Benson and Stabler’s Relationship Might Be Something More in ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Season 25

As Law & Order: SVU gears up to return to Season 25 today, fans are keeping their eyes peeled for Olivia Benson’s (Mariska Hargitay) next move. By the end of the Law & Order: SVU Season 24 and Law and Order: Organized Crime crossover back in May, a long-time ship desired by fans started to take shape after Benson and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) had an intimate moment that could change the game for both of them forever – and then the seasons were over, there was a double writers’ and actors’ strike and fans had to wait all this time to see how this storyline will pan out.

While the new episodes don’t start rolling out, there’s no one better than Hargitay herself to talk about the emotions that might be going through Benson’s head. After a promo for the new season revealed that she’ll wear the golden pendant that Stabler gifted her in last season’s finale, there’s a lot of speculation to be done. Even though the implications are exciting for fans of the duo, Hargitay stated during a red carpet interview for TV Line that she’s not quite there yet.

The pendant was custom-made at Hargitay’s own request, who asked Me&Ro to design a piece of jewelry that reflected Benson’s “superhuman element” that made her one of the best captains New York has ever seen. Rather than the normal markings for North, East, West and South that we find in compasses, Benson’s has the initials for Love, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity.

The sort of good news for fans is that whatever happens with Benson and Stabler will play out twice as fast on Season 25. Since the strike halted most productions during a good chunk of 2023, most network television series will have shortened seasons. For Law & Order: SVU, this means that arcs will extend for only 13 episodes – the shortest episode count per season in the history of the long-running series.

At the same time, we can’t forget that there’s a real-world barrier for that relationship, because Stabler is on a different spin-off of the Law & Order franchise altogether. This means that more crossover events should be in order so that this couple can hash it out between cases. Law & Order: OrganizedCrime also returns today for its fourth season. You can check the real-life 18k gold pendant at the Me&Ro official website.