Law and Order: SVU Season 19 Spoilers: Mariska Hargitay Experiences Emotional Wreck While Filming Latest Episode
Mariska Hargitay admitted that she was in an emotional wreck after filming the recently aired episode of "Law and Order: SVU" season 19.
In an interview with E! News, the actress revealed that the episode that deviated from the TV series' original story format to showcase a lengthy interview between her character Lt. Olivia Benson and an alleged rape victim named Laurel Linwood, played by Melora Walters.
As the conversation between the pair unraveled, Laurel revealed that she had been abused by her father for several years. But the truth is, she was telling the story of her sister Leah, portrayed by Joanna Going.
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The episode required Hargitay to go through a lot of emotions. According to the actress, she had a hard time getting out of character after filming the episode titled "Something Happened" that aired Wednesday.
"We were wrecked...Actually I was wrecked for about three more days. It was hard for me to switch gears into the next episode," the actress said. "I wasn't quite present—definitely not the first day, you know what I mean? My body, my mind and my soul didn't have time to recuperate from it."
But it seemed like Hargitay's efforts paid well. According to a report, the episode ended with a season-high rating of 1.5 in the 18 to 49 age bracket demographics. It also attracted to the most number of audience in the current season, with 7.1 million viewers at the time.
Meanwhile, Hargitay revealed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that "Law and Order: SVU" season 19 will deal with the Harvey Weinstein controversy in one of the show's upcoming episodes. However, she refused to give further details regarding the said episode.
On the other hand, the synopsis for episode 8 has been released. It revealed that the episode titled "Intent" will require Benson and the team will investigate a very complex online hoax that resulted in the rape of a famous social media star.
The next episode of "Law and Order: SVU" season 19 airs on NBC on Wednesday, Dec. 6, at 9 p.m. EDT.
