Chris Meloni will return to his alma mater, Law & Order: SVU, for the upcoming 27th season of the perennially popular procedural, the actor confirmed in a recent Instagram post.
“Hangin with friends on a Friday nite @therealmariskahargitay @dannflorek,” the Emmy-nominated actor wrote on social media alongside selfies of himself with fellow series vets Mariska Hargitay and Dann Florek.
Deadline’s sister publication TVLine first reported the news, which follows previous announcements of behind-the-scenes changes at the NBC juggernaut. In May, Deadline exclusively reported that Juliana Martinez and Octavio Pisano would not be returning to SVU as series regulars, and writer/executive producer Julie Martin and director/executive producer Norberto Barba would also be exiting the venerable drama. Additionally, Kelli Giddish is returning full-time, reprising her role as Amanda Rollins. And, viewers will get to see more of Captain Curry via Aimé Donna Kelly, who is being upped from her heavily recurring role to series regular.
Both SVU and the mothership Dick Wolf series were renewed by the network earlier this year, with Michele Fazekas stepping in as the showrunner, the first woman to shepherd the veteran series. The two shows are having their best seasons on Peacock in total viewers in Live+35, having reached more than 44 million total viewers across linear and digital platforms this season, combined.
Meloni’s Elliot Stabler exited SVU back in Season 12 as a series regular, though he has featured a number of times since his departure, most notably during Season 24, when his character and Hargitay’s Olivia Benson shared a near-kiss, driving both a ratings high and fans wild. Just earlier this week, the actor responded to a fan’s demand that his character “kiss her already” with “I’m f—ing trying.”
Both flagship Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU will return Sept. 25.
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