TV viewers are mourning the loss of The Equalizer. The well-established procedural starring Queen Latifah was abruptly cancelled by CBS after five seasons in what was undoubtedly one of the biggest headlines throughout the renewal/cancellation season. Although its fate wasn't entirely surprising as it had been on the bubble (and the last CBS show awaiting a decision from the network), there was hope that it might return for one more outing.
That's probably the most frustrating thing about the cancellation, as there were talks to bring it back for a shortened sixth and final season. The network ultimately opted not to renew shortly after passing on planned spinoff series starring Titus Welliver, officially bringing the era of The Equalizer on CBS to an end.
It's really unfortunate that it didn't pan out as showrunner Joe Wilson had some big plans for season 6 - one of which would have been particularly major for fans of the show's core couple.
Robyn and Dante would have gotten married in The Equalizer season 6
The Equalizer showrunner has confirmed that Robyn McCall and Marcus Dante would have gotten married if the show had been renewed for a sixth season. Speaking to TV Insider prior to the show's cancellation, Joe Wilson joked that his main hope for season 6 was that it happens, before confirming that there would have been wedding bells for the beloved couple.
"I can say is if we do get it, there are wedding bells. We will see that wedding. It is going to be crazier than the proposal. It is feature worthy, what we would do with it. And just the continuing, what does their relationship look like equalizing as a family business as she says in this episode. So those are the things we’d focus on."
Unfortunately, it wasn't to be as CBS pulled the plug on the show after initial talks about a sixth and final season. A wedding would have been a good storyline for the final season too considering how the one most important aspect of bringing a show to an end is ensuring that the characters get endings worthy of them.
The good news is that the show did get something of a happy ending as it was, as Wilson and the creative team planned for the potential cancellation. As a result, the season 5 finale was designed to function as both a season finale and a series finale should the unfortunate outcome have taken place (which it did). With that, Robyn and Dante took a romantic getaway only for the latter to be shot. But that didn't stop him from offering up the other moment we had all been waiting for: The proposal. Who knows what the wedding would have looked like if Wilson planned on going even bigger than that!
"McCante" was a fan-favorite aspect of the show since the very beginning, although the series chose to play the long-game with their relationship. The chemistry was clear from the offset and there was plenty of flirting between the two to capitalize on, but things were truly made official in the fifth season. And that's one of the reasons why season 5 was always going to have a happy ending for them, regardless of whether it was the season or series finale. Wilson said a cliffhanger wasn't on the table:
"We didn’t want to end with a cliffhanger... We weren’t sure what was going to happen, and if we did end up on that wrong side, we did not want the fans to feel incomplete or cheated in any way. So we designed it in a way that can feel like an ending..."
Although there was certainly scope for a sixth season, the show's somewhat premature conclusion doesn't take away from the stories that were in place thanks to some wise decisionmaking on the part of the creative team. The Equalizer won't lose its rewatch value as a result of this as it still tells a complete story through all five seasons.
We're just glad that wedded bliss is on the horizon for McCante... even if it won't play out on our screens.