Doctor Who fans have been clamoring for John Barrowman's Torchwood to return ever since the spinoff series last aired in 2011. Those calls for a revival have sprung up again, and this time, there's a valid reason to justify the calls and even believe there's a chance it could happen.
The latest on the revival front is that the BBC is bringing back its channel BBC Three, the first network home of Torchwood during its four-season run. BBC Three is set to return in 2022, and beyond the fact that audiences are all about television revivals these days, Torchwood celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. If ever there was a time to announce Torchwood will return for Season 5, one would think that time is coming up.
If you're someone who believes there's no such thing as coincidences, you may even suspect there are some talks for a Torchwood revival already happening. Is it a happy coincidence that John Barrowman marked his triumphant return to Doctor Who in Season 12 and the New Year's special when he'd been away from the franchise almost as long as since Torchwood has aired a new episode? I'm not saying the return means anything, but the timing is arguably suspicious, to say the least.
Especially when you think back to "Revolution of the Daleks," in which John Barrowman's Jack directly referenced his intention to reconnect with a Torchwood co-star. Jack bid farewell to The Doctor over the phone and made a point to mention Gwen Cooper sent her love. Jack also mentioned he'd be spending some time with Gwen, which could very well be a subtle nod tease that something is in the works.
So, while it may seem like Torchwood fans are up in arms and generating hype for a revival literally all the time, there is reason to be excited for the moment. The odds look the best they have in a decade that John Barrowman will return, though it's worth noting nothing is guaranteed.
This is especially true in regards to the revival happening on BBC Three, which, as mentioned previously, was only one of the networks to air Torchwood. The series made the jump from BBC Two in Season 2, BBC One in Season 3, then finally there was a co-production between BBC One and Starz for Season 4, which was re-titled Torchwood: Miracle Day. Should the series return, I'm sure there would be many options for a network to take it. BBC Three is an option for the return, but certainly not the only one.
Torchwood is a unique cases, mainly because it was technically never canceled. Showrunner Russell T. Davies put the series on hold after his husband's diagnosis with brain cancer, and the series has been in a strange limbo ever since. The only real successful effort at a revival happened in 2017 in the form of an audio drama, but Gwen actress Eve Myles wasn't quite as involved in the series as Barrowman.
Both Myles and Barrowman have stayed fairly busy since the show's hiatus, so getting them together for a full season could be quite a challenge. It gets doubly hard when adding Russell T. Davies to the equation, who is back in the spotlight thanks to his television series It's A Sin. It wouldn't be hard to believe more projects are heading his way soon, assuming Season 5 of Torchwood isn't already being inked out to conflict with that.
The odds seem better now than in previous years that Torchwood may one day return to television, but fans will have to wait and see if it happens for sure. American audiences can binge the Doctor Who spinoff on HBO Max in the meantime and read about the surprising pick John Barrowman had for the next Doctor right here.
