Torchwood’s New World Comes to Light

Forget Robbie Williams‘ teetotal nuptials: this weekend’s biggest news was about Torchwood. The “rebooted” fourth season of the show finally has a name, and it’s Torchwood: The New World. At TCA, Russell T Davies revealed a brief sketch of the storyline, and The Hollywood Reporter has the details:

The new story will follow a CIA agent (Rex) and analyst (Ester) who tackle an alien-related global issue. Torchwood, having been destroyed and disbanded, is “like a legend now…it’s like something that’s ceased to exist and is now spoken of only in whispers.” Soon, Rex and Ester are on the run and are seeking out the help of Captain Jack and Gwen.

“The two teams coming together is a big part of the story – are they friends or enemies? There’s a lot of sparks and excitement.”

THR also took some snaps of the swanky new poster art featuring John Barrowman (Captain Jack) and Eve Myles (Gwen).

In other news, The Chicago Tribune announced a few of the writers who will be contributing to the 10-episode season, and it’s a paranormal/supernatural/sci-fi dream team: “John Shiban (‘Breaking Bad,’ ‘Supernatural,’ ‘The X-Files’), Doris Egan (‘House,’ ‘Tru Calling,’ ‘Dark Angel’), Jane Espenson (‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ ‘Buffy’) and John Fay (a U.K. ‘Torchwood’ writer).”

Just some background on these scribes: Shiban co-wrote The X-Files episode, “Memento Mori,” which won Gillan Anderson an Emmy for her work as cancer-stricken Scully. Egan has contributed to several fabulous episodes of House, including Birthmarks, which featured House coming to terms with his father’s death. And Espenson is TV’s sci-fi/fantasy empress, bringing with her considerable Buffyverse cred from her work on Slayer.

John Fay is a great get and a holdover from Children of Earth. He wrote two of the most hardcore episodes of the mini-series, “Day Two” and “Day Four.” Controversially, his script for “Day Four” also featured the death of Ianto, which remains a hot point for many fans. (Gotta admit, he sent Gareth David Lloyd out in style, providing him a tearjerking farewell.) In both episodes, he balanced high-stakes drama with some kitchen-sink character moments, which I love. Have a sampling of Mr. Fay’s work from Children of Earth: