MARISKA GETS SU ON ‘SVU’
GLADIATOR co-star Connie Nielsen will replace Mariska Hargitay for six episodes on NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU” while Hargitay goes on maternity leave.
The Dutch-born Nielsen, 40, will play a warrant detective who joins “SVU” while Hargitay’s character, Detective Olivia Benson, is off on a “specific assignment,” “Law & Order” creator Dick Wolf told The Post.
“When we realized we weren’t going to be able to get through the season without explaining [Hargitay’s pregnancy] in some way, the best decision was to have her spelled, and Connie’s name surfaced internally,” Wolf said.
Nielsen played Lucilla in the 2000 Russell Crowe movie “Gladiator” and also co-starred on the big screen in “The Ice Harvest,” which was released last year.
Hargitay, who’s been on “SVU” since the show’s 1999 premiere, is expecting her first child this spring.
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