Torchwood: What to Expect From The New World

IGN: We've heard this new CIA character, Rex, is somewhat the entry point of The New World. Will we get to Jack and Gwen pretty quickly?

Davies: Too soon to say, but I'm very aware of that. I will enjoy playing with that and I can see already that a slight myth is going to build up of sorts, saying that Rex is our only entry point. When we first see Gwen, you will see what it essentially was in the series [before]. There are no super powers, there's no credits, no money, no special privileges. You'll see an ordinary woman whose life is about to take an extraordinary turn. So there will be an awful lot of new viewers where if you've never seen Gwen Cooper in your life, you will see a woman with a husband, a baby, thrown into a threat and you'll latch onto her immediately. Even the way that Captain Jack is introduced is written so that you'll latch onto that as well.

IGN: With Jack, I would guess it's one of those delicate balancing acts, because as you're well aware, there is a portion of the fandom still mourning Inato, some of whom will want Jack to still be mourning him. But of course, you want to move forward and not have the character be stuck in sadness.

Davies: Of course, we're aware of that. It's a love of a great actor and a great performance. It's not just the love of Ianto, I think it's probably the love of Gareth David-Lloyd, which is a wonderful thing to see. Even Gareth now has done interviews now, saying, "It's time to move on." He's very kind and respectful. Of course, it's not a blank slate for Jack. Of course that past haunts him. Not just Ianto, but the terrible events that he took after Ianto's death with his own grandson will haunt him. Nonetheless the story is at least two years later. And with any fictional character, if they walked into scene one dragging their baggage behind him… If you sit down and someone starts telling you their whole family history, you don't want to spend any time with them. So that's true of Jack and everyone in life. So you've got to be aware of that. We'll handle it delicately and suitably and with a great deal of respect, but nonetheless, the imperative is to move on.

IGN: What is the dynamic with Rex and the other new character, Ester? What kind of sensibilities do they bring to Torchwood?

Davies: I don't want to give away too much. Rex certainly brings dynamism and energy and hostility towards Torchwood. He wants to know who the hell they are and why the hell they're so important and they can get out of his way… at first. There's a great, fun, sparky, sexy sort of antagonism to the whole thing. Ester is much calmer, but through the course of the story, she suffers some great, powerful, emotional stories as it goes on. In some ways, she's a bit of an innocent abroad and soon learns not to be. And that plays off Gwen's experience with these things. The fact that Gwen still is the most ordinary woman in the world, and Jack's huge perspective of things, having lived for thousands of years… Just telling Rex that he can't die is a hilarious scene. There's a lot of fresh material there that we'll mine, but again the new story will always move us forward.


IGN: Is there room going forward for Jack to have a new love interest? Or will that wait awhile?

Davies: He's not one to wait, is he? And again, that's touching on an area where you don't want to cheapen it and you want to respect it, but at the same time, no one wants to deny Jack his life. As with your friends in real life; If you are unlucky enough or sad enough to know people in these circumstances, you do not want the remaining partner's life to end. So no matter how much he loved Ianto, that love has to become a really positive and enabling thing that will allow Jack to move forward.

IGN: You have a wonderful writing staff for The New World…

Gardner: We were so lucky! Oh my god, they were brilliant together.

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