Why Christopher Meloni Is So 'Proud' of 'Law & Order: Organized Crime'

"He's been in the public consciousness for a very long time."

When you've been playing a character off and on for 25-plus years like Christopher Meloni has been with Detective Elliot Stabler, first on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and now on Law & Order: Organized Crime (Peacock), you're always looking for new ways to approach it. This season on Organized Crime, we find Stabler going undercover. "I think there's a sense of freedom [when] you give Stabler an environment in which he has a wider spectrum of behavior." And Stabler could use it, because in recent seasons, "at certain times he's legitimately fighting for his life in a very hostile environment." All of this has resulted in a season Meloni is "very proud of" and one where we find Stabler "grappling with moral quandar[ies] about right and wrong." One thing that has fans anticipating this season is an appearance by Mariska Hargitay as Stabler's former partner, Detective Olivia Benson. "As it always is, it was fantastic. I wrote the episode along with my showrunner. I think [we're] trying for a different angle in how she and I connect and communicate."

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Editor's Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for publication.

Where do we find Stabler this season?

I think you find him enmeshed in his family and that dynamic a little bit more. You find Stabler reluctantly going undercover there for a couple episodes. And then I think you see him grappling with moral quandary about right and wrong. And so, I guess you're kind of all over the map with where we find Stabler and the organized crime gang.

And Mariska Hargitay is making another appearance as Detective Olivia Benson, which has fans particularly excited. What was that like?

As it always is, it was fantastic. I wrote the episode along with my showrunner. I think [we're] trying for a different angle in how she and I connect and communicate. And I wrote a couple good scenes for her and Dean Norris, who plays my brother, Randall, so it's great to have her on board.

When you're that close to the material, do you approach your performance differently?

Differently? No. More comfortably? I'd say yes. It was the reason why I suggested strongly that I'd be able to write the episode, and they were gracious enough to allow me [to], with some supervision, because, I feel as though, after all these years, I know their rhythms, their sense of humors, how they engage each other, what's important to them. I kind of have both Benson and Stabler's voices just naturally in my head, in my gut.

This season does feel more cinematic, in a way. Bigger. Do you get that sense too?

I don't know. But maybe there was an unconscious—because we'll be on Peacock now— there was a sense of making it, I don't know more cinematic or something. I can't really speak to that, but all I can tell you is, I was very proud of the season. I had a great time with it. I thought it was a strong season. And we engaged to a certain degree of depth in Stabler and the organized crime unit's journey.

Does Stabler going undercover give you more to work with as an actor?

Yeah, I think there's a sense of freedom. You give Stabler an environment in which he has a wider spectrum of behavior, because at certain times he's legitimately fighting for his life in a very hostile environment. So, I think that's why that happens the way it does, to give a little more leeway, a little more license for Stabler.

How has Stabler evolved this season?

I think we are constantly looking for a Stabler evolution, because he has been hanging around for so long. He's been in the public consciousness for a very long time. He's experienced certain traumas, the loss of his wife being one. And so I think we're continuing the tradition of, where is he at? How is he coping with whatever issues that are his blind spots or the things that he's searching for? Whether he's aware of them or not, the family dynamic always plays into that. His mother, her mental health, brothers, that family dynamic. So it's Stabler's evolution through all of this turmoil.

With everything Stabler has gone through, why doesn't he get just get some therapy?

But he has. He's been to therapy many times, it's been because of certain behaviors or actions that it's been mandated, but I've been a big proponent of getting Stabler into therapy, because I think it's completely outside of his wheelhouse, just as it would be for him to be undercover or anything like that. When you put him in spaces that he's uncomfortable with and you stay with it—I don't want it to be a deep examination of a Stabler and his mechanisms—I just think it's an interesting space to have this guy be revealed, and I think a lot of it would surprise him. So I've always been a big proponent of it. I guess they don't find it particularly provocative.