Mekhi Phifer will play Rex Matheson, a fast-quipping, high-flying CIA agent who collides with John Barrowman and Eve Myles in the upcoming new Torchwood series The New World.

Presumably that collision is in LA rather than Cardiff, but either way, Phifer is the third lead to John Barrowman’s Captain Jack Harkness and Eve Myles doe-eyed Gwen Cooper.

Casting the 8 Mile, ER and Lie To Me actor is an interesting move and certainly suggests the Starz/BBC co-production is genuinely making a push for trans-Atlantic credibility.

No idea how the Welsh brogue is going to play in Pasadena, mind you…

Click here to read about the official Torchwood magazine!