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Torchwood’s Provocative New Plot

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Torchwood creator Russell T. Davies has revealed the premise behind upcoming TV mini/series formerly known as Torchwood: The New World, and that the “New World” moniker was just a working title.

Torchwood: Miracle Day is the final title, and the premise finds everyone in the entire world becoming immortal overnight. Much like the global threat seen on Torchwood: Children of Earth, Miracle Day asks what would happen if one day, no one on Earth died. After this “miracle day,” no one ever dies again. Immortality may sound great on paper, but Davies plans on examining the reality of the situation as this miracle quickly becomes a crisis.

For example, the elderly or ill who were in the process of slowly dying will continue that process — without end. New cast member Bill Pullman revealed that the very first scene depicts his character, a convicted murderer and pedophile named Oswald Danes, receiving a lethal injection for his crimes, and then he simply doesn’t die.

The result is a population boom, overnight. With all the extra people, resources are finite. It’s determined that in four months’ time, the human race will cease to be viable. As Davies puts it, “Earth relies on people dying. What is society going to do now? Some of the answers are beautiful and brave. Some of the reactions are terrifying.”

But if there’s one person who has experience with immortality, it’s Captain Jack Harkness. Which of course is why this new season finds the disbanded Torchwood team being reformed.

The new 10-episode series premieres in July on Starz.

Pullman & Phifer Join Torchwood

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American movie star Bill Pullman and TV star Mekhi Phifer have signed on for the new “international” Season 4 of Torchwood, which is a co-production of BBC and Starz. They join remaining series stars John Barrowman and Eve Myles for the ten-episode fourth season, subtitled The New World.

Phifer will join the Torchwood team as CIA Agent Rex Matheson, who’s described as “a fast-tracked high-flyer with a lethal sense of humor who starts to feel his mortality when his life is put in danger.” Phifer is best known for stints on Lie to Me and ER.

Pullman will star as Oswald Jones, “a dangerously clever convicted murderer who escapes a life sentence on a technicality and becomes a media sensation. Genuinely repentant yet boiling with lust and rage, Oswald gets caught up in a terrifying world crisis.”

Torchwood also recently added actress Arlene Tur as surgeon Vera Juarez in a recurring role.

Walking Dead Fires Writing Staff

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The Walking Dead has let go of its entire writing staff, per what sounds like Frank Darabont’s personal instructions. Darabont, who’s best known as the writer/director of movies like The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, is the primary creative force behind bringing The Walking Dead to the small screen, where he serves as producer, head writer, and occasional director.

According to Deadline, Darabont’s plan for Season Two of the show is to not use an on-staff group of writers, but instead to hand out assignments to freelance writers. The Walking Dead would not be the first show to use this method; many British shows are known to do the same, including the upcoming BBC/Starz coproduction of Torchwood.

If this is Darabont’s plan for the show’s second season, it could be problematic for the Writers Guild of America, which is known to be fiercely protective of its members’ treatment and wages. Is this the first hint of a paradigm shift for how TV screenwriting works? Only time will tell.

In related news, The Hollywood Reporter says that the first season of The Walking Dead will arrive on DVD and Blu-ray sometime next Spring. The first season finale premieres this Sunday, December 5th.

Starz snags Torchwood

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Starz just keeps ordering new shows. Their latest is one you may have heard of.

The fourth season of Torchwood, the hot BBC spinoff of Doctor Who, is coming exclusively to Starz next summer. The ten-episode season will be a co-production between Starz, BBC Cymru Wales, and BBC Worldwide. BBC One will debut the third season in the U.K. at the same time.

Stars John Barrowman and Eve Myles will return, but with a new supporting cast. The show will take on a more international scope as well, venturing outside of Great Britain for adventures all over the world.

Torchwood is a dark science fiction thriller that focuses on a branch of the fictional Torchwood Institute that’s devoted to fending off extraterrestrial threats to Earth. It was created by Russell T. Davies, the man responsible for the 2005 revival of Doctor Who. (Davies has since moved on from Doctor Who, but remains the showrunner behind Torchwood.)