Wake up babe, new Benson & Stabler pics just dropped 🥰 Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni were spotted filming for an episode of ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ in NYC last night — and is that an almost-kiss we see?!

aired its first episode in 1999, introducing Detectives Elliot Stabler (Meloni) and Olivia Benson (Hargitay) to the world. Meloni discussed “the kitchen thing” — a scene in a season 24 episode of SVU in which Stabler and Benson, seemingly long-fated for romance, nearly kissed.

“We were attempting something. I don’t think it worked. But I’m not going to tell you why it didn’t work, because you all have your opinion,” Meloni said, adding teasingly, “I know what transpired.”

2011, and Organized Crime, which premiered in 2021 — Benson and Stabler get closer than ever to consummating the relationship so yearned for by fans that it’s been given its own name: “Bensler.”