The cast of Starz's Torchwood.
StarzTorchwood: Miracle Day has fans of the franchise both excited and worried. While it reunites original cast members John Barrowman, Eve Myles, and Kai Owen, it breaks some new ground for the series. It brings the characters to America, throws in several new foils, and premieres to Starz subscribers before it hits the UK. But Myles, who reprises her role as Gwen Cooper, emphasizes that the show still has its soul and then some.
“It’s not a reboot,” Myles tells The Hollywood Reporter. “No, no, no, no. We’re not CSI: Miami overnight, or something else. We’re Torchwood. And it remains the same program, essentially. And we were ferocious, fierce about keeping what Torchwood is, and what kind of story [we] are going to make. And at the heart of it is Captain Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper.”
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In this new chapter, not one person on earth dies. It starts off as a perceived blessing, thus its title Miracle Day, until people who should have died find no end to their suffering. Then, scientists reason that the ballooning population will burn through the planet’s resources in about four months. Obviously, this is a job for Torchwood.
The series probably wouldn’t have gone on past Children of Earth if BBC didn’t search out a co-producer for the series, and that job would fall to an American company. At one point, Fox flirted with the project, but it’s clear to Myles now that a broadcast network may not have been the best home for the series.
“I think that being with Starz has allowed us to make what we wanted to make,” she says. “Literally, no boundaries, make the best show we can possibly make, and let’s keep making it. Let’s keep giving people what they want, and let’s keep us all working together on making something fantastic.”
“I think if we followed the other channel,” she continues. “I think there would have been an awful lot more restrictions on the story line, and I don’t think we would have been able to tell the story quite as well as we have done.”
PHOTOS: First Look at ‘Torchwood: Miracle Day’
While there was only about three weeks of shooting in the UK, much of the filming occurred in parts of Los Angeles and on the Warner Bros. studio lot. And with a host of new American cast members, including Mekhi Phifer and Bill Pullman, Myles tells us that the series pulled it off without getting a total American makeover.
“Obviously there’s an American feel to it, because of the circumstances of the show,” she says. “But if the question is more, have we tamed things down or heightened anything else to accommodate it being an American show, then no. It’s still feisty and cheeky and naughty, and dark and thrilling.”
Torchwood: Miracle Day premieres Friday at 10 p.m. on Starz.
Watch a behind the scenes video below.
Email: Jethro.Nededog@thr.com; Twitter: @TheRealJethro
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