Mariska Hargitay was suddenly without her longtime scene partner, and at the time, it was hard to imagine the series moving forward without Benson and Stabler investigating heinous crimes together.
Law & Order: SVU is going strong in Season 22, but the show went through a fundamental change between the end of Season 12 and beginning of Season 13 when Christopher Meloni departed the series.
The show obviously did continue without Meloni and added new cast members, but now that Meloni is coming back, it’s time to look at how SVU said goodbye to Stabler and what brings him back into the action after all these years.