Benson’s losing her Stabler. Actor Christopher Meloni is exiting his role as pedophile-stompin’ NYPD Detective Elliot Stabler on NBC’s longrunning crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Hollywood Reporter said Tuesday. Meloni has been with the series since its debut in 1999 but won’t be back when it returns for a 13th season this fall after he and Universal Media Studios — which produces SVU — were unable to come to terms on a new contract, according to a person familiar with the situation.
TV’s tough-talking Detective Elliot Stabler supports marriage equality: Do you? Christopher Meloni, star of shows like Oz and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, has joined the fight for gay rights in New York after participating in a public service announcement throwing his support behind same-sex marriage.
Christopher Meloni is turning in his badge as Detective Elliott Stabler on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Meloni, 48, has starred as the loose, but loving, NYC cop on NBC’s veteran crime drama since its premiere in 1999. But after 10 years, Chris is ready to leave the sometimes mean streets of Manhattan. The actor — who previously appeared on HBO’s prison epic Oz — is hoping to pursue film and theater roles once he leaves SVU at the end of his current contract in 2011. Meloni has routinely sparred with network suits over contract negotiations, but did not cite the feud as a mitigating factor in his decision to call it quits.
“I think 12 years is enough, a good number,” Meloni remarked with speaking to The Courier Mail on Friday. “The writers will have fertile ground to figure out how to arc [Stabler] out to another place – whether it’s this world or the next,” he added.
Meloni’s SVU co-star Mariska Hartigay plans to remain on the show for the foreseeable future.
Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay are returning for an eleventh season of NBC’s Law & Order: SVU.
The stars of the show, who had been in a pay dispute with network bosses, signed new deals to remain on the show as Detective Olivia Benson and Detective Elliot Stablerfor two more years, Entertainment Weekly reported on Monday.
Oh no! NBC is threatening to replace Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni on the beloved crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, industry insiders revealed to MSNBC on Wednesday. We hear the stars have become locked in a bitter contract dispute with the network after demanding a raise; Meloni and Hargitay already earn $350,000 per episode for their roles as Manhattan’s stylish crime fighting twosome Benson and Stabler. Read the rest of this entry »
