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Q: Is there any link between Queen Latifah's character on the new version of "The Equalizer" and the original character? Like, are they supposed to be related? 

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Author: 
Adam Thomlison / TV Media

Other than the name -- she's Robyn McCall on the new CBS show while the original '80s show featured a character named Robert McCall -- there's no relation. 

Of course, that's not too surprising. The original show, about a retired spy working as a private detective and guardian angel for the downtrodden, featured an older white British guy (Edward Woodward, best known at the time for 1973's "The Wicker Man"). In the version that debuted on CBS in 2021, the retired spy is a black single mother from New York, played by rapper-turned-actor Queen Latifah ("Chicago," 2002).

This would make it pretty tough to fabricate a family connection to link the "Equalizers" together, the way they, for example, tied the original 1970s "Shaft" movies to the 2000 update starring Samuel L. Jackson ("Pulp Fiction," 1994). 

That said, one of the fun elements of that family link was that it justified giving the original John Shaft (played by Richard Roundtree in by far his most famous role) a role in the reboot. 

That wouldn't work for "The Equalizer" as, sadly, original star Woodward died in 2009. 

There is, however, a third McCall to consider. Between the original series and Queen Latifah's version, Denzel Washington ("Training Day," 2001) starred in two big-screen Equalizer movies, also as a character named Robert McCall.

It gets even more confusing from there, as he recently completed a third movie, to be released in September. That means there will be two different McCalls rescuing people around New York at the same time.

Yet still, there are no plans to link the two, even though Washington and Latifah already know each other from starring together in 1999's "The Bone Collector." 

 

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