‘The Equalizer’ Season 3 Premiere: Details on Robyn’s ‘Pulse-Pounding’ Escape Plan (VIDEO)

“It’s going to be pulse-pounding,” executive producer Joseph C. Wilson promises of The Equalizer‘s Season 3 premiere. We’d expect nothing less from badass vigilante Robyn McCall (Queen Latifah) — just look at her in the exclusive sneak peek above.

To recap, just as she was about to tell her teen daughter Delilah (Laya DeLeon Hayes) and her Aunt Vi (Lorraine Toussaint) that she was returning temporarily to the CIA — to head a task force aimed at quashing nemesis Quinn’s (Chris Vance) plans to detonate a dirty bomb in New York — their car was T-boned and Robyn was kidnapped. “McCall is more vulnerable than we’ve ever seen her,” Wilson says.

While she plots an escape, her colleagues and family unite to launch a rescue of their own. “[Saving her] takes everyone working together,” Wilson says. “The walls come down.” Among the highlights: Detective Dante (Tory Kittles) runs a gauntlet of gunmen with Robyn’s friend and sniper Mel (Liza Lapira). A surprise twist puts hacker Harry (Adam Goldberg) in the field. And Aunt Vi even gets to use her art skills!

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First Look at Search for Robyn in 'The Equalizer' Premiere

Look for clues in the hour to “a new, bigger bad” who’ll be revealed later this season. “It’s all connected,” Wilson says, adding that the foe also relates to an emotional part of McCall’s past.

In the meantime, the team deals with ripped-from-the-headlines cases — a mass shooting, transgender issues, abortion — some of which are brought in by “Baby Equalizer” Delilah. And fans rooting for McCall and Dante to grow closer get their wish. Although, Wilson hints, “The romance isn’t always going to come from where you think.”

Equally unpredictable are the secrets that surface and threaten to splinter Robyn’s crew. Her own inner turmoil won’t help. “She questions everything she’s doing, which causes problems,” Wilson says. “It comes to a head at the end of the season, in a major way.”

The Equalizer, Season 3 Premiere, Sunday, October 2, 8:30/7:30c, CBS