Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Update Confirms Stabler & Benson Reunion

Summary

An upcoming episode ofLaw & Order: Organized Crimewill feature a Benson and Stabler reunion. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) were longtime co-stars and potential love interests onLaw & Order: Special Victims Unitbefore Meloni’s exit in 2011. However, when he returned for the spinoffOrganized Crimein 2021, the duo reunited several times as the more serialized show repeatedly crossed over withSVU.Law & Order: Organized Crimeseason 5has been renewed, though it is moving from NBC to become a Peacock streaming exclusive.

PerPeople, Christoper Meloni will be writing an upcoming episode ofLaw & Order: Organized Crimeseason 5, marking his first official writing credit on the show. He also revealed that episode 2will feature another guest appearance by Hargitay as Benson. While he “can’t speak to” whether or not he will return the favor by appearing on the upcomingSVUseason 26, he is hoping that hisOCscript will “uncover a little more depth of feeling” when he reunites the pair. Read his full quote below:

Law and Order Organized Crime Pick Up Forgotten Story

[I] can’t speak to [an SVU cameo…] I know [Olivia] Benson will be with OC for a moment there. I’m going to have an opportunity to… I don’t know. I’ll tell you what. Hopefully, uncover, peel away a little bit more of the onion or uncover a little more depth of feeling between them.

The Law & Order Duo’s Organized Crime Reunion Is Just The Beginning

While Benson will be able to appear in the ongoing story of season 5, that story may no longer be able to affect the storylines of the other two shows in the universe in the same way because of timeline complications.

Although this confirmation is proof thatOrganized Crime’s Peacock move will not necessarily prevent future crossovers, it only clears away one potential roadblock betweenBenson and Stabler’sLaw & Orderreunion. This is because of the nature of the move, which took place because the more serialized show performed better on the NBCUniversal streaming platform than it did on the terrestrial network. Moving forward, it will seemingly be presented separately from the timeslots of the other shows in the universe, which air one after another.

Law & Order: Organized Crime’s Season 5 Release Change Means A Forgotten Story Can Finally Continue

Now that Law & Order: Organized season 5’s release change has been announced, the series can finally finish a season 2 story that was left hanging.

The fact thatLaw & Order,Special Victims Unit, andOrganizedCrimeformerly aired in an uninterrupted block allowed them to get away with more ambitious presentations like their multi-part crossover finale events. Because ofOC’s staggered release schedule, this will likely no longer be possible. While Benson will be able to appear in the ongoing story of season 5,that story may no longer be able to affect the storylines of the other two showsin the universe in the same way because of timeline complications.

The originalLaw & Orderseries returned for season 21 in 2022 after previously going off the air in 2010.

Because theLaw & Order: Organized Crimestar was cagey about his potential appearance onSpecial Victims Unit, it remains to be seen if this will truly be an issue. If anything, it is possible that the separation of the serializedOCstory from the episodic storylines of the other two shows will clear up timeline issues.OCcharacters could appear on either show without complicating their own timeline, with the implication being that the overarching story of their own season has already concluded.