The Equalizer: US series finally reveals how Chris Noth’s character is written out

It has finally been revealed how Chris Noth’s character in The Equalizer has been written out of the show, four months after he was fired from the series.

The actor was axed from the CBS crime drama in December after being accused of sexual assault by numerous women. He has vehemently denied all of the allegations against him.

On Sunday (10 April), the fate of his character William Bishop was revealed in the episode “Pulse”.

***Warning: major spoilers ahead***

The last episode of The Equalizer that fans saw Noth in was season two’s “Separated”, which aired on 2 January and had been filmed before he was dropped from the show.

Since that episode, six more have aired but Noth’s Bishop has been notably absent. The latest episode, “Pulse”, has explained where his character has been all this time.

In the instalment, Queen Latifah’s CIA operative Robyn McCall learns that Bishop, her mentor and a former CIA boss, has been spending weeks on an investigation into a flight that mysteriously crashed.

With the help of her friends Harry Keshegian (Adam Goldberg) and Mel Bayani (Liza Lapira), McCall concludes that her enemy Mason Quinn (Chris Vance) is likely involved. He is a scientist who works in electromagnetic pulses, and therefore has the ability to bring planes down from the sky.

Bishop, as it turns out, is currently on a plane that is being targeted by Quinn, so an attempt is made to hack into the systems and contact and warn air traffic control and Bishop’s personal security.

But McCall is captured before she can save Bishop, and she shrieks as she watches his aircraft go down, knowing he has died in the crash.

In December, Noth was accused of rape by four different women. A woman who wished to remain anonymous and used the pseudonym Ava alleged that the actor had sexually assaulted her while she was working at a New York restaurant in 2010.

The actor denied the allegation, with his representative saying: “The story is a complete fabrication, and the alleged accounts detailed throughout read like a piece of bad fiction.”

Two more women accusing Noth of sexual assault claimed they were raped by the actor in 2004 and 2015, respectively.

Noth told The Independent in response to the claims: “The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false. These stories could’ve been from 30 years ago or 30 days ago – no always means no – that is a line I did not cross.

“The encounters were consensual. It’s difficult not to question the timing of these stories coming out. I don’t know for certain why they are surfacing now, but I do know this: I did not assault these women.”

Noth was dropped by his agent in the wake of the allegations.

Singer-songwriter Lisa Gentile was the fourth person to accuse Noth of sexual assault in an alleged incident at her apartment in 2002.

After the allegations came to light, Heather Kristin, a former stand-in for Davis, revisited her viral February 2021 essay for The Independent titled, “I was Charlotte’s stand-in on Sex and the City. Some of the behaviour I saw still shocks me.”

In the latest piece, she claimed that Noth had showcased “toxic behaviour” on set and had pointed to her fellow stand-in and said: “I want that one tied up, gagged, and brought to my trailer.”

A representative for Noth responded at the time, saying: “Now that everyone is piling onto Chris Noth, the timing is unquestionably convenient to drag him into her ‘recollection’ of events. Chris denies these allegations and there’s never been a single complaint or report about him acting inappropriately on the set of Sex and the City.”

If you have been raped or sexually assaulted, you can contact your nearest Rape Crisis organisation for specialist, independent and confidential support. For more information, visit their website here.