'Torchwood: The New World' - Russell T Davies Talks Captain Jack's Return, his Love Life, and More!

Russell T Davies made further revelations about Series 4 of Torchwood: The New World  - which doesn't start filming until next January - during the Television Critics Association fall press tour.

For one thing, according to Davies :

It's [the 10-part storyline] far more complicated than just a monster. I think it's a brilliant idea, and when you hear it, it will make sense and you'll see how big it is. It could have filled 20 hours. It's a big 10-hour story.

Davies also talked about the return of Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) on series 4, and that he will no longer be in the same sad, depressed state he was in when Children of Earth ended. The series' showrunner says :

He immediately appears. His first appearance in this is running and fighting and being brilliant. Then you'll discover he's carrying all the legacy of that with him, because that would be an awfully dull way to start. That's why you end those shows on that note, because they're ending. We'd never start The New World that way. It's very keen to move on, but at the same time we're going to be absolutely faithful to people who followed Capt. Jack's story and to John Barrowman's career. So we do acknowledge the past stories while at the same time moving on to new stuff. He was left very dispirited and almost defeated at the end of the last series, which we acknowledge and we deal with in a language that will both satisfy old fans and also will move forward into the future.

The way Russell T Davies describes Captain Jack's return introduction for series 4 quickly made me think of David Tennant's Tenth Doctor; with the running, the fighting - OK maybe not the fighting - but the being brilliant certainly, it's all very reminiscent of the Davies Doctor Who era is it not?

The showrunner also revealed his plans for our beloved hero's love life, who is often referred to as being an omnisexual (can't recall who coined that), simply meaning Captain Jack would sleep with anyone who caught his fancy, be it man, woman, or alien. No preferences.

He can sleep with man, woman or alien. Yes, absolutely, and not just with men. It's important to point out that he's bisexual. The trap you fall into with bisexual men is only having them sleep with men. So it's men and women. You'll see the full range of his appetites, in a really properly done way. It's not just exploitative. We always have done that. Equally, open sexuality has to include everything, and that means having a husband/wife great big crime-fighting team and happily in love. That's there in that. That's brilliant, so you have to include the whole gamut so you can't just say the minority stuff is the important stuff

Davies also hinted at the state of Gwen (Eve Myles) and Rhys' (Kai Owen) marriage when the series returns next summer. Gwen and Rhys will have the baby by then, and here is what Davies revealed about Torchwood's favourite married couple :

Gwen, who is the lead woman of the series, has a lovely husband called Rhys, played by Kai Owen, and now a baby between the two of them. So the sight of Gwen Cooper with baby in one arm and gun in the other is going to be our poster, I hope, because that's just going to be irresistible. I can't imagine Gwen without him, and so he's back. He's a very big part of events. By the time this starts, it will have been off air for two years, I think. We're taking a brand-new audience into consideration. Rhys is now ahead of the game, as it were. There are no secrets. They're a team. It's a really lovely thing to write in a storyline is a husband-and-wife team who love each other. They have fun with each other. It's kind of sexy. It's kind of sexy in a really unusual way. So I love that coupling. He's right up there with the team.

OK, not so sure about Davies' idea of Gwen with the baby in one arm and the gun in another on a poster. Hope the storyline wont have her running around with the baby either. The risk, with the introduction of babies and kids on most established television shows, is that they often tend to dull (or let's be honest - ruin) a series (the same can be said about movie franchises). Let's hope that Russell T Davies will escape the baby trappings and that it wont have that effect on Torchwood.

As I mentioned in my previous post here the two new characters - CIA agent Rex Matheson and Esther -  have yet to be cast since the series wont start filming for another 5 months. But Davies talked a bit more about them, especially about Rex Matheson, who will sort of take on the role Gwen had when Torchwood first began, as an introductory character :

That character is an entrance into the new story. He's a CIA agent. The fact that Torchwood has been off the air for a while and is also brand-new to a lot of people is actually being used as a part of the story in that Rex has no idea what Torchwood is and has to investigate Torchwood. Torchwood was destroyed, disbanded. It's like a legend now. It's like something that ceased to exist a long time ago that's spoken of only in whispers. So Rex is drawn into this, has no choice but to be drawn into this through complications that you will see in the story. Also, he's at the CIA. We also have a watch analyst at the CIA called Esther, who is now friends with Rex but works with colleagues of Rex's. The two of them become embroiled in the Torchwood legend and investigate what Torchwood is or was.

[Via Blastr]

There you have it. Captain Jack will have a new love life, though with whom or what is open for debate at the moment, though I gather there will be more than one for him. But we are assured that he will make a brilliant return which makes me happy. I love a happy Captain Jack. There will be more Gwen, Rhys and the baby, plus those brand new CIA characters.

What do you all think?