The Queen Latifah procedural series is said to introduce the two new characters, who could start their own series, in episode 16 of this season.
Welliver (pictured, right) plays Hudson Reed, a former top CIA agent with a dark secret who is connected to Robin McCall (Queen Latifah) through an old mentor. Feliz plays Samantha Reed, trained by her father to be a weapons expert, skilled martial artist and a true chameleon, while hiding a mysterious past.
Both Welliver and Feliz (pictured, left) have been cast as guest stars with series regular options for the potential spinoff.
Season five episode 16, written by Joseph C. Wilson who will serve as executive producer on the potential series, will air in the spring. It is not referred to as a backdoor pilot. CBS has taken a more informal approach with its spin-offs, introducing potential main characters in storylines integrated into regular episodes of the main series. The network has done this twice now with Fire Country, first with Morena Baccarin, whose character got her own series, Sheriff Country, and more recently with Jared Padalecki.
In addition to Fire Country, The Equalizer aims to join other multi-series drama franchises currently on CBS, such as NCIS and FBI.
A reimagining of the classic series, The Equalizer stars Queen Latifah as Robyn McCall, an enigmatic woman with a mysterious background who uses her extensive skills as a former CIA agent to help people with nowhere else to turn.
The cast for season five also includes Tory Kittles, Adam Goldberg, Liza Lapira, Laya DeLeon Hayes and Lorraine Toussaint.
If the two-star spinoff continues, it will deviate from the original 1985 The Equalizer series, the current reboot and the film franchise. They all have one protagonist, male (the original and the films) and female (the Queen Latifah series).
In addition to Bosch and Bosch: Legacy, Welliver is also known for his recurring role as Glenn Childs on CBS's The Good Wife starring Julianne Margulies and as Jimmy O'Phelan on FX's Sons of Anarchy.
Feliz played the recurring role of Isabela Benitez-Santiago on Prime Video's Harlem and had roles in FX on Hulu's miniseries Fleishman is in Trouble and HBO's miniseries DMZ, among others.
The Equalizer airs on CBS every Sunday at 9:00 PM and from February 18 at 10:00 PM.
