Official: Meloni/Hargitay back for 2 years at SVU

And now it's official:

"Law & Order: SVU" will be returning in the fall with its two stars.

After lengthy negotiations, Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni have inked new deals to continue on the crime procedural, which is coming back for an 11th season in the fall.

Additionally, Emmy winner Christine Lahti has signed on to play the ADA on the veteran series for the first four episodes. Stephanie March will then return, reprising her role as ADA Alexandra Cabot.

Sources said Hargitay and Meloni, who regularly negotiate their contracts together, have inked one-year deals with an option for a second year.

And, despite the congloms and particularly NBC Universal being in a cost-cutting mode, both Hargitay and Meloni are said to have received salary increases to their most recent paychecks of about $385,000 an episode.

Hargitay and Meloni's deals come a month after NBC closed a deal with Wolf Films for the renewal of "Law & Order: SVU."

At the time, NBC brass said that the show will return with or without its stars as the networks and reps for the actors had been embroiled in intense negotiations.

But, while crime procedurals are more resilient than character dramas in replacing leads, losing both Hargitay and Meloni, considered the heart of the show, would've been a big hit to "SVU."

Hargitay is repped by Paradigm. Meloni is repped by Gersh.

Stephanie March Returns -- Again -- to SVU

Stephanie March (ADA Alex Cabot) fans rejoice: She's back for Season 11!

According to EW.com:

NBC declined comment, but an SVU insider says March's pact calls for her to appear in a minimum of 10 episodes next season. The show is expected to introduce one or possibly two new characters to fill the ADA void when Cabot isn't around.

"L&O: SVU" 10th Season Finale - NY Times Article & Exclusive Quotes!

Don't read this unless you've seen the Season 10 SVU Finale!

If you have, go here. If you haven't, stop reading now!

SPOILER SPACE




So if you're still with us, you know now that long-time recurring character CSU Tech Ryan O'Halloran, played by Mike Doyle, was killed in the "SVU" Season 10 finale. He spoke to us about the finale and what he'll be doing next -- this is stuff you won't find in the New York Times piece.

On leaving the show: "To have anything as a regular at 'SVU' has been for me, as an actor, a blessing. To be in New York and do television is a double blessing. It's put my face out there -- someone will approach me and recognize me from 'Oz' or 'SVU' but usually in the form of 'did we go to high school together?' Or recently renting a car, the guys at Enterprise were like, 'You're that guy!' And I'm like, 'Yeah, I'm that guy.' But more than anything, it's been such a great experience to be part of such a strong family. Ultimately when you're working with the same group of people for a lengthy amount of time you become family and it's nice to have that as a base of operations."

How he found out: "[Showrunner] Neal [Baer] called me, and he just said, 'I want to let you know you're in the finale and your character is getting killed and it has nothing to do with your character, your acting or you, because I love all three, but the show is' – I'm paraphrasing here – 'the show's going to go through some changes and we're going to have some new faces next year and rather than have you peter out we wanted to send you out with a bang.' Which I appreciate. Six years doing anything as an actor was a rarity. At first I was a little sad was my first response, to think about not being with the family, but very quickly I kind of – my feelings were more of freedom in a way. Because, okay, what's next. I'm an actor, we go job to job. And I didn't have the next job at the time, so I was just excited about the uncertain opportunity that lay ahead."

About getting made into a dead guy: "The death was a three-day affair, lying in blood for three days, it was a long, complicated scene. Lying on the ground in sticky red blood. I was dead for two-and-a-half days and then stabbed on the third day. Then on the last day, at the end of every episode, they announce, 'This is an episode wrap' and everyone came out and applauded and I made a little tearful speech and said goodbye and thank you and we all whooped it up at the [season 10] wrap party that night."

Look for Mike to pop up in an upcoming Nicole Kidman-starring film, Rabbit Hole, in 2010.

We'll miss ya, Mike!