Mariska Hargitay Nearly Fired Over SVU Pixie Cut as Season 27 Promises Reunion
The actress reveals a drastic Season 3 haircut nearly cost her the role; Season 27 teases Benson–Stabler reunion and major cast shakes.
Mariska Hargitay revealed that she was nearly fired during Season 3 of Law & Order: SVU after arriving on set with a pixie cut that the producers deemed too drastic. She told Allure Magazine earlier this month that her hairstylist, who had a glass of wine, went short — shorter than anticipated — and the result nearly cost her the job: "I almost got fired."
The haircut’s look — described by some as easy, cool, and cop-like — did not win universal approval in the SVU ranks. Hargitay recalled that the cut did not feel right to her, and she has joked that the style wasn’t something her character would celebrate on badge-flashing days. "It’s not like anyone is going to compliment Olivia’s gels when she’s flashing her badge," she said, adding that she often feels best with a classic manicure and Chanel red lipstick in real life, even if it isn’t part of the shoot.
Law & Order: SVU, created by Dick Wolf, premiered in 1999 and centers on detectives and legal professionals who investigate sex-based crimes. Season 3 debuted on Sept. 28, 2001, and ran for 23 episodes through May 17, 2002. Hargitay’s Olivia Benson has continued to anchor the series alongside Ice-T, with Christopher Meloni exiting as Stabler in 2011 and later returning for the spinoff Law & Order: Organized Crime on Peacock. The show is preparing for Season 27, which is slated to premiere Sept. 25, with Benson’s reunion with Stabler on the horizon and former Captain Donald Cragen returning as well after actor Dann Florek’s involvement was teased on social media.
Meloni has teased what’s ahead on Instagram, posting recent photos with Hargitay and Florek and fueling fan excitement about a longtime SVU reunion. Fans also noted cast shakeups, as Octavio Pisano, who played Detective Joe Velasco, and Juliana Martinez, who played Detective Kate Silva, departed the NBC series at the end of last season.
Hargitay has reflected on her SVU journey in recent interviews. In April, she described starring in the procedural as "feeling like a marathon," noting that she focuses on the next challenge rather than looking far ahead. She told Sunday Today with Willie Geist that the work remains demanding but deeply rewarding. In June, she told The Washington Post she feels privileged to wake up and do what she loves and to work with a "family" of colleagues who inspire her daily. The Joyful Heart Foundation, founded more than two decades ago, continues to guide her off-screen work toward supporting survivors of sexual abuse.
The star’s influence extends beyond the show itself. In 2023, Taylor Swift named one of her cats Olivia Benson, a nod that SVU fans recognized, and Hargitay later joked that Swift’s own music helped her become a cat person as she talked about bonding with her pet. "I’ve done a lot of learning," she quipped, "and I’m proud of it."
