Here, we examine the Benson and Stabler relationship onscreen and off, so you can figure out whether to keep shipping these two or to move it on to other SVU pairings! And flip through our gallery to see Hargitay and Meloni’s relationship over the years in pictures.
Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay were instant BFFs
Meloni and Hargitay had instant chemistry at their auditions for SVU; Meloni once said, according to E!, “[Hargitay] and I hit it off right from the get-go.” According to the 2009 book Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: The Unofficial Companion, Hargitay once recalled, “It was nonstop chitchat; couldn’t stop talking. All of a sudden someone comes out and pairs us up: ‘Mariska and Chris.’ And I thought. ‘I want to be with that guy!’ Because we already had a thing.” Meloni echoed the sentiment. “I’m like, ‘Who’s the chick with all the energy?’ I just knew that Mariska was going to be The One,” he said. “I was in the middle of telling her this story, this joke. So we got up on the stage and I’m like, ‘Hold on just a second, I’m going to finish telling this story. Not being disrespectful, but this is important too. This may change my life, but the story is that funny.’ And I think that put us at ease, and unconsciously there was a connection you could see: That she was now my partner.”
Stabler and Benson were like siblings
Hargitay described Benson and Stabler’s relationship as “very complicated.” “Sometimes it’s very much like brother and sister, and I think the reason that they’re so close is that they share a passion for their jobs and for the people,” she told MSN in 2009. “They have a mutual respect for one another. I think that the average lifespan of an SVU detective is four years because of the difficulty and stress involved. They’ve been doing it for longer than that, so they feel like they’re in their own world almost.”
Did Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson ever date?
No. But Stabler impacted Olivia’s love life in other ways. “With Elliot Stabler’s departure, that was the only way she could have a relationship,” Hargitay told The Hollywood Reporter. “There was no room for a man in her life because of their connection.” Hargitay also admitted to MSN that she thinks Benson is, at least somewhat, romantically attracted to Stabler, but knows it would never work. “There’s also sexual chemistry between them, it’s so loaded and layered. People ask me if they’ll ever get together—and people want that, and sometimes I think even Olivia wants that,” she said. “But I don’t think that will ever happen.”
Is Stabler in love with Benson?
AS SVU viewers know, Benson has had quite a few short-lived romances throughout the series, while Stabler was married to wife Kathy, with whom he shares five children, since they were both 17 years old. In Season 9, Episode 16 (“Closet”), Kathy suspected Stabler and Benson were romantically involved (or at least interested in one another), but Benson assured her she had nothing to worry about.
Mariska Hargitay is happy Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler never got together romantically
Hargitay told Parade in 2019 that if Benson and Stabler ever hooked up, their partnership wouldn’t be the same—and that platonic is the way they always need to be. “If that happened, the chemistry and alchemy and the magic of the relationship would have been gone,” she said. “It was perfect just the way it was. A romance would have ruined it.” Still, she missed her costar terribly and kept a photo of Meloni in her dressing room after his departure from the series.
Christopher Meloni wanted Benson and Stabler to reunite
When it comes to Stabler and Benson’s reunion in a Law & Order: Organized Crime and SVU crossover, Meloni called it a year before it was announced publicly. “It just has to be,” he told The New York Post. “Benson and Stabler are inextricably linked, locked and connected. I think there is truly and deeply a worthwhile, inherent drama in exploring that relationship and the complexity of how Stabler left—the unresolved emotions both characters feel and how the fans feel." In case you missed it (and spoiler alert!), when Stabler exited the series between Season 12 and Season 13, he never said goodbye to Benson, instead filing for his retirement offscreen, leading Benson to sob over the loss of her beloved partner in an interrogation room at the precinct. Meloni explained, “How my character left was really unsatisfying, I think. It almost feels that we won’t do one or two [crossover] episodes and move on our merry way. I just think there will always be possibilities there. People will always be hungry to see how we interact and how that dynamic has changed.”
Benson and Stabler’s reunion was both bittersweet and revealing
Please beware of spoilers beyond this point for the SVU and Organized Crime crossovers! On April 1, Benson and Stabler reunited for a heartbreaking reason. Stabler had been living in Rome with his family and wife Kathy, working as an international liaison for the NYPD to fight sex trafficking and organized crime. He returned to New York City to speak at a ceremony honoring Benson’s work as a woman in law enforcement at Kathy’s insistence. On his way to the ceremony with Kathy, he stepped out of their parked car to take a phone call. While he was gone, a car bomb went detonated in his vehicle. Benson arrived on the scene and Kathy was hospitalized, but later died of a ruptured spleen. Before Kathy died, Benson and Stabler were by her bedside. Kathy told them, “You two will be together. You’re so in sync.” They confirmed they didn’t speak for 10 years after Stabler’s exit, but Kathy said she initially didn’t believe Elliot when he told her that. Stabler later apologized to Benson for walking away and never telling her. “You were the single most important person in my life and you just disappeared,” she told him. “I know,” he replied. “I was afraid if I heard your voice I wouldn’t have been able to leave.” Detective Rollins asked if Benson and Kathy were friends. Benson said that her relationship with Kathy was complicated and that they weren’t friends at first, but that they became close over time. Benson also reaffirmed that her relationship with Stabler was also complicated, explaining, “Back then, nobody looked out for me the way he did.” Stabler also gets drinks with Detective Fin Tuotola, who gives him a brief synopsis of Benson’s life since Stabler left the Special Victims Unit, including the fact that Benson has been in a few relationships and had a son. Stabler asks him, “Who’s the guy?” to which Tuotola says Stabler will have to ask Benson about that himself. Benson and Stabler’s relationship remains strained, but their affection and loyalty remains: Benson aided him in his investigation into the organized crime syndicate that took Kathy’s life, and Stabler gave her notes he wrote about her that he planned on using in a speech at her ceremony. At the closing of the series premiere of Organized Crime, Benson came to talk to Stabler about what he wrote, but he was already off to chase a lead, walking away from her once more. Next, see Mariska Hargitay’s sweetest moments with the cast and crew of Law & Order: SVU!
