Law & Order: SVU showrunner Warren Lieght recently talked to The Hollywood Reporter about the status of Christopher Meloni's return to the show. He said that both Meloni and the network understood that the character's exit was too sudden.

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

Even though the character's exit is still concrete as of now, the showrunner confessed that they lacked empathy on the character when the wrote him off the series' storyline.

He said that no one, even the writers of the show, thought about the crowd reaction if ever they take out Meloni's character.

"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."

This clearly shows the reality side of the showbiz industry, implicating that everything is still a work in progress. No matter who he/she may be, in every point in their lives, there will always be room for growth and improvement.

With this, maybe we won't see the return of Stabler after all. But it's not wrong to still hope for it to happen. The 14th episode of "Law And Order: SVU" Season 17 is set to air on February 10 on NBC.