Hargitay and Meloni reunite on SVU set for 600th episode

Elliot Stabler is back beside Olivia Benson, at least for one milestone shoot.

Mariska Hargitay shared two photos with Christopher Meloni from the set of Law & Order: SVU on Tuesday, with captions pointing to the show's 600th episode, according to Variety.

The first image shows Hargitay pointing at the back of Meloni's head. She captioned it "Who dat?" The second is a smiling selfie of the pair side by side, captioned "Happy 600..."

The captions suggest Meloni had returned to film the landmark episode. Nothing in the posts spells out his storyline. The show has not announced plot details for the hour.

The maths fits. SVU has aired 594 episodes since its premiere. The 600th is set to fall inside Season 28, which starts on Oct. 8.

That history runs deep. Meloni originated the role of Elliot Stabler when SVU debuted on NBC in 1999. He played the detective through Season 12 in 2011, then left the series.

He came back to the wider Law & Order franchise in 2021 to launch Law & Order: Organized Crime, a spin-off, meaning a separate series built around his existing character. That show ran for five seasons before its cancellation. Meloni will no longer play Stabler full-time as a result.

His most recent turn on SVU came in the Season 27 premiere, which aired in September 2025. Hargitay has said publicly she did not want him to leave the original series years earlier.

For longtime viewers, this is the pairing that started it all. Benson and Stabler led the squad room together for 12 seasons before a decade apart.

Season 28 of SVU airs at 9 p.m. ET on Thursdays on NBC, with episodes streaming the next day on Peacock, according to NBC.