The ends of the WGA writers strike and SAG-AFTRA actors strike mean that TV shows that normally would have returned to primetime by now can finally get back to work. CBS was the first of the major broadcast networks to announce a post-strike 2024 TV schedule, and February is poised to be a very big month for its scripted dramas. That includes The Equalizer, which wrapped Season 3 back in May with a major cliffhanger. Now that fans have a premiere date to look forward to, I’m thinking back to what members of the cast told CinemaBlend, and I have a question for Season 4. Based on what the stars said, what kind of time jump are we in for, and how will it be handled?
First things first, though! CBS’ 2024 premiere schedule reveals that The Equalizer will return for the fourth season on Sunday, February 18 at 8 p.m. ET, ahead of Tracker as Justin Hartley’s return to TV at 9 p.m. and CSI: Vegas on a new night at 10 p.m. It’s much too early for the network to reveal an episode description for the Season 4 premiere of the Queen Latifah drama, but two stars dropped a few details months ago that are even more curious in light of the long delay.
I spoke with Laya DeLeon Hayes, who plays Delilah, and Tory Kittles, who plays Marcus Dante, for the Season 3 finale back in May. When I asked Hayes how much she knew about how Season 4 would pay off on the cliffhanger that involved several main characters in danger of burning to death and McCall seemingly helpless to rescue them, the young actress shared:
We filmed already the first episode of Season 4, so I fully know what goes on in that episode, which I’m keeping under wraps.
Laya DeLeon Hayes revealed at the time that the Equalizer cast had already shot the Season 4 premiere, but a summer of strikes meant that nothing else could be filmed for the show until the SAG-AFTRA deal was agreed upon. The actress didn’t drop details about how the hit drama would pick up on the cliffhanger, and at the time, it seemed likely that fans would find out with a fall premiere as usual.
That of course didn’t happen, and the The Equalizer is on the list of shows expected to begin working on November 27 for the 2023-2024 TV season. Tory Kittles teased a bit more about the first episode of Season 4 back in May, saying:
It was a real-time continuation of the last episode, so there’s a ticking clock element on the finale of, if this doesn’t happen before that fire catches up with them, everyone’s gonna die. So we pick up the first episode of next season exactly at the moment we left off. It’s a continuation, and to be able to shoot it concurrently, actually, I think helped everyone’s performance and kept us in line, so we didn’t have to break for two months or three months and then come back and go, ‘Okay, alright, let’s remind ourselves where we were when we shot that last episode three months ago.’ We were able to stay in it, which lends itself to the authenticity of the performances, the stakes, [and] where we were as characters, and so it just kept everything congruent in a way that I think lends itself to some consistency in the episode.
Recalling Kittles’ comments is actually what got me thinking about the timeline of The Equalizer Season 3. There isn’t going to be a time jump between the end of the third season finale and the fourth season premiere, but what about after the Season 4 premiere? Shows often will pay off on cliffhangers in a premiere and then jump a few months ahead afterwards, which is normally what I would predict for The Equalizer. But would the show really skip ahead the better part of a year?
A time jump that sizable might not be a huge deal for a cast of all adults, but Delilah is a teenager who was in the middle of training with her mom. Losing most of a year would mean losing an important stage of her life. At the same time, The Equalizer films on location in New York quite a bit, and it would be hard to keep filming on location without a big time jump to explain the weather. If there is a big time jump, how will the show account for the passage of time? And will it even matter?
My money is currently on the show delivering a big time jump after the first episode of Season 4 and just dealing with how much time has passed. Fortunately, we at least have a date for when the show will return and shed some light. The Equalizer returns on Sunday, February 18 at 8 p.m. ET, with the first three seasons so far streaming via a Paramount+ subscription now.