THE EQUALIZER Bosses on Bringing a Fresh Take to an ’80s Classic

More than 35 years after CBS debuted THE EQUALIZER series (where it ran from 1985-1989; there were also two Denzel Washington-led films in the 2010s, that were inspired by the franchise), a new version is coming to television—directly after SUPER BOWL LV. 

In the drama, Robyn McCall (Queen Latifah) is a former CIA operative who returns home to her family—a teenage daughter, Delilah (Laya DeLeon Hayes), and her Aunt Vi (Lorraine Toussaint)—but finds herself drawn to helping those who are down on their luck.

“Adapting a show that had been on the air in the ’80s, we looked at in terms of what’s a fresh look,” co-creator Terri Edda Miller explains. “What’s a fresh feel that we can create that speaks to what’s going on in the world today, that speaks to all the issues we have today, as opposed to creating something out of whole cloth that would be brand new to everybody [like we had done in prior shows]. This is about honoring the past and creating something new that’s relevant for now.”

“Terri and I really love the DNA of the original show,” adds co-creator Andrew W. Marlowe. “It’s really relevant.”

In addition to centering the show around a female, rather than the franchise’s traditional male protagonist, the duo also worked on expanding Robyn’s personal life. “Both in the original show, and in the Denzel movies, the character was a little bit more aloof, a little bit more emotionally inaccessible,” Marlowe notes. “So one of the things we wanted to do was really open up Robyn McCall’s world. Give her some people who she worked with and give her a home life so we could explore what being the Equalizer ends up meaning to her, personally.”

To that end, Robyn has an unconventional team to rely on: William Bishop (Chris Noth), her former CIA handler; Mel (Liza Lapira), a former colleague-turned-bar-owner; and Harry (Adam Goldberg), a hacker.

But unlike Marlowe and Miller’s previous shows, CASTLE and TAKE TWO, THE EQUALIZER won’t have a traditional will they/won’t they couple as the core of its storytelling.

“It’s not the main thrust of the show,” Miller says. “Throughout the show, Robyn McCall will have different relationships with different people.”

One of the people to look out for? Detective Dante (Tory Kittles) who crosses paths with Robyn for the first time in the pilot. “There is a spark with Detective Dante,” Miller says. “But I wouldn’t describe it as the same way you would as the will they/won’t they with CASTLE, because that relationship she’s going to have with Detective Dante is really complicated in what they’re both doing and what their beliefs about what they’re doing are. Detective Dante is a [by the book] guy.”

“[He’s] someone who believes in doing it right and not crossing the line,” Marlowe adds. “It’s an unusual friction point, if they end up working a case together, because she’s working on the other side of line, but they have the same goal. Their goal is justice.”

So for now, “there’s a lot more friction than romantic friction,” Miller explains. “The emphasis is on the friction of their points of view of how to find justice in the world.”

Adds Marlowe: “So unlike our other shows, that isn’t the spine of the show; that’s not what we’re building the show around. But Robyn is single. And she’s a woman. So we expect there to be some flirtations, some people to come into the series that might catch her eye. But we’re not building the series around that like we did with CASTLE or TAKE TWO.”

Watch a new teaser for the series, featuring “DNA” by  Kendrick Lamar…

THE EQUALIZER, Series Premiere, Sunday, February 7, approx. 10/9c; 7 PM PT, CBS

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