EXCLUSIVE: Tory Kittles (Colony) is set to co-star opposite Queen Latifah in CBS drama pilot The Equalizer, a re-imagining of the classic 1980s series. The project hails from Andrew Marlowe & Terri Miller, Davis Entertainment, Flavor Unit, Martin Chase Productions, Universal Television and CBS TV Studios.

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Written by Marlowe and Miller, who will serve as showrunners, The Equalizer stars Queen Latifah as Robyn McCall, an enigmatic figure who uses her extensive skills to help those with nowhere else to turn. This is a new take on the character played by Edward Woodward on the original 1985-89 CBS series and by Denzel Washington in the movie franchise.

Kittles will play Detective Marcus Dante, a highly intelligent, soft-spoken yet powerful and shrewd NYPD detective, with a cultivated veneer.

In addition to Queen Latifah, Kittles joins recently cast Lorraine Toussaint and Liza Lapira.

Marlowe and Miller executive produce alongside John Davis and John Fox of Davis Entertainment; Debra Martin Chase of Martin Chase Productions; Richard Lindheim, co-creator of the original Equalizer TV series; as well as Queen Latifah (real name Dana Owens) and Shakim Compere of Flavor Unit.

Sons of Anarchy alum Kittles also played a police detective, Det. Thomas Papania, on the breakout first season of HBO’s True Detective. He also was a series regular on the USA series Colony, played Frederick Douglass in Harriet and starred in Dragged Across Concrete. He is repped by Gersh, Circle of Confusion and Katz Golden Rosenman.