UPDATED: At Comic-Con, it was officially announced that Torchwood season 3 will air on BBC America shortly after originally airing in the U.K.  Click here for details on Torchwood season 3.

Rumors about the cancellation of Torchwood can now be put to rest as TV Guide confirms directly from Cardiff that the series will return for a third season.  In fact, the new episodes are presently being developed and shooting is expected to start in the middle of August for airing on BB1 in the spring of 2009.

While scripts have been confirmed, Torchwood will not have the usual 13-episode run.  Instead, a single five-episode story arc will be presented, possibly all aired in the same week as a mini-series.

"We've decided to do a five-part mini-series, one big story that will run during one week," Torchwood executive producer Julie Gardner told TV Guide.  "I wanted to make a really big noise about the show."

What happens to Torchwood after that is yet to be known.

Gardner won't reveal too many details about the upcoming season, although she hints on a few things that will hopefully get fans to look forward to the new episodes.  As expected, John Barrowman will return as the dashing bi-sexual adventurer Jack Harkness, along with Eve Myles, who reprises her role as Gwen Cooper.  Additionally, Gardner vows that fans "will be pleased with the casting."

For those who are not familiar, Torchwood is a British science fiction drama that centers on a team that is tasked with keeping an eye on the space/time Rift that runs through the city, and on whatever washes through it.  It also deals with the activities of the Cardiff branch of the fictional Torchwood Institute, which deals mainly with incidents involving extraterrestrials.  Created by Russell T Davies, the show also features Burn Gorman as Dr. Owen Harper, Naoko Mori as Toshiko Sato, and Gareth David-Lloyd as Ianto Jones.


-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: TV Guide
(Image courtesy of BBC)