There are not many shows that can say they are entering their 20th season but that is a testament to how much Law & Order SVU is still loved after nearly two decades on the air.
And chairman of NBC entertainment Robert Greenblatt reportedly has no plans to pull the show even after so many years.
According to the Paley Center, which recently hosted him at an event, Greenblatt said the show would continue running as long as its star Mariska Hargitay wanted to keep playing the main character Lt. Olivia Benson.
The Paley Center tweeted: "Greenblatt says every year, NBC checks in with @mariska and she keeps saying she wants to continue on @nbcsvu - and it will continue as long as she wants it to. #PaleyLive."
And it seems the feeling is mutual as Hargitay recently told E! News that she still feels grateful and excited to be playing Benson in the show.
"I'm still processing it because it's a lifetime of processing. I'm just so full of gratitude and so excited that I get to do what I love to do everyday," Hargitay told E! News.
"When you're just in it, it's hard to fully take it in," she said. "So I'm just grateful for this role, for this part, for [Dick Wolf's] vision and that I've gotten to mine a character for so long that is still deeply challenging to me and inspiring to me and necessary and timely, and I think truly changing the culture."
Law & Order: SVU is back on NBC with season 20 this fall but will be switching to Thursdays at 10 p.m.
CarterMatt said filming on the new episodes was likely to begin in July and could even last all the way into spring next year. It speculated that NBC might celebrate the 20th season milestone by bringing back some old faces like Cabot or Christopher Meloni.
Now that really would be awesome!
