‘Law & Order: SVU’ season 15: First photos of Mariska Hargitay’s Benson, more

“Law & Order: SVU” is one of those shows that really relishes its evergreen status more so than almost any other on TV. You can go away from it for years, and yet come back and still be as thoroughly engrossed in the story as you ever were beforehand. This is one of the goals that the writers and producers try to meet when they craft new episodes, while at the same time producing stories to please diehard fans who watch every week.

For some of these diehard fans, they may be surprised to see Olivia Benson look as well as she does in the first promotional photo for the landmark 15th season. Considering where she was during the season finale in May, there was no real guarantee that she would even make it out alive … or at least this would be the case in real life. This is television, and we know that so long as Mariska Hargitay wants to be a part of the show, Benson will survive.

The major question that is worth asking leading up to this new season is what sort of state Olivia will be in for this new season. Going through near-death experiences can change people, even for the most hardened of officers.

In switching gears for a minute, we also thought we would share a new photo of Raul Esparza as ADA Rafael Barba, and for two very-specific reasons. For one, he is the newest series regular on the cast, and he’s also going to have a very important role in the story ahead.

The new season of “Law & Order: SVU” will get going starting on Wednesday, September 25 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time. As always, we’ll have more scoop soon.

Photo: NBC