All Law & Order: Special Victims Unit fans can breathe comfortably tonight as Chris Meloni announces he has no plans to turn over his badge!

The star of the hit NBC show was reported to be leaving the show after its twelfth season, but it all appears to be just one big rumor.

“It’s lies. All lies. No,” Meloni tells Usmagazine.com.

Meloni has played Detective Eliot Stabler in the spinoff alongside Mariska Hargitay since it’s original air date in 1999. Rumors of his leaving the show began circulating when Australian newspaper Courier-Mail quoted the star saying, “I think 12 years is enough, a good number…It will be a difficult transition.”

But now Meloni explains further…

“What I said was ‘When your contract is done…that will be the end. Because when your contract is done, it’s usually the end,” he explains. “But when [producers] come back to me, you know, we can always talk.’ I couched it incorrectly. It wasn’t [the reporter's] fault.”

And to completely end all other speculation, Meloni added, “I had one year [left] on my contract. Our show hasn’t been picked up. Those are the facts of the matter.”

Will Meloni stick around if the show is picked up for another season?

“Yeah. Why not?” he says.

Sounds like fans of the show have nothing to worry about!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 7th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
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