Robyn McCall has worked her last case on CBS: The network has canceled The Equalizer after five seasons, and the season finale scheduled for Sunday, May 4, will now be the show’s series finale.
The action drama was CBS’ final bubble show, and its cancellation was likely financially motivated, considering it was a co-production between CBS Studios and outside studio Universal Television, according to Variety, which reported the cancellation.
The Equalizer starred Queen Latifah — who also executive-produced the show through her Flavor Unit Entertainment production company — as Robyn, an enigmatic woman with a mysterious background who uses her extensive skills as a former CIA operative to help those with nowhere else to turn, as the show’s logline explains. Lorraine Toussaint, Tory Kittles, Adam Goldberg, Liza Lapira, and Laya DeLeon Hayes also starred in the series.
Michael Greenberg/CBS
The series has attracted an average of 4.26 million total viewers this season, down nearly 32 percent year over year, according to TV Series Finale. Even so, its average total viewership still bests CBS’ renewed series The Neighborhood, NCIS: Sydney, and NCIS: Origins, per the site.
Latifah reacted to The Equalizer’s cancellation in an Instagram post on Friday, May 2. “Stepping into a kick-ass role like Robyn was everything I hoped it would be,” she wrote. “[Executive producer] Shakim [Compere] and I at Flavor Unit are always excited to bring these kinds of roles and projects to life — and then we just hope you love them as much as we do. The Equalizer blew past every dream we had for it, and having the opportunity to do this for five seasons honestly feels surreal.”
Latifah added, “Thank you to our amazing cast, crew, and producers and writers! And I can’t say enough about the fans! Y’all have been so loyal, so loud, and so ride-or-die — and that’s exactly why we keep doing this. We can’t thank you enough. It means the world to us. And don’t worry — I’ll be back kicking ass in something new real soon. Can’t wait to share it with you. All my [love], QL.”
CBS also opted not to move forward with an Equalizer spinoff starring Titus Welliver — the backdoor pilot of which aired on The Equalizer earlier this season — and canceled the procedurals FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted and sitcom Poppa’s House recently.
Meanwhile, CBS has given the green light to a CIA-based FBI spinoff starring Tom Ellis; the Fire Country spinoff Sheriff Country, starring Morena Baccarin; a Blue Bloods spinoff tentatively called Boston Blue, starring Donnie Wahlberg; and the comedy DMV. CBS is also moving forward with Einstein, a procedural starring Matthew Gray Gubler, but holding it for the 2026–2027 season.