Stabler unceremoniously departed Special Victims and left his longtime partner behind when he made the off-screen decision to retire, not giving Benson so much as a heads up.
Law & Order: SVU fans have been waiting for the return of Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler for the better part of a decade now, as the partnership between Stabler and Benson was one of the defining elements of the show through the first 12 seasons.
Stabler is coming back to SVU soon with an episode that will launch his Organized Crime spinoff, and I for one say that Stabler needs to apologize to Benson before his own series premiere if fans are expected to want to watch him anchor a show.