Chris Meloni on Stabler & Benson’s Sweet ‘Organized Crime’ Reunion (Exclusive)

Chris Meloni is dishing on the fifth season of “Law & Order: Organized Crime,” including the highly anticipated Benson and Stabler reunion!

“Extra’s” Mona Kosar Abdi spoke with Meloni, asking about the “Organized Crime” teaser that showed Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson rushing to Elliot Stabler’s bedside after a near-fatal crash.

He shared, “She comes because things are in a very place for Stabler. She helps him heal, get better. He has some hallucinatory or, you know, whatever one thinks of or goes through or dreams of in a coma, we wrote some of those elements in.”

Chris kept it real, though, saying, “And in the end... well, they don’t get together, but... it’s sweet.”

Aside from Benson's appearance, he revealed that Stabler’s brother Joe Jr. (played by Mike Trotter) is also part of the “very good season,” saying, “We left his storyline dangling after the other season, but we get that figured out.”

Meloni also said of the season, "It’s Stabler trying to organize crime in the best way he can… Stabler goes undercover, so we find him in a new environment.”

He reflected on the "blessing" of playing Stabler for so long, sharing, "It certainly gave me a life that I wouldn't have gotten, simply because of its longevity."

He continued, "I know my mother was always very happy because he was beloved and he, he is what I wanted him to be, which is a hero, but a flawed hero, because I think that's closer to the truth... It's been an honor. I love it when law enforcement are connected to me or say thank you or they engage me... It's the appreciation. That makes me happy."

Meloni also spoke about his friendship with Hargitay going back to their screen test in 1999.

Chris felt like he was in a “privileged position” to be friends with Mariska for so long. He said, “I was living in L.A. once I left the ‘SVU’ world and we still stayed connected.”

Meloni and Hargitay recently took their kids to a Knicks game together. He commented, “My daughter and Mariska’s son saw each other for the first time in a while and now they're texting. It's multigenerational... My daughter's just, what is she, six years older, five years older? But now, you know how the gap closes. They were buds and all that. Now they're, 'Hey, next time I'm in New York, let's go out. Let's grab a coffee. Now they can socialize together."

Chris also praised Mariska for her work on a documentary about her famous actress mom Jayne Mansfield, who died in a 1967 car crash that Mariska and her siblings survived. Mariska was only 3 years old at the time.

He said, “She did an amazing job… I don’t know if it’s a love letter, but I mean, there’s that aspect to it. But it’s really a heartfelt exploration of the complication of her mother and all that that was by someone who, you know, didn’t get to know her.”