"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" recently wrapped up its winter finale last Nov. 18. The show will be on a winter break, but NBC has not announced the return date for the crime drama series.

While the network has not issued an exact premiere date for season 17B, actress Mariska Hargitay, who portrays Olivia Benson in the series, brought some good news to fans.

Hargitay posted on Twitter last Nov. 18 that the new episodes should start airing by January. In her post, she included the hashtag #BensonsBackinJanuary and #SoAreSomePrettyBadGuys. The last episode left a lot of mysteries for fans but now that Hargitay teased something exciting, the next episodes should be worth the wait.

There's no official synopsis available yet, but according to CarterMatt, season 17B might tackle cases that are related to current events. On the other hand, LatinPost reported that the show will likely continue the story from the last episode titled "Depravity Standard."

The episode dealt with Lewis Hodda, a famous child abductor played by Tom Sizemore, who is under trial. His latest appearance in the winter finale episode featured him fighting his case with his attorney, who argued that Olivia and other members of the Special Victims Unit (SVU) forced him to confess on tape.

Lewis pleaded not guilty and insisted that the SVU only framed him. Things got even more complicated when Dr. Huang (BD Wong), a former member of the SVU, makes a comeback and takes Lewis' side.

As expected, fans were left hanging when the jury decided that the case was a mistrial, as stated in the report from LatinPost.

Speculations suggest that Lewis will be back this season and fans of the series will get to see more of him. He could also be one of the "pretty bad guys" Hargitay referred to in her tweet.

More announcements on the release date should pop up soon as "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" season 17B approaches its target month.