‘Law & Order: SVU’ would considered Chris Meloni return for series finale

Is it possible that we could someday see Stabler on “Law & Order: SVU” once more? It’s certainly is, thanks in part to some comments made recently by executive producer Warren Leight.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Leight says that had season 17 been the last, they would have tried to bring back many former cast members including Danny Pino (Amaro), Richard Belzer (Munch), of course Chris Meloni (from “Oz” fame), who toplined the show with Mariska Hargitay for twelve years before his abrupt exit. It was a contract negotiation that broke down on all sides, which is something that Leight believes many parties regret today in terms of how it was handled:

“None of the people in the room thought for a second, ‘How will the fans experience this?’ It was a negotiation handled without much empathy on any of the participant’s parts and I think they all sort of know that now. And there wasn’t much empathy for the fans either. I think everyone probably learned, but you can’t roll the clock back.”

Leight also mentioned that a potential Meloni – “SVU” reunion could be initiated by Hargitay, saying that “if Mariska were to have called him, he would have taken the call. That can be for another day; hopefully a long way off.”

We wrote previously about the show’s impressive season 18 renewal, and said in there that we do now see it possible that the show could match the 20 seasons that the original “Law & Order” did, provided that the actors and producers want to continue for that long. Two things that may be helping it right now are that the ratings for this season are actually a tick up over season 16 in the 18-49 demographic, and that the cast of regulars is relatively small when you look at other Dick Wolf-produced shows.

What do you think: Should Meloni return for an “SVU” series finale down the road to give Stabler some much-need closure? Share below.

(Photo: NBC.)