L’attore, il cui contratto era in scadenza, non è riuscito a trovare un accordo per tornare nella stagione 13 della serie.
Another favorite television character will be disappearing next fall with the departure of Elliot Stabler, the detective played by the actor Christopher Meloni in the long-running NBC series “Law & Order: SVU.”
NBC executives quietly confirmed Tuesday night that Mr. Meloni, who played detective Stabler for over 270 episodes, beginning with the show’s premiere in 1999, could not come to an agreement on a new contract and would be leaving the series.
The Wednesday at 10 p.m. drama has posted a consistent record of success, even though NBC has moved it all over its schedule, including a near-disastrous shift to 9 p.m. Wednesdays in the fall of 2009 to make room for the network’s ill-fated experiment of moving Jay Leno to five nights a week at 10. The show rebounded when it regained the 10 p.m. spot and frequently won that time period for NBC this season, one of the few NBC shows that could make that claim.
But Mr. Meloni’s exit signals that sweeping change is in the works for the drama, which chronicles investigations by New York’s “Special Victims Unit,” which covers sex crimes. The real-life unit has been in the news this month because of the investigation into sexual assault charges against the French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Mr. Meloni’s co-star, Mariska Hargitay, only recently signed an extension of her contract that will limit her to appearing in only about half of next season’s episodes. The show seemed to be moving toward introducing a new female partner for Mr. Meloni’s character, with Ms. Hargitay’s Olivia Benson character moving up to a supervisory position that would enable her to cut back on the number of episodes Mr. Hargitay would be required to appear in.
However, the failure to come to an agreement with Mr. Meloni means “SVU,” as it is known, will likely be fielding a whole new team of main detectives on its cases. The show’s progenitor, “Law & Order,” managed numerous cast overhauls during its long run, all of which worked except the most recent ones, which led to that show’s cancellation. A complete reworking of the “SVU” starring cast now carries risk, because that drama, unlike the original “Law & Order,” retained its main team of detectives throughout its 12-year run.
Mr. Meloni’s decision to leave is the second departure within a week to affect dramas produced by NBC’s Universal Studio. Last week, Lisa Edelstein, who played a crucial character in the studio’s series “House,” which is broadcast by the Fox network, also left when she could not agree to new contract terms.
Fonte: New York Times
E io già ero in lutto per l’uscita di scena della Edelstein da House….