The latest episode of Doctor Who featured the long-awaited return of Captain Jack Harkness, but it might also have dropped a hint about the show’s spinoff, Torchwood, making a comeback.
After rescuing the Doctor from the Judoon prison, Jack sticks around to help the TARDIS crew fight the ongoing Dalek incursion. And when the threat is finally dealt with, he disappears again, but not without leaving his friend a message first. In the final moments of the episode, just before Ryan and Graham’s tear-jerking goodbye, he calls up the Time Lord to let her know that he’s staying on Earth, saying: “Sorry, lost track of time. Gwen Cooper sends her love by the way. Says she took out a Dalek with a moped and her son’s boxing gloves. Anyway, I’m gonna stick around on Earth and catch up with her. I’ll call you!”
A lot of Whovians absolutely freaked out upon learning that Jack is staying on Earth, and with Gwen, no less. The character was a lead on Torchwood, the Doctor Who spinoff that ran from 2007 to 2011, produced by former showrunner Russell T. Davies. Since current EP Chris Chibnall was also a prominent writer on that series, many fans are all but convinced that the BBC wishes to resurrect it and here are just some of the things they’ve been saying about the tease online.
JACK AND GWEN ARE BACK TOGETHER
PETITION FOR MORE TORCHWOOD ❤️❤️#DoctorWho #RevolutionOfTheDaleks pic.twitter.com/fFOSowR1gu
— Safe Space Who (@SafeSpaceDrWho) January 1, 2021
https://twitter.com/_Winter_Warlock/status/1345097200704086018
So, now that we know for certain that Jack and Gwen are still both on Earth fighting aliens… how about a new Torchwood season?
Please?
…Pretty please? 🙏#DoctorWho pic.twitter.com/Uyosb6tSqD
— Bad Wolf Archives (@BadWolfArchives) January 1, 2021
#DoctorWho and #Torchwood fandom when Gwen Cooper gets a shout-out: pic.twitter.com/OVXgAPSFnt
— Morgan Jeffery (@morganjeffery) January 1, 2021
DOCTOR WHO SPOILERS
ALSO GWEN IS DEFINITELY ALIVE AT THIS POINT IN THE TIME LINE MEANING GWEN AND YAZ CAN RESTART TORCHWOOD PLEASE CHIBNALL I AM BEGGING YOU
— oswin 💙💙 (@yazlovebot) January 1, 2021
The surprise ending in ‘Revolution of the dalek’ is this legend returning when Jack sets up Torchwood x #DoctorWho pic.twitter.com/xbqEKQe4LP
— Safe Space Who (@SafeSpaceDrWho) December 30, 2020
https://twitter.com/JonathanVlogz1/status/1345109956220088320
As you may know, there’s a stark contrast between Doctor Who and Torchwood, both tonally and narratively. After all, the latter was always targeted towards a more adult demographic and featured explicit themes that the main show couldn’t deal with. And as far as spinoffs go, it was actually decent enough to carry its own weight, not to mention that it managed to spawn a dedicated following, if ever a slightly waning one in the past couple of years.
Would you like to see the continuation of Captain Jack’s independent series on the BBC, though? Sound off down below.