Lt. Olivia Benson's (Mariska Hargitay) mettle will once again be tested in the upcoming midseason premiere of the long-running NBC series "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."
TV Guide exclusively reports that the police procedural drama will open 2016 with a harrowing experience for Benson, wherein she will find herself at the hands of a sadistic criminal. The head of the SVU will purportedly be abducted and the incident will leave her scarred for a long time. Executive producer Warren Leight said in the interview that loyal fans of the drama should prepare themselves for what is to come, as the episode will be no small hurdle for Hargitay's character.
"We're going to start off the year new, for people who worry about Olivia, with the scariest episode of the season. We haven't quite gone this far with her since the William Lewis [Pablo Schreiber] stuff," he said.
The showrunner provided more details on the supposed kidnapping, stating that it would come during one of Benson's weak moments in the series. Leight said that the lieutenant has been "slightly off her game" as she deals with a lot of pressure of having an incomplete squad. This makes her "a little bit distracted" which leads to mistakes she normally will not commit. In one of the instances wherein she drops her guard, that is when the criminal pounces.
It is unsure, though, if the culprit will be one of her past enemies in the series. Hargitay has previously hinted on Twitter that many bad guys from the past season will return to make trouble for her character. Child abductor Lewis Hoda (Tom Sizemore) is only one of the returning criminals in the procedural. It is entirely possible that he is also Benson's abductor.
"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" season 17 will return sometime in January 2016 on NBC.
