Ice-T Greets Mariska Hargitay with a ‘Karate Chop’ as Law & Order: SVU Stars Get to Work on Season 25

Mariska Hargitay is back as Olivia Benson!

Two and a half weeks after the 118-day SAG-AFTRA strike was resolved, the team behind Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has officially kicked off filming on the show’s historic 25th season — and the procedural’s leading lady posted on Instagram to celebrate the cast and crew’s first big day back at work.

In a post shared to Instagram, the actress, 59, shared a behind-the-scenes photo that featured Ice-T moving to karate chop Hargitay who was holding a camera on her shoulder.

“Rolling into season 25 like… 🎥📽️🎬 #Season25 #DAYON #WorkFam #BackAtIt #CameraGirl #KarateChop #AndEverybodyWas,” she wrote in the caption.

 

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In a subsequent post, Harigitay shared a selfie she took with fellow costar Peter Scanavino and marked his return to the courtroom. Scanavino could be seen flashing a five with his left hand while Hargitay held up two fingers, representing the number 25.

“Just a quarter of a century… no biggie #Season25 #HereWeGo #SetBesties #TisTheSeasonForASelfie #Reunited,” she captioned the post.

Ice-T also got in on the action, marking his return to set with an Instagram post of his own.

“Walkin back into work on Monday,” the rapper, 65, captioned a picture taking a stroll wearing a trench coat, plaid trousers and black loafers. “First day of filming 🎥 SVU Season25 💥.”

 

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Last week, Christopher Meloni shared how excited he was for the cast to resume filming with a funny photo posted to his own social media.

“The caption is either, ‘keep ur friends close, keep ur camera dept closer’ OR ‘Harassment and love are razor thin when it comes to me and my crew,'” he wrote alongside a hilarious picture of himself wrapping his arms around a smiling cameraman.

“Looking forward to getting back to doin the thang we do,” he added.

Hargitay has been helming the NBC show since it premiered in 1999, with Ice-T joining just a year later in 2000, so it’s no surprise that the 25th season of SVU, which is set to premiere on Jan. 18, will see their respective characters Olivia Benson and Odafin “Fin” Tutuola returning to the 16th precinct. ADA Dominick “Sonny” Carisi (Scanavino) will also return.

During the season 24 finale that aired in May, SVU teamed up with sister show Organized Crime as Benson and Elliot Stabler (Meloni) united once more to track down the criminal mastermind at the head of a murder-for-hire ring.

The partners followed the case to Ohio, where Benson took her first-ever bullet to the hip in a diner and wound up in urgent care while the joint-team successfully caught their perp.

The two-part episode ultimately ended with Stabler gifting Benson a compass necklace “to lead her to happiness.” He even broke off the letter “E” from a “Live Love Laugh” ornament Benson had in her office so that the first word mimicked her name for him to keep.

The night of the spring finales, Hargitay posted a picture on Instagram with Meloni from set with the same cheeky caption: “Liv Love Laugh.”

 

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Even Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) made a guest appearance in the finale episodes after departing the series last winter.

Rollins served as a criminal pathology expert now that she’s traded in her badge for books as a professor at Fordham University, and she surprised Benson not only with her help but also with her pregnancy.

In real life, Giddish gave birth to her third child, a son named Oldie, over the summer.

Both Hargitay and Meloni, meanwhile, showed their support for the union during the months of strike negotiations by picketing with their fellow actors.