Mariska Hargitay Reveals Stars Want to Play a Dead Body on SVU — Including Seth Meyers
"I just want to be a dead person in the park," the Late Night Host said, admitting he tried to get on the Law & Order show.
Olivia Benson's impact: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is about to kick off its 26th season, and any fan of the show knows there's been a ton of celebrity guest stars over the years. But as series star Mariska Hargitay revealed during her Late Night with Seth Meyers interview on October 2, famous fans of the series all have one role in mind: Playing the victim (literally).
Hargitay, who also shared a hilarious story about not being allowed to touch her Olivia Benson costume at the Smithsonian ("I wore this for...26 years!") and demonstrated her talent for "drunk acting", said a celeb angling for cadaver cameo actually happened again very recently.
"All the famous people, you know what they want? To be a dead body. It's so weird," Hargitay told Seth Meyers.
And, as it turns out, Meyers was one of those famous people.
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Seth Meyers was almost a guest star on Law & Order: SVU
"During the 2007-2008 writers' strike, I met all these Law & Order writers," Meyers told the actress. "And I was like, 'I want to do a cameo, but I just want to be a dead body.' And they were like, 'Oh, my God, we'd love to have you on the show.' I'm like, "Okay, but I'm a dead person."
Then, Meyers continued, "my agent was like, 'There's a part for you.' And I looked at it and I was like, 'I don't want lines! I just want to be a dead person in the park.'"
Hargitay shared that a "supermodel" also recently preferred to play a dead body — rejecting a role with actual lines.
"This just happened to me with a supermodel. I'm not going to name her. A big supermodel... one of the greats," she teased. "I found out that she loved my show. So I went to the writers, I said, 'Can she be on the show?' She said she wanted to be a dead body, but then I said, 'No, no, we have this great part for you.'"
"I call her back. I said, 'Listen, we got it. We're going to get you on the show.' And she goes, 'Oh, no. I want to be a dead body,'" Hargitay continued. "It happens all the time. Why don't these famous people want lines?!"
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Meyers said that he also would have played "somebody who found a dead body," rolling out his best audition on the spot. Hopefully Hargitay talks to creator Dick Wolf and can make this Law & Order-Late Night crossover a reality.
Law & Order: SVU Season 26 premieres Thursday, October 3 at 9/8c on NBC. All new episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.
