Where theres Benson, theres backup.
Enter, Fin Tutuola (literally).
Were gonna be handcuffed together, he tells her as she sits down next to him.
Ice-T and Mariska Hargitay.Obidigbo Nzeribe
The 8-time Emmy nominee (and 2006 winner) laughs, amused to no end by the creative bravado.
She flashes a dazzling TV-star smile before pulling her bright red lips into a smirk.
Just like in real life, she says.
Ice-T and Mariska Hargitay.Obidigbo Nzeribe
But, perhaps whats more: They also clearly enjoy each others company.
Hargitay and Ice-T function practically the exact same way as Benson and Tutuola.
She leads and he doesnt follow he parries and protects.
Ice-T.Obidigbo Nzeribe
Not because she needs saving, but because even the hero needs somebody in her corner.
Hargitay calls the shots, and Ice-T makes damn sure everybody hears her.
Even in photos, the two stand back to back.
Mariska Hargitay.Obidigbo Nzeribe
Its symbolic, whether they recognize it or not.
It turns out, these really are their stories.
Because I was like, “Oh, God.
Ice-T and Mariska Hargitay.Obidigbo Nzeribe
He’s this rapper with this reputation.”
You’re walking into a room full of people you don’t really know.
But it was difficult, because they had written a character for me.
Ice-T.Obidigbo Nzeribe
I was wearing suits.
There was a backstory that was strange.
And once they decided to keep me on the show,Dick Wolfripped away that backstory.
Ice-T and Mariska Hargitay.Obidigbo Nzeribe
I’m like, “Well, I used to break the law.”
[In 1992, Ice-T penned and performed the song Cop Killer with his band Body Count.
He said, “But you admit we need cops.”
Mariska Hargitay.Obidigbo Nzeribe
I’m like, “Yeah.”
He said, “Play the cop we need.”
And that was it.
Mariska Hargitay and Ice-T.Obidigbo Nzeribe
HARGITAY:Let me ask you something.
When did we meet, what do you remember?
You didn’t really answer that question.
ICE-T:I just thought you were dope.
HARGITAY:But when did we meet?
ICE-T:I don’t know.
I just thought you was fine.
I thought, “She’s a nice-looking lady.
Okay, cool.”
I was like, “Yo, she’s fly.”
Since joining SVU in 2000, Ice-T has become the longest-running male actor on a primetime television series.
Hargitay is the longest-running actor on a primetime series, period.
She smiles, almost shyly.
Tell me whats so different.
HARGITAY:Well, we’re so young, and it’s got a cute vibe.
It’s so sweet and innocent, and I love that.
If you gave us that same scene and we did it now, it would be oh so different.
And the evolution especially of Olivia Benson, and the maturity, and this woman growing into her power.
ICE-T:You know what I notice?
It had nothing to do with the crime.
And very rarely do we now shoot any scenes that have anything to do other than with the case.
That was about you guys.
I guess they were building the characters, so people could understand who you were.
HARGITAY:They were building our relationship.
Stabler is famous for saying early on, “I’m your partner, for better or worse.”
Do you think that’s something that still rings true between your characters this notion of partnership?
How important is being a partner?
HARGITAY:It’s everything.
It’s loyalty and protection.
That’s the theme.
Together, theyre brimming with humor and honesty.
Fin is quick to put Stabler in his place.
No, I’m better.
I actually watch her back and not her backside, he remarks.
Hargitay says as they watch the scene now.
Ice-T cant help but chuckle at his own delivery.
What do you think separates Olivia’s relationship with Fin from her relationship with Stabler?
ICE-T:I don’t flirt with her.
Let’s just start there.
It’s more just like, I have her back.
That’s my job.
She’s the boss, and I’m shotgun, and nobody messes with her.
So it’s never been that key in of energy.
HARGITAY:Ice said it perfectly.
There’s always been such a purity to it.
ICE-T:Two different energies.
HARGITAY:Two different energies.
Oh this is Chris last episode, Hargitay breathes the instant the clip starts.
We didn’t think this was going to be his last episode.
Ice, season 13 saw a big change in cast dynamics.
Did it feel like a different show to you?
But at the same time, he wasn’t my partner-partner.
I was going to miss Chris.
But as far as the show goes, now we don’t know what’s going to happen.
See, people always ask us, “What’s going on this year, season 25?”
We don’t know.
HARGITAY:I know.
[Laughs]
ICE-T:Mariska knows.
She’s a producer now.
But I don’t know.
But I don’t know the arc of the season.
HARGITAY:He just wants to see to it he doesn’t die.
ICE-T:I want to ensure I don’t die.
I was like… Oh, wow…
So we just didn’t know how the deck was going to get shuffled at this point.
Mariska is now out there, she has no partner.
Who’s going to be her partner?
How would you have approached the season 12 finale if you had known things were going to change?
HARGITAY:I probably couldn’t have even filmed the episode.
I say thank God we didn’t know because we filmed it just like a regular episode.
And nobody knew that things would break down over the summer before we started the new season.
Everything would’ve been very different had we known.
I don’t know if I’m just projecting on that because I know it was the ending.
ICE-T:For me, I never want to be on the bad end of a cliffhanger.
The cliffhanger, the season ends with Ice getting carried off that’s not a good place to be.
So Chris had just shot somebody, that’s not where you want to be on a cliffhanger.
But unfortunately, that was Chris' last show.
Nice working with you, Munch quips in the clip.
Then, Hargitays face falls as she realizes what shes watching.
HARGITAY:I just remember that.
It was so hard.
Just brings me back.
It was a hard adjustment because there was so much unknown.
So it was going into uncharted territory.
ICE-T:The show is Chris-Mariska, that’s the show.
Me and Belzer are the backup.
Can the show stand alone?
Now were losing one of our main characters.
Can we morph into something that keeps the fans intrigued and watching?
So there was doubt.
But Mariska, for lack of a better word, manned up and took over the damn place.
And now all of a sudden, now we got a captain.
And I think the fans were like, “Well, can this show continue?”
But really, it caught another wind, and it became something else for another 12, 13 years.
We’d done something for 12 years beautifully.
And then all this newness came, and we got Kelli Giddish [as Det.
Amanda Rollins], which was such a gift, and we got Danny Pino [as Det.
And then off we were, the show was different.
And then it did.
It was beautiful in the way that one chapter closed and another one opened.
And I’m just so glad that it did.
I look back and think,everything that we were scared of worked out and then some.
A story of history
A beloved comedian, Richard Belzer found a second act as Sgt.
John Munch, from the shows inception in 1999 through 2013.
The greatest hits, but the greatest exits, which… Ice-T jumps in.
Suck, they say in unison.
Still, seeing Belzer whodied in February 2023 at the age of 78 on screen makes Ice-T chuckle.
God, I miss him, says Hargitay.
Ice, Richard Belzer always seems to have you laughing.
Talk to me about working with him for so many of those early years.
ICE-T:Richard Belzer one of the coolest people.
I wasn’t Mariska’s partner, I was Belzer’s partner.
And Belzer laid it out for me.
And having an OG like him?
Come on, man.
He said, “Man, I’ve been onHomicide.
I’ve done this for a long time.
This is a marathon.
This is not a sprint.
Just lay in the cut, do your thing.
You’re doing great.”
It was a beautiful work environment.SVUhas, from the [moment] I came in…
I’ve never been around something that was so simple to move so smoothly.
What did you learn from him?
ICE-T:That there was somebody more irreverent than me.
He was just mad cool.
So me and him clicked.
He was just a dope person.
When you come on a show like this, you need somebody to give you the ropes.
And he knew the ropes.
I had never done episodic drama like this, especially not for this amount of years.
So I’ve taken over Belzer’s place.
Joe Velasco] or Kevin [Kane, who plays Det.
But I love Belzer, and when he passed, it hurt me dearly.
it’s possible for you to’t forget a minute with Belzer.
HARGITAY:you’ve got the option to’t forget a minute with Belzer.
Again, he was such an original.
I’ve never met anyone like him.
Just a beautiful man.
ICE-T:Definitely authentic.
HARGITAY:Very authentic.
ICE-T:Belzer was never anybody but him, right?
AnotherSVUmainstay, Dann Florek, portrayed Captain Donald Cragen for 15 years, until his characters retirement.
Its so deep, she says, wiping her eyes while she watches the footage.
Ice-T is quick to the rescue with a joke.
(Im there like, just dont make Danny Pino chief!
As Cragen tells Olivia to do something with the place, Hargitay is laughing.
I got to start watching this show, she quips.
It’s so good!
Dann Florek originated the role of the captain onSVU, and now you have so beautifully stepped into it.
What do you bring to Olivia as the captain?
How do you play her as a leader?
HARGITAY:I think [Cragen] and I have very different styles.
I think I lead like a woman.
I think I lead with love, and with a maternal nature.
I’m tough, but fair and protective.
Anytime you get called into the captains office, it’s never usually good.
His office was scarier to walk into than hers.
HARGITAY:Yeah, very different vibe.
[But Dann Florek is] so funny.
You have no idea.
We laughed so much with him, and hes such a brilliant actor.
ICE-T:People always ask me about all of our characters.
I’m like, Chris is pretty much like Chris.
I’m pretty much like me.
Dann is the exact opposite of what you see him play as the captain.
And Dann was our connection to the originalLaw & Order.
That’s the one little seed that connects with him.
HARGITAY:This was another very painful exit for us because he had been there since the beginning.
Obviously, he was the captain, so he informed so much of my character.
But we actually watched this evolution, so everything is so much more meaningful.
And the payoff is so huge because we’ve lived it.
That ninth episode of the season kicked off a franchise sister show,Organized Crime.
As the big reunion clip rolls, Ice-T cant help but narrate.
Chris is coming back.
Is that Chris' wife?
Yeah, thats Kathy Stabler [played by Isabelle Gillies].
This is Kathys death, she says, eyes glued to the screen.
You kicked off a whole new show with that one scene.
It didn’t actually happen like that, but I was like, “Wow, that’s cold.
They killed the wife.”
HARGITAY:Obviously, Ice watches the show like a fan.
[Laughs] We’re behind the scenes going, “What should we do?
Should we do this?
Should we do that?”
And Ice was like
ICE-T:I watch the show.
I’m only seeing the scenes I make.
So when I watch the show, I’m watching it like a fan.
I thought, Why did they kill his wife?
So there won’t be anybody in the way of them two getting together.
I’m sorry, Kathy.
But this is how they make these stories connect.
HARGITAY:Oh my God, Ice.
I’m just breathing through this.
ICE-T:But y’all haven’t hooked up yet at all?
HARGITAY:No, just two times in season 4, [Laughs] No.
We have not hooked up.
There was that close call.
HARGITAY:Yes, there was a close call.
ICE-T:Did you kiss?
But you didn’t?
He’s a bigger fan than I am.
ICE-T:Season 26!
HARGITAY:He is.
He’s a bigger fan than you are.
When I leave, just turn the TV off.
It’s a wrap, he replies before revealing a grin.
No, I’m not ever leaving.
I say, I’m here with Mariska.
When she’s out of here, I will go on tour.
Hargitay laughs, agreeing in that case to behisbackup.
That’s a dynamic we don’t always see on TV.
HARGITAY:It just happened naturally and organically.
And I think that’s also something that’s so unique.
We have had time to develop this relationship over the years.
So it’s true, it’s organic, it’s easy, and it’s effortless.
There’s a power in being second, by being the shotgun, being the force.
So I’m not in competition with Mariska.
In reality, this is her television show.
And on the show, I play her as the boss.
So she’s the boss, and I don’t mind that.
Because she needs somebody to hold her down.
And sometimes that person is the second person, it’s real.
HARGITAY:Ice, you are my protector.
But in real life, I always tell Mariska, I have three women in my life.
I have my daughter, my wife, and my youngest daughter, and I have Mariska.
But Ive made more money with Mariska.
[Laughs]
When you watch the show, all of us are important.
Right now, Kelli might be on the screen she kept us on the air.
Danny Pino might be on the screen.
He kept us on the air.
It might be a scene with Peter Scanavino.
It might be Chris, it might be Mariska, it might be my scene.
We’re all keeping each other on the air.
And if we understand that as a team, we move forward.
This is a team.
And she’s the boss.
She’s like a player, coach, producer, owner, it’s heavy.
All I gotta do is say my lines.
She can do all that extra.
I just show up and say my motherf—ing lines.
HARGITAY:And he does it well.
Hargitay concludes that the walk down memory lane has been a gift.
Trying to make us cry, he jests, before admitting he got choked up over the Belzer part.
Hargitay tells him she knows.
Of course, she does.
I’m proud of it, she says, owning the tears.
This is a show about us, he says.
