Christopher Meloni lays odds on a 'Law & Order' Stabler-Benson romance: 'Hope springs eternal'

"Law & Order" fans wishing for a romantic relationship between police colleagues Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler shouldn't give up hope. Christopher Meloni, whose Stabler returned last season in NBC's "Law & Order: Organized Crime," hears you.

"Hope springs eternal. I mean, why not?" Meloni said during a Television Critics Association panel Monday. "I think it's going to be a collaborative effort between showrunners for ('Law & Order: Special Victims Unit') and 'Organized Crime' and with Mariska and I to figure it all out. It's a complicated relationship. So, we'll see."

Complicated indeed, but Meloni is happy to have reunited earlier this year with Hargitay on a crossover episode of "SVU" and "Organized Crime," which premiered in April. They co-starred on the first 12 seasons of "SVU," which returns for Season 23 on Sept. 23 (8 EDT/PDT, followed by Season 2 of "Organized Crime" at 10 EDT/PDT). Hargitay, who had been scheduled to join Meloni for the press call, was absent due to last-minute schedule changes on set, an NBC representative said.

"I think we honestly look forward to working with each other and like working with each other," said Meloni, who recently teased a Stabler-Benson love match with a steamy tweeted photo of a near-kiss accompanied by the text: "#rehearsing what @Mariska?"

Will they?Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay tease 'Law and Order' fans with steamy near-kiss pic

He thinks the intense fan interest in the Stabler-Benson relationship – and whether it will get more personal as the two share scenes on both programs – stems partly from their separation in 2011, when Meloni left "SVU."

"I think there was a very unsatisfying ending to the Benson-Stabler saga, kind of abrupt for the fans. I think there were always those underpinnings of feelings that never got answered," said Meloni, whose character was married then but was widowed early in "Organized Crime." "He was introduced back into the franchise under very stressful circumstances, vis-a-vis his wife and trying to come to terms with what exactly Benson is to him in his new life, personally and professionally."

If that's not enough stress, more will be added in the upcoming season when Stabler goes undercover. "It does put a strain on how Benson and Stabler engage each other," he said.

Meloni reminisced when asked about joys and challenges of working with Hargitay over the years, since "SVU" premiered in 1999.

"Most of the challenges were, from the beginning, of the two strong personalities finding each other's dance steps. I would argue we found those dance steps 80% of the time and 20% we didn't, but that's where just stuff happens. It can be creatively wonderful stuff and it can be challenging stuff," he said. "I think we see each other and know each other at our cores, that we love and honor and respect each other's gifts. We have forgiven each other's trespasses. We have quite literally grown up together as adults. She was single, got married, had a family. I was married, but on my way to having a family. We’ve always had each other's best interests at heart."

Their initial "SVU" collaboration came when they were "fresh and new and young" and creating a new series was "dynamic and exciting," Meloni said.

This time around, "it felt important," he said. "It felt comfortable. I don't have that relationship with any other actor walking the Earth because I've never worked with anyone for as long as I have with Mariska. And it was revisiting a thing that was left unfinished. … So, it was a completely different dynamic."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Christopher Meloni on possible Stabler-Benson 'Law & Order' romance