"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" has experience a creative resurgence over the past few seasons, a successful feat for a show that seemed on its last legs when leading man Chris Meloni exited the NBC cop drama after 12 seasons.
Meloni has never returned to "SVU," but the threat of the show ending after this season caused showrunner Warren Leight and the writers to start plotting a possible series finale involving the actor's return. NBC recently renewed "SVU" for an 18th season.
"If we weren't coming back, there were a couple things I was absolutely going to do," Leight told The Hollywood Reporter about bringing back Meloni. "We had been talking [about], had this been the last episode, we would have tried him to bring him back."
Meloni starred as Det. Elliott Stabler for the first 12 seasons of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," the first show to spinoff from the flagship series, "Law & Order." He announced his departure after the season finale had already filmed, forcing the writers to address Stabler's absence at the beginning of season 13.
That season's premiere showed his longtime partner Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) devastated, weeping alone in interrogation after Captain Cragen (Dann Florek) delivered the news about his sudden resignation from the NYPD.
"In hindsight, NBC, Dick [Wolf], Universal and Chris all know they could have handled that better," Leight said. "But I think Chris, over time from what I hear, began to realize that the fans were owed a little more."
Meloni has recently shifted his focus to comedic roles in "Surviving Jack," "Veep" and "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp." He next stars in the WGN series, "Underground," premiering on March 9.
"Law & Order: SVU" airs on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.
