‘Law & Order: SVU’ season 16 spoilers: Mariska Hargitay returns to direct

There is a new episode of “Law & Order: SVU” airing on NBC tonight, but to go along with that, we come today bearing some other good news: Mariska Hargitay is returning to the director’s chair this season!

In the post on Twitter HERE via the show’s official writers room, you can get the confirmation you were probably looking for on this very subject. Hargitay will helm the upcoming 12th episode of the season, which should air at some point pretty early next year. This is the second straight year that she has done an episode of the show; mostly recently, she also took on a directing gig for “Criminal Stories.”

There is no reason to be anything other than thrilled about this news, though we still wonder how in the world Hargitay has the time to pull something like this off. After all, you just need to remember everything that she has on her plate. Not only is she acting in 24 episodes a year (no easy feat), but she also has her Joyful Heart Foundation, and has some sort of personal life in there, as well. Directing an episode is not an easy thing to do, either. It is an extremely time-consuming affair, and only the bravest even dare to take this on.

As for what this particular episode is about, we’ll just have to wait and see. With that being said, tonight’s installment features a story that is very important to Mariska, and it is definitely worth watching live.

(Photo: NBC.)