'Law & Order: SVU' Cast Members Reunite in New Season 20 Photo

With the milestone 20th season set to air this fall, Law & Order: SVU star, Mariska Hargitay took [...]

By Tania Hussain

With the milestone 20th season set to air this fall, Law & Order: SVU star, Mariska Hargitay took to social media on Wednesday to share a snapshot of herself with co-stars, Ice-T and Peter Scanavino.

Hargitay, 54, posted the selfie of the "3 amigos" on set of the NBC series, captioning the image simply with hashtags including the likes of, "back at it," "with my guys," "getting the band back together" and "An Officer and Her Gentlemen" — playing on the title of the 1982 movie with Richard Gere and Debra Winger.

Much to the excitement of fans, filming for the series began earlier this week when Hargitay posted a selfie on Tuesday with series creator and television legend Dick Wolf, alongside a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming season.

Hargitay, who has played series lead Olivia Benson since the first season, took to Twitter on Tuesday to share with her nearly 1 million followers, the first table read for season 20 of the long-running NBC crime procedural. Similarly to the selfie shared on Wednesday with her co-stars Ice-T and Scanavino, Hargitay posted the images with a collection of hashtags for captions.

The photos come on the heels of Hargitay's announcement this past June of how she would stay on indefinitely for the NBC series well beyond season 21.

"The joke with [then-showrunner] Warren Leight and I was season 16 was good, and we said season 17, we're going to phone it in," Hargitay said at a Paley Center panel honoring the NBC series. "That was our schtick on set, because we were so exhausted. And then season 17, we killed it. And then season 18 ... we had a wobbly year. But season 19, I was like, 'I'm sorry, did anyone see the show?' [New showrunner Michael] Chernuchin, every single episode, he outdoes himself."

She added that the leadership demonstrated by Chernuchin during the resurgence of stories in the show's history is what motivates her to stay involved with the long running series.

"This f—ing guy is such a genius, and he listened to everything I said," Hargitay said. "Our writers are so brilliant, and they usually have their own ideas. But he said, 'This is my idea, but what do you want to do?' I said, 'I want to go into what it is like for a woman, like myself, who has three children, and that [difficult work-life balance].' I have three children. Let me tell you something: It costs me every day. Do I quit the show, do I take my kid to school? What do I do? Either way I lose. And only working women understand that."

Hargitay announced at the panel that she will be starring on SVU for the "long haul" and that she was "grateful" for the role.

Season 20 will see Law & Order: SVU move to Thursday nights, with the two-hour premiere airing Sept. 27 at 9 p.m. ET; then moving to the 10 p.m. ET slot the following week, Oct. 4.

Photo credit: Scott Gries / NBC

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