Law & Order’s Mariska Hargitay said she nearly stepped away from her role as the fierce commanding officer Olivia Benson after more than 25 years in the role.
In a new interview, the 62-year-old Law & Order: Special Victims Unit actor, who has portrayed Captain Benson since the show’s launch in 1999, revealed she nearly left the series to pursue new opportunities, including her comedy career.
“The comedy thing was painful to me because I felt like I was only exercising one part of myself,” she told Variety in a recent interview. “People would say, ‘You need to get off that show and do comedy. You need to get off that show and have a talk show.’”
But Hargitay realized she wasn’t ready to leave after a conversation with her friend Julianna Margulies about potentially departing the series. That is when she managed to fit different entertainment opportunities between shooting Special Victims Unit.
“Because I loved it,” she explained. “And then I got to do all this other stuff, and that’s why I don’t think about leaving right now.”
“Do I want to quit now? No,” she said. “Why? I made a movie while shooting; I did a play for six weeks on hiatus. I’m hosting the Emmys.”
She added that starring in Every Brilliant Thing on Broadway made her excited for the other projects she can pursue when she has breaks from filming the series.
“Next summer, if I don’t make another movie, I’ll probably do another play. And I love it!” she said. “After I made my film, it was unleashed. Something got unleashed, or broken open, or freed.”
Hargitay is set to be the first woman to host the Emmys in 15 years when the ceremony takes place in Los Angeles on September 14.
“Bringing important stories into the light has been the heartbeat of my career,” Hargitay said in a press release. “It's my great honor to host the 78th Emmy Awards — in the 100th birthday year of my beloved NBC — and celebrate this extraordinary community of storytellers.”
Special Victims Unit has undergone various cast shake-ups in recent years.
NYPD captain Donald Cragen, played by 75-year-old Dann Florek, was killed off from the series last September after 35 years appearing in the franchise.
In the season 27 premiere of Special Victims Unit, which is TV’s longest-running live-action series, Hargitay’s character Olivia Benson paid tribute to her former leader, calling him the best boss she’s ever had.
“Everything I know about being a captain, I learned from him,” she said.
The main Law & Order series will also welcome a new senior detective, played by James Badge Dale, for the 26th season, premiering in October, following the departure of Reid Scott’s character Senior Detective Vincent Riley.
Hargitay has appeared in nearly 600 episodes of Special Victims Unit, as well as featuring in crossover appearances on the original Law & Order, Chicago P.D., and Law & Order: Organized Crime.
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