A 21st century makeover
Classic drama given a gender swap
Academy Award® nominee and multi-hyphenate Queen Latifah stars in this thrilling reboot of the classic 1980s crime drama of the same name. Latifah stars as Robyn McCall, an enigmatic former CIA operative who uses her extensive skills to help those with nowhere else to turn. McCall comes across to most as an average single mom who is quietly raising her teenage daughter. But to a trusted few, she is “The Equalizer” - an anonymous guardian angel and defender of the downtrodden, who’s also dogged in her pursuit of personal redemption. As McCall acclimates to civilian life, she is compelled to use her considerable resources to help Jewel, a teenager accused of murder and on the run from the criminals who framed her for the crime.
The original “Equalizer” starred Edward Woodward and ran for four seasons on
CBS between 1985 and 1989. It was co-created by Lindheim and Michael Sloan. It was then adapted into two feature films starring Denzel Washington in the title role, with the first debuting in 2014 and the second in 2018.
Queen Latifah told TVLine in the US: “Black women have been equalizing for years and years. From Hatshepsut to Stacey Abrams to Kamala Harris, to my mother and my grandmother, seeing a Black woman equalize is not a new thing to me. Seeing it on network TV once every week? That may be a little newer. We don’t see that quite as frequently, and I think we need to see more of it, if anything.”
As for the action Latifah says: “I love all of the action sequences when I get to really kick some butt. It’s a lot of work, so I have a great amount of respect for stunt people and what they have to do to accomplish making people like me look really good. Obviously, I can’t do all of the stunts, but I’m able to do the intimate, close-contact fighting and things like that.”
“But I’m not getting crashed on a table,” she makes clear.
“And I ride motorcycles, but there are certain things I’m not doing on bikes at this point. In my 20s, maybe, but not now! But I can take guns and disarm people in various ways and handle them deftly. That’s the most important thing, making sure everything looks sharp and crisp.”
The show has already been renewed for a second season.