Law & Order SVU fans may be seeing Olivia Benson behind a desk more often when the next season begins.
Mariska Hargitay confirmed she broke her ankle but not in any stunt for the series. Instead, she injured it at a special screening of Black Widow at the Hamptons.
Hargitay’s injury history
Fans of SVU know that Olivia Benson has gotten into a few serious scrapes on the show. She’s been held hostage by a perp more than once and even survived a nasty beatdown.
Off-screen, Hargitay has likewise suffered. In December of 2008, she took a nasty fall while filming SVU and was hospitalized for a partially collapsed lung. She then had to take a few episodes off in March of 2009 with complications leading to chest pains.
In May of 2021, Hargitay revealed she’d gone to the hospital for what she thought was mild aches only to learn she had a broken knee, a hairline fracture in her ankle, and a torn ligament.
Hargitay confirmed she did not suffer these injuries on the show but declined to explain how they happened. She needed no surgery and did not miss any episodes.
Now, Hargitay is sharing her newest injury, which occurred in a most unlikely place.
Broken for Black Widow
Over the weekend, Hargitay hosted a special Hamptons screening for the newest Marvel film, Black Widow. While star Scarlett Johansson did not attend, the screening did have guests including David Harbour, Drew Barrymore and Ellen Pompeo.
There had been rumors of Hargitay being taken to the hospital after the screening. The actress confirmed on her Instagram page that she had somehow broken her foot.
She showed a close-up of her right foot in a cast with the line “My summer look.” She added several tongue-in-cheek hashtags of “#specialankleunit,” “#crackingthecase,” “#theselittlepiggieswenttotheER,” and “#agonyofdefeet.”
According to an unnamed insider for Page Six, Hargitay slipped on the wet pavement (it had been raining that evening) to break her ankle.
“(Hargitay) was taken to Southampton Hospital by ambulance with her husband Peter Hermann. She stayed there for several hours and ended up with a bandaged leg. She didn’t make it back to her house until after midnight when the party had mostly wound down.
Mariska was amazing. Rather than worrying about herself, she was more concerned that everything had gone well and that everyone had a good time at the party.”
Will Mariska’s injury be written into the show?
Several stars reacted to the news on Hargitay’s page, including Julianna Marguiles, with “Oh honey I am so sorry, this needs to stop.” Jennifer Esposito also put in some shocked emojis.
Hargitay will have a few weeks to let it mend before production on Season 23 begins later in July. It’s possible the series may explain Benson being injured on the job and going around with a cast and cane. On the other hand, they may simply have Benson behind a desk and not mention it at all.
The latest season of SVU included the long-awaited reunion of Benson and Eliott Stabler. In addition, Hargitay guest-starred on the Organized Crime spin-off, and it’s expected to have more crossovers with the two shows and the upcoming Trial by Jury.
As it stands, Johansson herself might joke that the biggest injury connected to Black Widow was from someone simply watching it.
Law & Order SVU seasons 1-22 streaming on Hulu and Peacock. Black Widow premieres in theaters and Disney+ on July 9.