THE EQUALIZER Renewed for Season 5

Published: April 29, 2024

THE EQUALIZER Renewed for Season 5

By Movieguide® Contributor

CBS has renewed its popular crime drama THE EQUALIZER for a fifth season.

“THE EQUALIZER, led by the incomparable Queen Latifah, has all the best elements of a powerful drama,” said Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment. “The series is stacked with suspense, heroism, high stakes and formidable characters our audience roots for. We look forward to another dynamic season.”

The show currently ranks as the No. 8 most-watched non-sport program, averaging 7.89 million linear viewers, per Deadline. It is also the most popular show among African American viewers. Season 5 is expected to run for 18 episodes.

A rehash of the ’80s classic, THE EQUALIZER follows Robyn McCall, a former CIA operative who uses her extensive skills to help those who have nowhere else to turn. Along with Latifah, the show stars Tory Kittles, Adam Goldberg, Liza Lapira, Laya DeLeon Hayes and Lorraine Toussaint. A portion of Movieguide®’s review of the pilot reads:

The EQUALIZER pilot is an intense, engaging episode. The program is well paced, and Queen Latifah is believable as the tough, but appealing, mysterious former spy and military commando. The pilot episode has a strong moral worldview with positive Christian, redemptive elements. That said, the EQUALIZER pilot has some foul language, violence and brief politically correct elements mentioning global warming and featuring an anti-capitalist subtext. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children.

With the renewal of THE EQUALIZER, NCIS: HAWAI’I is the final CBS show whose fate has yet to be determined. Though the show ranks highly among audiences—No. 12 for non-sports programming—tricky business conversations have left its future in limbo. Season 4 of the show may end up being its last, with the potential for only a partial season coming.

Other notable programming moves by CBS during this renewal season include picking up all three FBI shows for another season and renewing ELSBETH. The network also canceled its popular daytime show, THE TALK, expecting to replace it with a new soap opera.

Movieguide® previously reported:

CBS has decided to cancel the popular daytime show THE TALK, killing it at the end of this year after a short Season 15 that will end in December.

“THE TALK broke new ground when it launched 14 years ago by returning daytime talk to CBS with a refreshing and award-winning format,” CBS Entertainment President Amy Reisenbach and CBS Studios President David Stapf said in a joint statement. “Throughout the years, it has been a key program on CBS’ top-rated daytime lineup as it brought timely, important and entertaining topics and discussions into living rooms around the globe.”

“It goes without saying that hosting and producing a year-round talk show is no easy task, and we express our sincere gratitude to our amazing hosts Akbar Gbajabiamila, Amanda Kloots, Natalie Morales, Jerry O’Connell, and Sheryl Underwood, our Executive Producer/Showrunner Rob Crabbe and the hardworking producing team and crew,” the statement continued.