After 26 years as Olivia Benson, there is not a lot that surprises Mariska Hargitay — besides for the celebrities who ask her for the strangest roles on Law & Order.
Hargitay, 60, revealed that one of the vital frequent requests she will get from fellow stars is to play a “dead body” on her hit procedural.
“All the famous people, you know what they want? To be a dead body,” she mentioned on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Oct. 2. “It's so weird.”
Seth Meyers then added to Hargitay's rising checklist as he admitted he, too, has wished to play a useless physique on the present for years.
“I wanted to be a dead body. During the 2007-2008 writers strike, I met all these Law & Order writers, and I was like, ‘I wanna do a cameo, but I just wanna be a dead body,'” he recalled. “And they were like, ‘Oh my God, we'd love to have you on the show.' But I was like, ‘Okay, but I'm a dead person.'”
He was ultimately provided a job, however turned it down, as a result of “I was like, ‘I don't want lines, I just wanna be a dead person in the park.'”
Hargitay then teased {that a} “big supermodel” who she did not identify — however known as “one of the greats” — just lately made the identical hilarious request she usually will get.
“I found out that she loved my show. So I said, ‘Oh my gosh,' I went to the writers, I said, ‘Can she be on the show?' And she said she wanted to be a dead body, but then I said, ‘No, no, we have this great part for you,'” she mentioned. “I call her back, I said, ‘Listen we got it. We're gonna get you on the show.' She goes, ‘Oh no, I wanna be a dead body.'”
Hargitay was jokingly exasperated as she advised Meyers, 50, “It happens all the time. Why do all these famous people not want lines?”
Hargitay returns to her iconic function on Oct. 3 because the twenty sixth season of SVU premieres. In PEOPLE's unique first look trailer for each SVU and Law & Order, the actress mentioned of the function, “I've had the privilege of connecting on such a personal level. Having fans come up and say thank you for telling their story.”
“I think this show has shed a beautiful light because these crimes thrive in darkness,” she continued. “It's the light that heals it.”
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Law & Order: SVU season 26 premieres Thursday, Oct. 3 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.