Det. Elliot Stabler made a significant appearance in the Season 27 premiere of “Law & Order: SVU” — remember the “love you” heard ’round the world? — but showrunner Michele Fazekas tells TVLine that she had plans to bring Chris Meloni’s character back two other times during the season.
In both cases, she adds, Meloni’s busy schedule made Stabler’s return impossible.
“We had a scene in the crossover that he was not available for,” she says. (Fans will recall that, just Episode 9 began — aka the “SVU” half of the “Law & Order” and “SVU” crossover event in January — Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson made a call to her former partner, alerting him to a possible hate group.)
In addition, “I thought about bringing him into the season finale,” she says. “But I don’t regret it, because the scene [in Episode 20] with Velasco and Benson was probably the scene that I would have done with Stabler and Benson” in the season-ender, she explains. “And I actually really liked that it was Velasco.”
‘I want to use him as much as I can’
Chris Meloni spent the past several months shooting Hulu’s “The Land,” a football drama from Dan Fogelman (“Paradise,” “This Is Us”). The “SVU” alum plays the head coach of a National Football League team in the series, which also stars Mandy Moore (“This Is Us”) and William H. Macy (“Shameless”). He starred in the Stabler-centric “SVU” offshoot “Law & Order: Organized Crime,” which ran for five seasons on Peacock and was cancelled in April.
Fazekas was a writer on “SVU” in Seasons 4 through 7. “When I was on the show, it was Benson and Stabler,” she points out. “I want to use him as much as he can, but also, I don’t want to stunt it, or do it for no reason. It has to mean something.”
She added that she would like to keep Stabler in the mix on “SVU,” moving forward: “I think that would be amazing.”
We’ll have more “SVU” scoop from Fazekas soon. But in the meantime, let us know how — or if! — you’d like to see Stabler show up in Season 28.
