Where Should Benson & Stabler Go From Here on ‘SVU’ & ‘Organized Crime’? (POLL)

Twenty-three years after we first met (then) Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), we might see the romance some fans have been hoping for across their NBC dramas, Law & Order: SVU and Organized Crime.

“Back from a terrific dinner with @Mariska, @Chris_Meloni, @JulieMartinSVU, @ilenechaiken and some great @WolfEnt folks — the discussion: where does/do EO go from here? If, when, how fast, toward what end,” SVU showrunner Warren Leight wrote on Twitter on November 1. (Julie Martin is an executive producer on SVU and Ilene Chaiken is the showrunner of Organized Crime.)

For 12 seasons, viewers watched Benson and Stabler just be partners on SVU. He was married (though it wasn’t perfect), but that didn’t stop fans from wanting the detectives to get together — and considering how many partners have gotten together on procedural dramas since, it makes sense. Flash forward 10 years after Meloni’s exit, and to kick off his spinoff, fans were treated to a crossover between the two shows, one that killed off Stabler’s wife Kathy (Isabel Gillies) and propelled his Season 1 journey on Organized Crime.

And suddenly the possibility of Benson and Stabler getting together seemed more and more real and less like a dream. While Kathy was in the hospital, the focus was on the former partners’ reunion — even she couldn’t believe they hadn’t spoken in the decade that passed, despite what her husband told her. Mobster Richard Wheatley (Dylan McDermott) even commented that “another woman [is] the one true love of his life.” And that came after Stabler told Benson he loved her (before correcting himself to include his kids, also in the room), which they never discussed.

Then in Season 2 of Organized Crime, one of the connections Stabler makes undercover, Reggie (Dash Mihok) brought him to meet his mother, who read his coffee grounds and asked, “Why don’t you tell her how you feel? The person you love.” But the big moment came when, while drugged, Stabler revealed to Benson that he hadn’t actually written most of the letter he gave her back in the series premiere. His wife had. His only contribution? “But in a parallel universe, it will always be you and I.”

Will Hart/NBC

And so now we’re left with wondering where they go next. Is Stabler really in the best state to start a relationship with Benson? Probably not, especially considering that when those two do get together (which is feeling inevitable at this point), the last thing it needs to be is messy. So how slow of a burn should it (continue to) be? If they do get together, the last thing this relationship needs to be is something they “try out” and realize doesn’t work after all this time. And with the two on different shows and scheduling to take into consideration, would you be happy with just bits here and there?

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So what do you think should happen? Vote in the poll below.

Law & Order: SVU, Thursdays, 9/8c, NBC

Law & Order: Organized Crime, Thursdays, 10/9c, NBC