Mariska Hargitay said she cried after seeing director Christopher Meloni’s reaction to the cancellation of Law & Order: Organized Crime.
“When I saw that, the first thing I did was burst into tears,” Hargitay told Extra at NBCUniversal’s Emmy Luncheon in Los Angeles on Wednesday. “As[Meloni]said, I immediately started crying because he was so beautiful and open and it was such an amazing journey. And it was so beautiful and intimate and such a huge part of his life and life-changing for him.”
She continued that she was surprised by the show’s cancellation. “Chris is a great working and sought-after actor,” she said. “But it does mean the end of a chapter in a way. So when that happens, you have to take inventory. That’s a real marker in your life.”
The Law & Order spinoff, which first aired in 2021, was officially canceled after five seasons earlier this month. On the night of the cancellation, Meloni posted a video on Instagram saying, “I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the fans who not only gave life and longevity to the character of Elliott Stabler, but also who stood by him and welcomed him back. It was a great experience.”
The show aired for the first four seasons on NBC, followed by a fifth season on Peacock, ending in June 2025. Meloni starred as Detective Elliot Stabler, a character he created on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. According to the official description, the series follows Stabler, who “returns to New York after 10 years abroad to rebuild his life after experiencing a devastating personal loss. As the lead detective in Sergeant Ayanna Bell’s (Daniel Mone Truitt) Organized Crime Enforcement Unit, he works to dismantle some of New York’s most vicious and violent illegal enterprises while avoiding the dangers that often threaten his hometown.”
Season 5, whose first two episodes aired on April 17, is set in a “dangerous world of cross-border smuggling, high-tech domestic terrorism, and a crime family looking to get back at Stabler for hurting him in Rome.” The cast also included Rick Gonzalez as Bobby Reyes, Ainsley Saiger as Jet Throatmakers, and Dean Norris as Randall Stabler.
