Christopher Meloni, who found fame as Elliot Stabler on the television show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit , gave fans not only more details about his return to the fabled series, but also his personal reunion with co-star Mariska Hargitay in a conversation with SiriusXM’s Jess Cagle.
Cagle began the discussion by asking Meloni where he and Hargitay were when they had taken a recent selfie together. The photo had quickly gone viral among fans of the series — particularly after the pair hinted at a reunion between their characters by captioning the photo “it’s on.”
Meloni replied that the furor-instigating photo had been taken at Hargitay’s country home.
“She has some digs out in the country there. I was out there visiting and doing other stuff and I thought ‘Why not I just drop by for a spot of tea?’ So that’s what we did; we broke bread, we had some laughs,” he replied.
However, Meloni did not stop there in his description of the afternoon. He confessed that despite the fact that he had left the show and not seen his co-star for years, their bond still remained so strong that he felt they could easily “pick up” their old friendship.
“You know, we can be away from each other for two years and we just pick up where we left off, just breaking each other’s chops and having our language and reminiscing. It’s just, you know, a good friend, going back, and it’s a nice place to be,” he added.
Cagle followed up with more questions about Meloni’s return to the Law & Order universe, as he is set to star in a new spinoff show called Law & Order: Organized Crime.
After being asked about the status of the production process, Meloni confessed that they had been hampered by the novel coronavirus pandemic, adding that he had “yet” to see a script. However, the television star noted that the team was working hard while trying to deal with the “new norm for shooting” that kept everyone “safe.”
Meloni also gave details about how Stabler has changed since his departure nine years ago from SVU , stating that he was “evolved” and “mellowed.”
This is not the first time that Meloni has given some updates about how his popular character has changed during the long absence. The actor had previously discussed how Stabler will be dealing with a “devastating loss” in the pilot and beyond, as previously covered by The Inquisitr .