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'Torchwood': Mekhi Phifer joins the team
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"Torchwood" has cast the CIA agent to join Captain Jack in its upcoming season on Starz -- and it's not someone who was rumored to be up for the role a couple months back.Former "ER" star Mekhi Phifer, late of FOX's "Lie to Me," has been cast in a lead role opposite John Barrowman and Eve Myles, Deadline reports. He's playing a CIA agent named Rex Matheson, who "become[s] embroiled in the Torchwood legend and investigate[s] what Torchwood is or was," as creator Russell T. Davies put it last summer. Rex is described as a character who's rising in the agency's ranks and has a very sharp sense of humor.
In casting Phifer, Starz and the BBC (which are co-producing the new season) have gone in a different direction than what was reported earlier in the fall, when "Dollhouse's" Enver Gjokaj and former "One Tree Hill" star Chad Michael Murray were rumored to be in contention for the role. In addition to bringing a little diversity to the cast, Phifer is also a little older than either Gjokaj or Murray and -- to our minds, at least -- projects more of a no-nonsense attitude on screen.
Phifer left "Lie to Me" earlier this year after the show decided to have The Lightman Group cut its ties with the FBI. His credits also include "8 Mile," "Soul Food" and a few episodes of "Curb Your Enthusiasm." He also stars in a Lifetime movie called "Close Quarters" that's set to air next year.
"Torchwood" debuts on Starz in the summer. Thoughts on the casting?
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WHY does this have to be on STARZ????? I won't get to see it as I don't have that channel and we're not about to add it for just one show. Why can't this be done on basic cable? Why didn't BBC America produce and air it? And is their any chance re-runs will be shown on any basic cable channel later? (an article that answers this last question would be good for you to do)
I loved this show when it was done in England by the BBC, but now I may never see it. OH! Will Hulu.com air the show by any chance?
Brilliant Move.
Never heard of the guy, frankly. I'm sure he'll be fine. The Doctor Who franchise had good luck with the last ER veteran it cast - Alex Kingston - so maybe it'll strike gold again.
not trying to be a hater, but he doesn't excite me at all. REALLY would prefer Enver or an unknown or something...Oh well, hopefully he'll be great.
@Steven
Torrents my friend, torrents... I dropped HBO and Showtime this year but still watched Boardwalk Empire, The Big C, and Dexter the day after they aired...
This is horrible casting. Part of what was so great about Torchwood was the closeness of the cast, and the fact Jack Harkness is omnisexual. Adding - and this is going to sound racist - a black man who's known for being ultra straight to the cast and plays a hardcore serious character in everything he does is a horrible decision. It's going to take what was so endearing about Torchwood and try to mainstream it, which is only going to result in Torchwood's failure on Starz and the end of a pretty great show.
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