{"id":258417,"date":"2026-08-19T18:10:45","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T18:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/19\/mariska-hargitay-reveals-if-she-wants-to-quit-law-order-svu-talks-christopher-meloni-chemistry\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T18:10:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T18:10:45","slug":"mariska-hargitay-reveals-if-she-wants-to-quit-law-order-svu-talks-christopher-meloni-chemistry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/19\/mariska-hargitay-reveals-if-she-wants-to-quit-law-order-svu-talks-christopher-meloni-chemistry\/","title":{"rendered":"Mariska Hargitay Reveals If She Wants to Quit \u2018Law & Order: SVU,\u2019 Talks Christopher Meloni Chemistry"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mariska Hargitay<\/strong><\/a> is opening up about her life and career.<\/p>\n

The 62-year-old Law & Order: Special Victims Unit<\/em> actress spoke out in a new cover story for Variety<\/em><\/a>, out now.<\/p>\n

During the discussion, Mariska spoke about becoming the 2026 Emmy Awards host, her Knicks fandom, her love for her mother and tracing her legacy on My Mom Jayne<\/em>, her long-running NBC series alongside Christopher Meloni<\/strong><\/a>, and much more.<\/p>\n

See highlights from the conversation inside…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On being asked to host the Emmys:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAt first I thought, This is ridiculously thankless \u2014 a difficult job that everyone gets ripped apart for. Why? Why would I do that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

On needing a change of pace after filming Law & Order: SVU<\/em> by hosting the Emmy Awards:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cChelsea Piers on a soundstage \u2014 that\u2019s my life. When I go to the Emmys, I get to see everyone \u2014 and shows that I get starstruck by. I couldn\u2019t turn [The Pitt<\/em>] off. It was so money. I want to hang out with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

On her future plans:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDo I want to quit now? No. Why? I made a movie while shooting; I did a play for six weeks on hiatus. I\u2019m hosting the Emmys. Next summer, if I don\u2019t make another movie, I\u2019ll probably do another play. And I love it! After I made my film, it was unleashed. Something got unleashed, or broken open, or freed.\u201d<\/p>\n

On watching Game 4 of the NBA championship, The Knicks vs The Spurs:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not interested in sitting in a box! I need to be there. I need this for them! You\u2019re standing in a miracle. The world was changed. New York was changed. The bar of what\u2019s possible has changed. You can be down 29 points and still win \u2014 this is what\u2019s in the consciousness of young athletes now.\u201d<\/p>\n

On her mindset growing up:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad was an athlete. I grew up with \u2018Mariska<\/strong>, it takes that much more. That\u2019s what being a champion is.\u2019 I have that every day: \u2018How can I be better?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

On her appreciation for television and how it made her agree to hosting:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just the biggest wrench in the works. And then I thought about why I love television. Television, in my opinion, is extraordinarily healing.\u201d . . . “Our show made people talk about sexual assault. Our show changed the culture. And that is the power of television \u2014 it creates community, which creates healing. Which is what I\u2019ve wanted to do my whole life. I don\u2019t want to talk about that. I love inspiring people. I love bringing people together. I love television<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

On being approached by a fan who said that SVU <\/em>had saved her life:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI started crying, and I remember, I started shaking. It just started spilling over. I could only hold so much. I had to do a lot of therapy to shore myself up from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the cinematic, rainy climax for the latest season finale:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018Bring it! Finish strong.\u2019 I felt so happy, satisfied, sated, proud. That\u2019s<\/em> how you finish strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

On talking to Julianna Margulies about \u201credefining her identity\u201d:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018I\u2019ve got to leave the show too. I don\u2019t want people to think I\u2019m a one-trick pony.\u2019 And she goes, \u2018Sweetheart, that ship\u2019s sailed.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

On her chemistry with on-screen partner Christopher Meloni:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe key of it was humor. If you can communicate through humor, then you have a very tight bond. You experiment with how far you can go. Sometimes it can be very cutting. Sometimes it can be very close to the bone of truth. And if each person can withstand the shots \u2014 we may play rough with each other, but if we can communicate comfortably, we can figure out the other stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

On leading the show after Meloni\u2019s departure:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t as vocal. It was a question for everybody: Can she hold the show? Can she lead the show? Nobody knew. It was one of those moments of stepping up. And sometimes you don\u2019t step up until there\u2019s a space.\u201d<\/p>\n

On directing an episode with a fantasy-style outer space scene:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSVU<\/em>, we don\u2019t shoot on the moon. We shoot in New York City. We had to do this green screen, and it was the most exciting thing, seeing somebody manifest what was in my head. It made me feel confident in \u2014 what if? What if I wasn\u2019t afraid? What do I want to do?\u201d<\/p>\n

On representing her mother Jayne Mansfield\u2019s legacy in \u201cMy Mom Jayne\u201d:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t like the sex symbol aspect of her personality. She was so much more. I really struggled with the whole\u2026 the measurements of it all. I couldn\u2019t understand how the studio system was back then. It\u2019s just too much for a little girl \u2014 you don\u2019t even know how to process.\u201d . . . \u201cI know that she was a victim of domestic violence. It\u2019s no accident that I play somebody who fights for abused women. I wanted a normal mom, and I kept seeing these images of her running around in a bikini and heels, and that was very stressful for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

On her first time in the community of documentarians:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe documentary world is a specific group, I\u2019ll just say. It\u2019s so much more [than the story of an SVU<\/em> star]. They had projected on it and thought it was a celebrity doc. Yeah, it\u2019s not<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the live, interactive experience of Every Brilliant Thing<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t had that kind of terror for a long time. Learning the lines was \u2014 insane. It was such a gift to be a blank canvas.\u201d<\/p>\n

On trying to serve all her interests:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe comedy thing was painful to me, because I felt like I was only exercising one part of myself. People would say, \u2018You need to get off that show and do comedy. You need to get off that show and have a talk show.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Christopher Meloni<\/strong>, who plays Elliot in the\u00a0Law & Order<\/em>\u00a0universe, recently chimed in on what he thinks makes the relationship so compelling and the ideal ending he has in mind for Benson and Stabler.<\/a><\/p>\n

The post Mariska Hargitay Reveals If She Wants to Quit ‘Law & Order: SVU,’ Talks Christopher Meloni Chemistry<\/a> appeared first on Just Jared – Celebrity News and Gossip | Entertainment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Getty Mariska Hargitay is opening up about her life and career. The 62-year-old Law & Order: Special Victims Unit actress spoke out in a new cover story for Variety, out now. During the discussion, Mariska spoke about becoming the 2026 Emmy Awards host, her Knicks fandom, her love for her mother and tracing her legacy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":258418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-258417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lifestyle"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}