CBS released a teaser for The Equalizer, a third iteration of a popular series from the 1980s in which an ex-intelligence gets results, dammit. The new series will debut directly after the Super Bowl, on February 7, when most Americans are too laden with Bud Light and bean dip to get off the couch, so they may as well give this new show a shot.
Queen Latifah, who stars in the vigilante series as a divorced single mother named Robin McCall, shared this video through her social media channels on Saturday.
The series co-stars Chris Noth, Tory Kittles, Lorraine Toussaint, Liza Lapira, and Adam Goldberg. Production was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic, but last fall the crew was seen shooting in Jersey City and Paterson, not far from the towns of Newark and East Orange, New Jersey, where Queen Latifah was born and raised.
In an earlier promotional video, Latifah said that this was the only time in her career when someone offered her a role and she instantly said yes.
The original Equalizer ran on CBS for four seasons starting in 1985. Starring Edward Woodward as a former government agent who would take matters of justice into his own hands, it shared some story dna with the already successful A-Team, but took a darker, New York spin, style-wise, on the ultra-slick game-changer Miami Vice, which debuted a year earlier. The thumping techno theme was composed by Police drummer Stewart Copeland.
In 2014 the intellectual property made its way to theaters, with Denzel Washington in the lead role. It was a financial success and was received in a mixed-positive way by critics. (V.F. said “it is an undeniable treat to see Denzel Washington beat down on bad guys.”) Four years later, Washington and director Antoine Fuqua teamed up again for The Equalizer 2, which was also a box office success, but didn’t fare as well with critics.
The new series and the two recent films are independent of one another.
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