Adam Goldberg Cast As Lead Opposite Queen Latifah In The Equalizer Reboot

Earlier this year came the news that CBS has given a straight-to-series for a reboot of The Equalizer with none other than Queen Latifah in the lead role. Things have started moving along finally for the project though as a new report reveals the first piece of casting since Latifah joined the series. Deadline reports that Adam Goldberg (God Friended Me, Fargo) will star opposite Latifah, taking on the part of Harry Keshegian, described as “gruffly endearing, lovably annoying, eccentric and a collector of facts and artifacts, he’s paranoid — but for a reason. Unlike conspiracy theorists, because of his experience as a white-hat hacker, he actually knows what the real conspiracies are. He’s as loyal as they come and like a brother to McCall.”

Latifah will take on the titular role for the series, staring as “Robyn McCall” in the series (a take on the original series’ lead character, Robert McCall) described as “an enigmatic woman with a mysterious background who uses her extensive skills to help those with nowhere else to turn.” Production has already started on the series which will also see Chris Noth, Lorraine Toussaint, Tory Kittles, Liza Lapira and Laya DeLeon Hayes join the cast. Liz Friedlander (The Boys, Jessica Jones, One Tree Hill) will direct the pilot episode.

Andrew Marlowe, creator of ABC crime-drama Take Two and ABC’s crime dramedy Castle, created the series with Terri Miller, and the pair will serve as showrunners. Queen Latifah will executive produce alongside Debra Martin Chase and original series co-creator Richard Lindheim. In addition John Davis and John Fox of Davis Entertainment, who previously rebooted Magnum P.I. for CBS with Jay Hernandez in the role made famous by Tom Selleck, as well as last year’s Shaft that starred Samuel L. Jackson alongside Jessie T. Usher and Richard Roundtree, will also executive produce.

The actress joins an exclusive club of Equalizers with the original version of ex-covert operations officer Robert McCall being played by Edward Woodward on television with Denzel Washington playing the role on the big screen in the two Equalizer movies, marking the first time that Washington ever appeared in a sequel to one of his movies. The two films, released in 2014 and 2018 respectively, went on to gross over $190 million worldwide each with minimal drop off between the two. Coincidentally, Latifah interviewed Washington on her short lived TV series for the first film in 2014.

(Cover Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)