Christopher Meloni to Return for SVU’s 600th Episode

Christopher Meloni will return as Detective Elliot Stabler in the 600th episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, according to reporting on the planned guest appearance and photos posted by co-star Mariska Hargitay. The milestone episode is set for the series’ 28th season, but its air date and plot have not been confirmed. Hargitay shared two photos from the set on Instagram on September 22. In one, she points toward Meloni, whose back is to the camera, with the caption “Who dat?” A second photo shows the two together and is captioned “Happy 600.” The posts indicated Meloni was back on the series; reports subsequently identified the appearance as part of the 600th episode. The return would reunite Meloni’s Stabler with Hargitay’s Captain Olivia Benson. The two characters were partners before Meloni left the show in 2011, after 12 seasons. He later returned for guest appearances and led the spinoff Law & Order: Organized Crime, which ran for five seasons before its cancellation, announced five months before the new appearance was reported. Meloni’s most recent appearance on SVU was in the Season 27 premiere, which aired in September 2025.