stabler put the wrong man in prison a decade prior.
Season 12
Season 12 launched with “Locum,” in which Benson and Stabler investigate the disappearance of a girl, only to discover the parents had another daughter who vanished years ago.
Season 13
Here, in Season 13’s “Scorched Earth,” Benson interviews a hotel maid (played by Broadway star Anika Noni Rose) who claims she was assaulted by a diplomat primed to become Italy’s next prime minister.
Season 14
If Benson looks a little harried here in “Lost Reputation,” SVU’s Season 14 premiere, it’s because her boss, Captain Donald Cragen (Dann Florek) is the prime suspect of a grisly murder.
Season 15
If Benson looks very harried here in “Surrender Benson,” SVU’s Season 15 premiere, it’s because serial rapist William Lewis (Pablo Schreiber) as abducted her, and she has only just gotten the upper hand.
Season 16
And if Benson just looks irritated here in “Girls Disappeared,” SVU’s Season 16 premiere, it’s because Det. Dominick Sonny Carisi Jr. (Peter Scanavino) just showed up with a lot of bluster.
Season 17
Here, Benson and her SVU team swing into action when a woman’s dismembered body washes up on a beach, indicating a certain serial killer’s return, in Season 17’s “Devil’s Dissections.”
Season 18
The 18th season’s aptly-titled opener “Terrorized,” has the team trying to thwart a terrorist event in Central Park. Meanwhile, Benson is still recovering from the death of Sgt. Mike Dodds (Andy Karl).
Season 19
Benson is surprised in Season 19’s “Gone Fishin’” to see that Det. Odafin Tutuola (Ice-T) caught not just fish in Havana but also the fugitive rapist Byron Marks (Will Chase).
Season 20
Benson literally hit the ground running in SVU’s 20th season premiere, “Man Up,” as she chased a suspect through the hilly neighborhood of Manhattanville.
Season 21
Season 21 opener “I’m Going to Make You a Star,” on the other hand, starts off with a much-more composed Benson toasting Carisi’s promotion to Assistant District Attorney.
Season 22
In the pandemic-delayed Season 22 premiere, “Guardians and Gladiators,” Benson & Co. have to sort out a racially-charged conflict in Central Park under the scrutiny of onlookers with cell-phone cameras.
Season 23
At the start of Season 23, in “And the Empire Strikes Back,” an aggressive driver forces Benson off the road, and she imagines the EMT who rescues her is actually Stabler.
Season 24
As part of a three-part Law & Order crossover event, Benson and Stabler realized a young girl’s homicide is something even bigger in Season 24’s “Gimme Shelter.”
Season 25
In the Season 25 premiere, “Tunnel Blind,” Benson gets some quality time with Dominick Carisi III, Carisi’s new baby with Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish).
Season 26
Det. Kate Silva (Juliana Aidén Martinez) started her one-season run in the Season 26 premiere, “Fractured,” as Benson, on carpool duty, gave her a ride to the station, as seen here.
Season 27
Season 27 got off to a bittersweet start in the Season 28 premiere, “In the Wind,” as Benson reconnected with past colleagues at a memorial for Cragen.
Season 28
In the upcoming 28th season, Benson is still devoted to her job. “Because it’s the fight that matters,” she says in an NBC promo for the new installments.
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