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All is fair in the Dick Wolf<\/strong><\/a> universe! After getting his start as a writer on Hill Street Blues<\/em> in 1980s, the producer shot to superstardom when he created Law & Order<\/em> in 1990.<\/p>\n The TV giant has since helmed multiple Law & Order<\/em><\/a> spinoffs, including the long-running series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit<\/em><\/a>, which premiered in 1999, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent<\/em>. Wolf then transported viewers from New York City to Chicago with the creation of Chicago Fire<\/em><\/a> in 2012 and its spinoffs: Chicago P.D.<\/em><\/a>, Chicago Med<\/em><\/a> and Chicago Justice<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n Just when fans thought Wolf couldn\u2019t possibly have any more procedural drama ideas up his sleeves, he masterminded the FBI universe, which is made up of FBI<\/em><\/a>, FBI: Most Wanted<\/em><\/a> and FBI: International<\/em>.<\/p>\n Over the years, eagle-eyed fans may have noticed that Wolf has a few favorite actors who have turned up on his series time and again, including Christopher Meloni<\/strong><\/a>. (This is not including the full-show crossovers he does within the One Chicago universe<\/a> and FBI<\/em> realm.)<\/p>\n The Washington, D.C. native was an OG member of the Law & Order: SVU<\/em><\/a> cast but departed in 2011. In a surprising turn of events, Meloni landed his own series, Law & Order: Organized Crime<\/em><\/a>, in 2021, in which he plays his same SVU<\/em> character, Detective Elliot Stabler.<\/p>\n \u201cThese two shows exist in the same universe, a fictional, very grounded universe. And we never forget that those other characters and those other stories exist,\u201d Wolf told The Wrap<\/em><\/a> in April 2021 after fans watched Meloni reunite with Mariska Hargitay<\/strong><\/a>, who plays Detective Olivia Benson on SVU<\/em><\/a>. \u201cAnd when we tell a story about Stabler in Benson\u2019s world or Benson in Stabler\u2019s world and things happen that affect their characters, we don\u2019t just forget about it.\u201d<\/p>\n The executive producer continued: \u201cSo it\u2019s both challenging and tantalizing from the point of view of story writing to make sure that you keep those things alive while the shows have their own identity, each of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Meloni, for his part, told Entertainment Weekly<\/em><\/a> in March 2021 that Wolf made him an offer he couldn\u2019t refuse, which led to him reprising the detective role and acting alongside Hargitay periodically on both shows.<\/p>\n \u201cI was pleasantly surprised it played out as well as it did. Because, you know, that\u2019s not how life shakes out, right?\u201d he told the outlet. \u201cYou can have all the dreams you want, all the preconceived notions of how it\u2019s going to be. But I must say, the intervening decade was everything I could have hoped for.\u201d<\/p>\n Meloni isn\u2019t the first actor to play the same role on multiple Wolf shows. Philip Winchester<\/strong><\/a>, for example, first popped up on Chicago P.D.<\/em> as Peter Stone before making his way to Law & Order: SVU<\/em> in 2018.<\/p>\n Actors such as Jeremy Sisto<\/strong><\/a> and Alana De La Garza <\/strong><\/a>made an impression on Law & Order<\/em> in the early 2000s before joining forces on FBI <\/em>more than a decade later. However, the two stars play completely different characters on the crime shows, and they aren\u2019t alone in that category.<\/p>\n