It’s hard for longtime fans to imagine Law & Order: SVU without its iconic duo, and revisiting early cast photos from Season 1 brings a wave of nostalgia. Over the show’s 25-year journey, Christopher Meloni’s Elliot Stabler and Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson have faced countless challenges on screen — but it all began when both actors were still relatively new to the spotlight.

One early photo, featuring Meloni, Hargitay, Dann Florek, and the late Richard Belzer, reminds us of how powerful the original lineup was. Back then, no one knew if this Law & Order spinoff—focused on a specialized unit investigating sexual crimes in NYC—would catch on. But with a cast like this, it quickly became a hit.

Another vintage snapshot, showing Meloni, Hargitay, and Florek, stirs up just as much emotion. In it, a young Meloni already seems to be channeling the intense gaze that fans would come to know as the “Stabler Stare”—a look he later joked about passing down to his on-screen son.

In a throwback interview with Entertainment Tonight, Meloni reflected on their final audition together. Rather than being anxious, he and Hargitay shared a natural connection that turned nerves into laughter.

“We walked into that last screen test cracking up,” Meloni said. “Most actors are nervous, saying, ‘Hi, nice to meet you,’ in front of all the network execs. But we couldn’t stop laughing — the chemistry was just there.”

Hargitay felt it instantly too.

“I knew right away there was something special,” she said in a 2025 interview with TODAY. “Chris and I are total opposites, but somehow that created this perfect balance. From the moment we were paired, I thought, ‘This is it.’”