Fox Developing A U.S. Adaptation Of Torchwood
Now this news came out of nowhere. THR’sLive Feed blogis reporting that Fox is developing a U.S. version of the British seriesTorchwood, which was a spinoff of the recentDr. Whoseries. Russell T. Davies, who launchedTorchwoodand the revampedDr. Who, is on-board to write the script. The rest of the original producing team is also on for the remake — in addition to Davies, exec. producers Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter will be crossing the pond as well.
And to prove that this isn’t your typical U.S. TV series remake, word is that original star John Barrowman, who plays Captain Jack Harkness, may star in the U.S. version as well. Quite honestly it doesn’t seem like they’re remaking the series so much as they are continuing the story from the U.K. version.
My biggest worry with this adaptation is if they try to go for a full reboot, instead of continuing off of the original series' narrative. Word is that they’re going to make the scale of the show more global than the U.K.-centric original, which makes it very easy to build on the original series.
Fox also better cast Barrowman as the lead, otherwiseTorchwoodfans would likely revolt. He does amazing work as the immortal Capt. Jack Harkness, and he’s pretty much the soul of the original series. There’s also the worry that Fox could mess with the character’s bisexuality — his biggest romantic relationship in the series is with another man.
Fox honestly hasn’t been that kind to sci-fi series for some time — but withFringedoing well, and the fact that they gaveDollhousea second season, there’s a chance thatTorchwoodcould really take off here. For those interested, the first two seasons arecurrently availableon Netflix Watch Instantly. You can also feel free to just jump intoChildren of Earth, because it stands alone pretty well.
Discuss:Torchwoodfans sound off, is this a good idea or not? Would you rather they keep making more U.K. seasons? If you haven’t watchedTorchwoodbefore, would a U.S. remake seem more enticing to you?
