Last month, it was teased that the door was open for Christopher Meloni to return to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. But in a new interview, the actor said that he has no immediate plans to do so.
In an interview with HuffPost Live, Meloni said that he had no idea where the rumor of his return came from. He heard about it at the same time everyone else did.
“I heard that rumor along with everyone else,” the actor said. “I have no idea where that came from or what that’s about.”
Meloni said that he hasn’t been following the show, so he can’t really say if 18 seasons is enough. “It’s a business. It’ll stay on as long as people are watching it,” he said.
The rumor that Meloni might play Detective Stabler again came last month when showrunner Warren Leight said that if the season 17 finale was really a series finale, the producers would have tried to get Meloni and other former show stars to come back. Of course, NBC has already renewed the show for season 18, so that’s not a concern. But Leight insinuated that Meloni knew that Stabler’s unceremonious exit after season 12 wasn’t enough for fans.
“In hindsight, NBC, [producer Dick Wolf], Universal and Chris all know they could have handled that better,” Leight told The Hollywood Reporter in February. “But I think Chris, over time from what I hear, began to realize that the fans were owed a little more.”
For those who still want to see Meloni on the small screen, you can spot him in WGN’s Underground.