Mariska Hargitay, who has portrayed Detective Olivia Benson on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" since its premiere in 1999, contemplated leaving the show due to concerns about career limitations.
Hargitay shared in a recent interview with Variety that around the series' 25th season, she began to question her future on the drama. She recalled telling fellow actress Julianna Margulies, "I’ve got to leave the show too. I don’t want people to think I’m a one-trick pony."
Margulies, who famously departed "ER" after six seasons, reportedly responded, "Sweetheart, that ship’s sailed."
Hargitay admitted that while Benson made her a household name, the demanding production schedule sometimes felt creatively constricting. "The comedy thing was painful to me because I felt like I was only exercising one part of myself," she said. "People would say, ‘You need to get off that show and do comedy. You need to get off that show and have a talk show.’"
Despite these feelings, Hargitay stated she wasn't ready to leave because she loved the role. She has since pursued other projects while continuing with "SVU," including making a movie during filming and performing in a six-week play during hiatus. She is also slated to host the upcoming Emmy Awards.
In a 2023 conversation with Fox News Digital, Hargitay praised franchise creator Dick Wolf's writing. "Dick Wolf is truly a visionary," she said. "And I think that’s a very singular thing to be a true visionary who understands our culture in a very deep way, but also understands it's sort of ironic that a crime show would be actually calming in a way to our nervous system, knowing that somebody is out there taking care of it."
She added, "That our voices are heard and there are people that are on it. So that is it. It's a very sort of interesting dichotomy. Because you think about a crime show, which normally should sort of upset your nervous system, actually can settle it down because of that."
"Law & Order's" success has led to seven spinoffs. In 2019, "SVU" became the longest-running live-action television series in history. Hargitay became an executive producer for the show in 2016.