There's good news/bad news for The Equalizer fans as the chances of a final season are growing, but the hopes of a spin-off are dead!
The Equalizer remains the last show on CBS yet to have its fate revealed for the 2025-26 season. The series starring Queen Latifah as a freelance helper for those in need has been a success, yet the ratings have faltered in the last few seasons. The high budget (mostly for Latifah's contract) makes it trickier to tell if a sixth season is coming.
Deadline reports the latest that the chances of renewal are 50-50, but Latifah is making concessions (likely a lower salary) that could earn the show a 13-episode final season. That would be a good way to wrap the series up as the producers want.
What is for sure is that the planned spin-off of The Equalizer is not going ahead. The episode "Sins of the Father" acted as a backdoor pilot for this spinoff, but Deadline reports that CBS will not be moving ahead with it.
It may seem disappointing to some, yet not too unexpected, given the episode didn't capture the feel of an exciting show that could have lived up to The Equalizer label.
What was the Equalizer spin-off about?
As a quick recap of "Sins of the Fathers," Robyn is contacted by Samantha Reed (Juani Feliz), who needs help finding her adoptive father, Elijah (Titus Welliver), a CIA legend whom Robyn is impressed by. Elijah had adopted Sam when her parents were killed in an uprising in the Dominican Republic, with Sam convinced the CIA had abducted her father as the pair had been on the run for years.
Working together, Robyn quickly saw how Samantha was quite skilled in combat, tactics and even impersonating a cop. She was savvy and passionate yet came across as a little too strident and, at times, short-tempered.
Eventually, the pair finds Elijah and discovers the truth. He had been in the Republic to scope out a terrorist named Alfonso as a possible CIA asset. Elijah quickly saw that Alfonso was too unstable to use and so the CIA decided to take him out.
Elijah had fallen for Alfonso's wife, Elena, who was killed by her husband. She made Elijah promise to raise Samantha, which he did with Sam rocked that her real father was a murderous terrorist. Alfonso was the one abducting Elijah for revenge.
The episode ended with Robyn's team saving the pair. Robyn offered Samantha a place on the team, but she decided to head back to her last home in Atlanta and maybe start up an equalizing business there.
Why the spin-off didn't work
It's clear the writers had hoped to create a compelling show with Samantha as the new Equalizer with a different edge. However, the first showcase failed to connect as hoped.
Samantha was just too young, and while she had some skills, she lacked Robyn's charisma and couldn't quite nail the emotional beats of the story. Her temper and moaning over her fate frankly became annoying and overshadowed the drama and action. She might actually have worked as a new member of Robyn's team, but not as the lead for her own adventures.
Welliver is a great actor, but his usual intensity is too toned down. It's as close to a phoned-in performance as he gets, and the fact that most of the episode was him tied up and beaten didn't live up to the talk of Elijah as some CIA legend. Also, the big twist of Samantha's father is something that could have worked for the first episode of a regular show, but not this pilot.
It's pretty clear why CBS passed on this, as the episode simply didn't work. Feliz and Welliver didn't make their characters compelling enough to carry a show, the storyline of Samantha's origins didn't resonate and you just couldn't buy Samantha stepping up to Robyn's level. It wasn't a bad attempt, it just failed.
So it's no wonder The Equalizer won't be getting a spinoff and hopefully at least a final season before it ends its tale for good.
The Equalizer season 5 airs Sundays at 10/9c on CBS.