SVU’s Mariska Hargitay was very nervous meeting her co-star Ice-T for the first time

About their recent appearance on “evening showHost Jimmy Fallon asked Mariska Hargitay what her first impression of Ice-T was when he joined the show in 2000, over 20 years ago.

“I was so nervous meeting Ice-T because he was a rapper, he was an OG, he was like The Man, he was a rapper,” Hargitay replied. “So he came on the show and he was the nicest, the kindest, the most open. We call him the philosopher on the show and it was such a joy and it was my education for 20 years. He taught me so many things.” She later added of their relationship, “It was just a crazy trip – a surprise and a gift.”

With so many goodbyes to some of our favorite characters, most recently Detective Kelly Giddish Amanda Rollins, and so many traumatic incidents throughout the series, it’s clearly important for fans to have an anchor for the show. In many ways, that anchor is not only Hargitay as Olivia Benson, but her on-screen friendship with Ice-T as Fin Tutuola, who always manages to comfort viewers. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit really wouldn’t be the same without them.