Overview
Déjà vu might strike when 2024 arrives, at least when it comes to one of your first TV shows of the year. Jamie Dornan (A Haunting in Venice), Danielle Macdonald (French Exit), amnesia, a past coming back to haunt, an early-January release: the first incredibly easy-to-binge season of The Tourist back in 2022 ticked all of those boxes, and now so will the second next year.
When the series first arrived, it was swiftly renewed for another go-around — and, although plenty is clearly remaining the same, that follow-up does involve one big shakeup. While the initial season of The Tourist was set in Australia with Dornan as the titular figure, the season takes place in Ireland. This time, it's Macdonald's Aussie cop Helen who is travelling abroad.
As the show's just-released first trailer for season two illustrates, however, not being able to recall anything remains part of Dornan's remit as Elliot. The character's lack of memory ties into a plot that bring secrets from his past into play, as well as a family feud.
Audiences will be able to see the end result from Tuesday, January 2 via Stan in Australia and Monday, January 1 via TVNZ+ in New Zealand, with The Tourist season two spanning another six episodes.
Screenwriters Harry and Jack Williams (Baptiste, The Missing, Liar) return as well, but Dornan and Macdonald will have Conor MacNeill, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre), Olwen Fouéré (The Northman), Diarmaid Murtagh (Outlander), Nessa Matthews (Inspektor Jury: Der Tod des Harlekins), Mark McKenna (The Miracle Club) and Francis Magee (Then You Run) for new on-screen company.
If you missed The Tourist's first season, Dornan's Elliot was caught up in a mystery, which unfurled its specifics in cliffhanger-heavy instalments. The show also had fun with its premise — and its onslaught of twists and turns. It knew that zigzagging thrillers that work from a clearcut roadmap should make their familiar pieces feel anything but, and should take their audience along for a wild ride. And, it was well aware that that should all be the case even when largely driving down a recognisable road.
An Irish traveller in Australia, Elliot was run off the street by a steamrolling long-haul truck, sparking his fogginess about his own moniker and everything else about his past. Macdonald's Local Constable Helen Chalmers took a shine to him anyway, but piecing together his history was far from straightforward. His other immediate questions in season one: why is he in the middle of Australia, why does a bomb go off in his vicinity and why is he getting calls from a man trapped in an underground barrel?
Check out the trailer for second season of The Tourist below:
The Tourist season two will start streaming from Tuesday, January 2 via Stan in Australia and Monday, January 1 via TVNZ+ in New Zealand. Read our full review of season one.