The Equalizer Star Adam Goldberg Breaks Down Harrys Ironic Undercover Persona & Its Real-Life Inclusions

The Equalizer airs Sundays on CBS and follows Robyn McCall (Queen Latifah, Taxi), a former CIA operative who helps those with nowhere else to turn. Adam Goldberg’s character, Harry Keshegian, is among her talented team of specialists, using his computer skills to find perpetrators and save their victims. Season 5, episode 3, titled “Just Fans,” sees Harry step into the field after Robyn asks him to go undercover as a musician seeking to build his platform.

With Robyn helping Harry fake his death in previous seasons, the installment allows Goldberg to switch up his current role and play a character who wants to make his presence known. The persona is an interesting divergence from Harry’s earlier storyline, but it also provides a perfect opportunity for the actor to demonstrate his real-life talents. Goldberg shares that, while he’s created music for the show before, “Just Fans” is only the second time he’s properly pre-recorded a song for an upcoming episode.

Screen Rant interviews Goldberg about his character’s undercover operation, working with Queen Latifah, and Harry’s “aspirational” relationship with Mel in The Equalizer season 5.

Harry’s Undercover Persona In The Equalizer Season 5 Was Inspired By Goldberg’s Musical Abilities

“I’m going undercover for something that is so similar to me.”

Screen Rant: Harry just had a fantastic episode in season 5 when he went undercover. What first stood out to you about that script?

Adam Goldberg: So they were like, “We’re doing an OnlyFans episode, and you’re going undercover.” That’s what they told me a few weeks before, and I was like, “What? I don’t understand.” They’re like, “Yeah, you’re going to be a guitar player going undercover.” My understanding of OnlyFans is it’s your friends from Instagram naked. So I was a little confused, but I guess there’s a whole thing about these places that manage and farm out influencers. That was kind of interesting, but I had to dig down on that as a reality.

But I thought it was going to be fun. I think it’s the second time I recorded music for the show, although it’s maybe the forth or fifth time that I’ve played music on the show, but in a couple of instances, it was just sort of fooling around in a scene, and it was just live or whatever, but this is the second time that I properly pre-recorded something. That’s why they had told me weeks in advance because I had to put something together.

So, technically, the undercover identity was inspired by you being a musician yourself?

Adam Goldberg: Right. Exactly. And that’s why I was saying, “I’m totally confused. There are guitar guys that [do that]?” [Laughs] I don’t know. It’s a thing, I guess. Everything is always based on a thing. Most of the time, I can’t believe it. I’m reading the stuff, and I’m like, “This is absolutely bad sh*t insane. What?”

We were just doing an episode about this baby farm thing, and I’m just like, “What the hell are these people talking about?” And then you look it up, and it’s a real thing. I don’t know where they get all of their crazy news from, but it’s there.

What was it like to jump into that undercover persona?

Adam Goldberg: Initially, they were going to have me wear something that was kind of crazy-ish. It was kind of confusing because I was like, “I’m going undercover for something that is so similar to me that I think it would’ve just looked like I was badly dressed.” I was like, “I think I’ll just do a voice.”

So then I recorded this voice into a text thread I have with the showrunner, and I was like, “I think I should just keep calling everyone ‘bro’,” and that was the extent of my undercover work. I thought that was actually kind of funny. I saw that scene.

The Equalizer Season 5 Allows Harry And Robyn To Strengthen Their Working Relationship

“I was always hoping there was going to be more stuff like that with [Queen Latifah] so it wasn’t quite so segmented.”

Would you say it was a bit discombobulating for Harry to play someone who’s trying to put himself on the grid when he spent so long trying to stay off of it?

Adam Goldberg: Oh, yeah. It was confusing for me when we first started doing that. I was sort of like, “Is he undercover? How well do people know who he is or isn’t?” It was always a fine line. Anytime I would go out, it would be sort of vaguely undercover.

I was always wearing hats and things like that. Now it’s just a piece of biography. I guess that’s what happens when you’re on a show that lasts longer than six months, which in my experience, has been very rare. Things change, and then you find out, “Oh, I didn’t realize I was this.”

The team is a bit disconnected right now, but do you feel that’s provided a good opportunity for Harry and Robyn to strengthen their rapport?

Adam Goldberg: Yeah. When we first did the show, we did the first two episodes in the first season in tandem. We were basically shooting the first two episodes at the same time. There was a scene when Robyn and I go, in fact, right out of the gate, even when I’m supposed to be off the grid, she needs me to go crack a safe or something like that. My first scene of the show that we shot was the scene I did with Queen.

In fact, she’s the first person with whom I breathe unmasked air in a confined space, because we were shooting at the end of 2020. I remember I got in this car, I was like, “Hi, nice to meet you, Queen.” And we took off our masks, and that was the first time for me since the spring of 2020 that I had breathed around a non-relative. But I remember that scene was a lot of fun, and so I was always hoping there was going to be more stuff like that with her so it wasn’t quite so segmented. It’s good. We did a bunch of stuff in the first few episodes of the season.

Would you like to see Harry do more fieldwork?

Adam Goldberg: It’s nice, but I have a long commute to work, so the more they write episodes like that, the more drive time I have. [Laughs] I am not in the city, and this goes back to the beginning of the series. We were shooting in New Jersey, and it was actually quite close to where we live, but then they changed the location.

So anytime I see those episodes, I’m like, “I guess I’m staying in a hotel for a week.” But it’s fun. I also like doing the other stuff. I get to shoot my stuff in a day or two and cram my head full of an absolutely insane amount of information. It’s good. It keeps my aging brain agile.

Goldberg Feels Harry Has A Tendency To Be “Supportive To A Fault” In The Equalizer

“I remember talking to the showrunners, and I was like, ‘I can’t be that apologetic.’”

Since you wrote the song about Mel, what was the process like, and how did you feel about Harry’s musician role coming full circle at the end of the episode?

Adam Goldberg: So they had said, “You’re going to play music at the end, and you’re going to shred,” and I’m like, “Well, I don’t shred.” I write music. I put records out under this moniker called The Goldberg Sisters, and I play everything, but I’m not a shredder by any stretch of the imagination. I was like, “I don’t know about the shredding, guys, and I certainly don’t want to fake it.” So I said, “Maybe I’ll just write something,” and they were like, “Oh, okay, great.”

I was just in my dressing room between takes on another day, and I was strumming something, and it was completely spontaneous. That’s kind of actually how I write. I just sort of sing nonsense lyrics and then record them and then replace the lyrics or whatever. But in this case, most of that stuff was just me riffing, and I might’ve added a couple of things later on, and then went home and recorded. I have a studio at home, and then I just recorded it at home.

I love how supportive Harry is of Mel, but she’s obviously going through a lot and needs to find some healing within herself. How would you describe their relationship going forward?

Adam Goldberg: So far, everything is copacetic. As far as I know, things are good. It’s a very aspirational, supportive relationship. He’s sometimes supportive to a fault. [Laughs] I remember at the end of last season she was p*ssed at him because he was lying about going to do this undercover work.

I remember talking to the showrunners, and I was like, “I can’t be that apologetic. I kind of went and saved the world as I understand it.” It’s not like I was lying and hanging out with that hot FBI detective or whatever. I was saving the world with Donal Logue. Sometimes I think he’s maybe supportive to a fault, but it’s very sweet for sure.

Is there a storyline you’ve pitched to the writers that you’d like to see explored for Harry?

Adam Goldberg: Honestly, one of the big storylines that I wanted to do, we kind of did, which was this antisemitism episode last year. My character wasn’t written as Jewish, and then that’s like what I was saying, one of those things where three years into your job, you’re like, “Oh, this character is half-Jewish like me.”

I remember feeling, a couple of years into the show, that I thought it was important to explore that because we were dealing with a lot of oppression and people who are sidelined and racialized. I thought it was important to address that, which we did. It would be nice to readdress that here and there, but without hitting people over the head with it. I definitely wanted to do episodes where I was taking the lead more, which we also did a lot of that. When you’re this far into a series, a lot of the boxes get ticked.

Tory and I really only had one episode where it was the two of us, and I thought that was quite good. I like Tory a lot, and I think he’s a great actor, so doing more stuff with him would be fun. And Lorraine is also great. Honestly, they really started combining, mixing, and matching people a lot more. So it’s fun. Aside from going over to their house for dinner, I haven’t done anything with Laya, so that would be nice. We always talk about how we haven’t done anything together, so I would like to think at some point we can do something.

About The Equalizer Season 5

Developed for television by Andrew Marlowe and Terri Miller

The Equalizer is a reimagining of the classic series starring Academy Award® nominee and multi-hyphenate Queen Latifah (“Chicago,” “Bessie”) as Robyn McCall, an enigmatic woman with a mysterious background who uses her extensive skills as a former CIA operative to help those with nowhere else to turn. McCall presents to most as an average single mom who is quietly raising her teenage daughter. But to a trusted few, she is The Equalizer – an anonymous guardian angel and defender of the downtrodden, who’s also dogged in her pursuit of personal redemption.

Check out our interview with The Equalizer star Tory Kittles, as well.

The Equalizer airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

The Equalizer is a television reboot of the original 1985 action television series starring Queen Latifah as protagonist Robyn McCall – a mysterious woman who uses her unique set of skills to help those when all other options fail them. McCall comes across to most as an average single mom quietly raising her teenage daughter. But to a trusted few, she is “The Equalizer” – an anonymous guardian angel and defender of the oppressed fighting for her redemption regarding her own past.

Release Date

February 7, 2021

Seasons

3

Writers

Andrew W. Marlowe

Directors

Liz Friedlander

Showrunner

Andrew W. Marlowe

Expand