Major CBS Show Canceled After 5 Seasons

CBS has handed out yet another cancellation.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Eye network has opted to cancel Queen Latifah-led drama The Equalizer after five seasons.

News of the cancellation comes just days ahead of the Season 5 finale on Sunday, which will now be the series finale. CBS held off on deciding for quite a long time, and The Equalizer was the final series still awaiting a decision on the network. Ratings have been solid, averaging a little under 6 million viewers, but it’s down from last season. Considering CBS’ packed schedule for the 2025-26 season has already pushed Matthew Gray Gubler’s new drama Einstein to the 2026-27 season, chances weren’t looking good for The Equalizer.

CBS also scrapped plans for a spinoff of The Equalizer starring Titus Welliver and Jauni Feliz. The planted spinoff’s episode aired on April 20. It was first announced in November that the network was looking to expand The Equalizer universe, with two new characters being introduced in Season 5. Welliver and Feliz were cast in January and made their debuts as Hudson Reed and his daughter, Samantha Reed, in “Sins of the Father.”

Also starring Tory Kittles, Adam Goldberg, Liza Lapira, Laya DeLeon Hayes, and Lorraine Toussaint, The Equalizer is now the seventh CBS show to be canceled ahead of the 2025-26 season. The series joins veteran dramas Blue Bloods, S.W.A.T., FBI: Most Wanted, and FBI: International, freshman comedy Poppa’s House, and freshman reality competition series The Summit. It’s unclear if The Equalizer will be shopped around elsewhere, as Universal Television co-produces the series with CBS Studios.

The Equalizer premiered in 2021 and centers on Latifah’s Robyn McCall, an enigmatic single mother in New York City with a mysterious background who uses her extensive skills to help those with nowhere else to turn while pursuing her own redemption. Created by Michael Sloan and the late Richard Lindheim, the series is a reboot of the 1985 series of the same name, also created by Sloan and Lindheim. Andrew W. Marlow and Terri Edda Miller developed The Equalizer and also serve as executive producers.

It’s unknown how The Equalizer will end, but fans will want to tune in on Sunday at 10 p.m. ET on CBS for the now-series finale. All episodes are streaming on Paramount+, so it’s like the show is still around even when it’s not.