Season 2 sends ‘The Tourist’ from Australia to Ireland
The first season of Jamie Dornan’s “The Tourist” was on Max, and it was meant to be a miniseries. But the Australia-set thriller about a man with amnesia became so popular in the UK — it was one of the most watched dramas there in 2022 — that it’s now back as a regular series. Season 2 premieres on Thursday, this time on Netflix (where season 1 is also now available for those wanting to play catch-up).
On “The Graham Norton Show” last year, Dornan explained the return. “It was sold to me as a one-off,” he said, “but then a lot of people watched it. I took a bit of convincing and the only way I agreed to do it was not to film in Australia again. Five months there with the family was a lot to do again, so I said that if there was a world where we could make it make sense in Ireland then I would do it.” Not surprisingly, writers Harry and Jack Williams found a way to bring the story to Dornan’s home country.
I found the first season compelling, if a bit unnecessarily twisty. The first episode gives us Dornan driving across the Australian outback when he’s suddenly being chased by a truck. They crash, and he wakes in the hospital with no memory. He’s simply The Man. Amnesia is a TV drama cliché, but “The Tourist” gives it some punch as we see the more intimate aspects of knowing nothing about yourself, how not having access to your own history is an existential nightmare.
The Man — his name, it turns out, is Elliot — investigates his own life with the help of a low-level cop (played memorably by Danielle Macdonald) who appears to have a crush on him. I haven’t seen the second season yet — it’s on my long, long list — but Macdonald returns as the two of them wind up looking for information about Elliot in Ireland, where he is promptly kidnapped.
By the way, if you’re a Dornan fan, check out his recent appearance on the podcast “Desert Island Discs.” It’s unexpectedly emotional, as he recalls his family life.