In a recent interview, Law & Order: SVU showrunner Warren Lieght dished about the possibility of Christopher Meloni returning for the finale of season 17.

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Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Leight talked about scrapping the plan to have Meloni comeback as Stabler in the finale of this season. He revealed that the network and Meloni himself understood that his character's exit had been pretty abrupt, leaving fans wanting for some form of closure.

"In hindsight, NBC, Dick, Universal and Chris all know they could have handled that better," Leight said. "But I think Chris, over time from what I hear, began to realize that the fans were owed a little more."

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He went on to suggest that the question of bringing Meloni back obviously didn't face any resistence because everybody understood that they had been lacking in empathy when they wrote him out of the show, even though they won't be bringing him back.

"None of the people in the room thought for a second, 'How will the fans experience this?'" Leight said. "It was a negotiation handled without much empathy on any of the participant's parts, and I think they all sort of know that now. And there wasn't much empathy for the fans either. I think everyone probably learned, but you can't roll the clock back."

Here's the official synopsis for the next episode, 'Nationwide Hunt':

"Chicago P.D. detectives Lindsay (guest star Sophia Bush) and Dawson (guest star Jon Seda) join the SVU in the hunt for two escaped murderers (returning guest stars Dallas Roberts and Jefferson Mays) they helped to convict."

The episode is set to air on February 10 on NBC.

Watch the preview:

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