• Cast & crew
  • User reviews

The Tourist

Jamie Dornan and Danielle Macdonald in The Tourist (2022)

When a man wakes up in the Australian outback with no memory, he must use the few clues he has to discover his identity before his past catches up with him. When a man wakes up in the Australian outback with no memory, he must use the few clues he has to discover his identity before his past catches up with him. When a man wakes up in the Australian outback with no memory, he must use the few clues he has to discover his identity before his past catches up with him.

  • Harry Williams
  • Jack Williams
  • Jamie Dornan
  • Danielle Macdonald
  • Greg Larsen
  • 342 User reviews
  • 38 Critic reviews
  • 4 wins & 13 nominations total

Episodes 12

Official Trailer 2

  • Helen Chambers

Greg Larsen

  • Lena Pascal

Shalom Brune-Franklin

  • Niamh Cassidy

Ólafur Darri Ólafsson

  • Detective Ruairi Slater

Mark McKenna

  • Fergal McDonnell

Nessa Matthews

  • Orla McDonnell

Diarmaid Murtagh

  • Donal McDonnell

Francis Magee

  • Frank McDonnell

Damon Herriman

  • Detective Inspector Lachlan Rogers

Kamil Ellis

  • Sergeant Rodney Lammon

Damien Strouthos

  • All cast & crew
  • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

The Fall

Did you know

  • Trivia On Tuesday, 22nd March 2022, the British Broadcasting Corporation announced that they have commissioned a 6-episode second series of the drama with further details to be announced.
  • Connections Featured in Jeremy Vine: Episode #5.5 (2022)

User reviews 342

  • paul2001sw-1
  • Jan 31, 2022
  • How many seasons does The Tourist have? Powered by Alexa
  • March 3, 2022 (United States)
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
  • Flinders Ranges, South Australia, Australia
  • All3Media International
  • See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

  • Dolby Digital

Related news

Contribute to this page.

Jamie Dornan and Danielle Macdonald in The Tourist (2022)

  • See more gaps
  • Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Product image

Recently viewed

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, the tourist.

the tourist movie jamie dornan

HBO Max continues stealth drops of some of the best drama mini-series on television. Last year highlights included “The Head” and “ Station Eleven ,” and they start 2022 strongly with the fantastic “The Tourist,” a twisty tale that plays like an Aussie version of “ Fargo .” With sharp dialogue, clever plotting, and career-best work from Jamie Dornan and Danielle Macdonald , this is a great little thriller, a show that constantly keeps you guessing and entertained in equal measure.

The “ Belfast ” and “ Fifty Shades of Grey ” star plays an unnamed man (at least for a while) who is driving through the very remote Australian outback. He stops at a station to use the bathroom, banters with the guy behind the counter, and hits the road again. Looking in the rearview mirror, he sees a truck gaining on him with remarkable speed. The Man twists off the road to avoid it and the trucker follows, revealing through a POV from his cab that this is very intentional—he’s trying to kill this tourist. They race through the desert until The Man’s car crashes. He wakes up in a hospital with no memory of who he is or how he got there.

Enter a small-town officer named Helen Chambers (Macdonald), engaged to an awful man named Ethan ( Greg Larsen ) and thrust into a mystery about who this handsome Irishman is in a hospital bed. When The Man finds a note with a time and a location in his pocket, he heads to a small town called Burnt Ridge, where he meets a woman named Luci ( Shalom Brune-Franklin ) who might know about his past, ends up crossing paths with a sociopath ( Ólafur Darri Ólafsson ) who clearly wants him dead, and gets a phone call from a man who’s been buried underground. And then things get even weirder.

Created by the people behind the excellent “ The Missing ” (which aired stateside on Starz), the writing on “The Tourist” is a metronomic back and forth between reveals and how those reveals propel the narrative in a new direction. Pushing their way through all the chaos are Dornan and Macdonald, both phenomenal. Dornan finds a quirky, unsettled way to play a man who doesn’t know who he is without resorting to the cliché of the lost soul. If anything, he leans into more of a blank slate interpretation of amnesia, playing a guy who’s more open to what comes next because he can’t remember what came before. And Macdonald is charming and so incredibly likable that she becomes the heart of a show that can be cold at times.

Echoes of “ Memento ” and “Fargo” aside, “The Tourist” also has its own quirky personality. Some of those quirks get a bit extreme in late-season episodes in ways I can’t spoil, but the show is never boring. It’s a reminder that the Dornan who was so great in “ The Fall ” is still out there, and I hope it leads him to more bizarre, challenging roles like this one. There’s an argument to be made that there’s an even-better 100-minute movie in this six-episode mini-series, but that’s not the world we’re in right now. A story like this has a better chance to be told in the TV system than the mid-budget film one, and the writers don’t drag their feet or spin their wheels like so many streaming thrillers. They’re constantly moving our hero forward, keeping us uncertain about his past and even his moral center.

Some will argue that “The Tourist” gets too convoluted and I’ll admit that I enjoyed the playful uncertainty of the first half of the season more than the intensity of the second half. Although the show does get deeper in how it unpacks lies we tell ourselves and those we listen to from other people. It turns out that everyone on "The Tourist" has a secret or two, and almost all of them could use a car accident to reset the hole they've dug for themselves. 

I'm not sure how intentional it is but the show never stopped reminding me of some of my favorite early Coen films—the noir danger of “ Blood Simple ,” the open roads of “ Raising Arizona ” (and a bearded hunter who seems unkillable), Macdonald’s very Marge Gunderson character—and yet these nods to greats are embedded in a breakneck plot that never slows down enough to distract from its own inspired storytelling. Take the trip.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

Now playing

the tourist movie jamie dornan

Dune: Part Two

the tourist movie jamie dornan

Code 8 Part II

Marya e. gates.

the tourist movie jamie dornan

Cristina Escobar

the tourist movie jamie dornan

Willie and Me

Matt zoller seitz.

the tourist movie jamie dornan

Accidental Texan

the tourist movie jamie dornan

Space: The Longest Goodbye

Film credits.

The Tourist movie poster

The Tourist (2022)

360 minutes

Jamie Dornan as The Man

Danielle Macdonald as Helen Chambers

Shalom Brune-Franklin as Luci

Damon Herriman as D.I. Lachlan Rogers

Alex Dimitriades as Kostas

Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Billy

Greg Larsen as Ethan Krum

  • Chris Sweeney
  • Daniel Nettheim

Latest blog posts

the tourist movie jamie dornan

When Paul Simon Bombed at the Movies

the tourist movie jamie dornan

Palm Royale is Pretty and Shallow, Which At Least Matches its Characters

the tourist movie jamie dornan

SXSW 2024: Table of Contents

the tourist movie jamie dornan

SXSW 2024: Omni Loop, Desert Road, Things Will Be Different

  • Skip to main content
  • Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

'The Tourist' doesn't know who he is — just that someone wants him dead

thumbnail

John Powers

the tourist movie jamie dornan

In The Tourist, "The Man" (Jamie Dornan) wakes up in a small town hospital in the Australian outback with no idea who he is or how he got there. HBO hide caption

In The Tourist, "The Man" (Jamie Dornan) wakes up in a small town hospital in the Australian outback with no idea who he is or how he got there.

Ever since the birth of mass communications, our culture has been haunted by the idea of amnesia. In high-class books by the likes of George Orwell or Milan Kundera , forgetting becomes a political metaphor for the erasure of truth. Things are less ambitious in pop entertainments like Memento or the Jason Bourne series . There, memory-loss is less a metaphor than a motor — a gimmick to drive the story forward.

This motor purrs like a Ferrari in The Tourist , a hit BBC series playing on HBO Max. Written by the Williams brothers, Harry and Jack — best known here for The Missing and Baptiste — this funny, suspenseful six-part thriller doesn't merely keep us guessing. It keeps its amnesiac hero guessing, too. He knows even less about his own story than we do.

A bearded, muscled-up Jamie Dornan stars as a T-shirt clad Irishman who gets in a car accident and winds up in a small town hospital in the Australian outback. Known simply as "The Man," he doesn't know who he is or how he got there. But soon after he leaves the hospital, he knows one thing for sure: Somebody wants to kill him.

As he seeks to find out who's after him and why, he's helped by two very different women. Luci (Shalom Brune-Franklin) is a waitress who we aren't quite sure what to make of. In contrast, it's easy to trust probationary constable Helen Chambers, played by Danielle Macdonald. Helen's a newbie cop who struggles with her weight and with a fiancé who speaks of her appearance with such passive-aggressive meanness that I kept hoping he'd become one of the show's murder victims.

While The Man's search for his identity is grippingly plotted, the show lets the action breathe. It takes time to enjoy his encounters with a wide range of oddball types, be it a goofy chess-playing pilot, a Greek mobster, the affably nutty woman who offers him lodging, or the enormous, cowboy-hatted hitman who has the self-satisfied theatricality of an escapee from a Tarantino movie. That said, The Man knows he must keep moving to stay alive.

For all The Tourist 's inventiveness — Episode 5 is a trip — it reminds us that even good pop culture is often derivative. The show's opening car crash sequence mimics the Steven Spielberg movie Duel . More importantly, the Williams brothers are pretty clearly doing a Down Under riff on Fargo . Their series offers the same blend of violence and barbed humor, the same mythologizing of bleak, underpopulated places, and the same cavalcade of viciousness and folly that brings out the heroism in an ordinary person.

The show's moral center is Helen, who, in Macdonald's sensational performance, has our sympathy from the get-go. Her work is so scene-stealingly good that I would call this a career-making performance if I hadn't already said this about Macdonald's electric work as an aspiring New Jersey rapper in the indie film Patti Cake$ .

Helen's transparent goodness makes her the perfect counterpoint to The Man, a handsome hunk who's a mystery, even to himself. It's a great role for Dornan, who, earlier in his career, had a slightly synthetic prettiness that made him ideal for creepy characters like the S&M billionaire in Fifty Shades of Grey . Here, he's a bit older, thicker, and rougher. And just as Brad Pitt often seems liberated when his good looks are masked a bit, Dornan gives his best performance as a man who isn't sure whether or not he's the hero of his own life.

Over the course of the six episodes, The Man struggles to learn whether, back before his accident, he was a good guy or a bad guy. And if he had been a villain, does he have to stay one, even after he starts remembering his past? I won't reveal what he discovers, though I feel obligated to say that you won't get a definitive answer this season. You'll have to watch Season 2 of The Tourist , not yet made, which I bet you will be more than happy to do.

  • International edition
  • Australia edition
  • Europe edition

In six-part TV series The Tourist, Jamie Dornan joins a coterie of famous foreign actors who have been plonked in the thick of arid Australian land and left to fry in the sun for our dramatic amusement.

The Tourist review – Jamie Dornan is intense in explosively entertaining outback thriller

An Irishman wakes up in Australia with amnesia in this pulse-pounding series packed with humour and philosophical questions

F anging it down an outback road when he is rammed by a truck driver from hell, Jamie Dornan experiences a terrible accident that gives him amnesia – making him forget about all that bondage paraphernalia from Fifty Shades of Grey .

In the explosively entertaining six-part series The Tourist, created and written by Harry and Jack Williams, the Irish actor and former Hugo Boss and Calvin Klein studmuffin plays a louche loner who can’t remember who is he, what he is doing in Australia or why he appears to have “kill me” stamped figuratively speaking across his forehead.

Dornan joins a coterie of famous foreign actors who have been plonked in the thick of arid, unforgiving Australian land and left to fry in the sun for our dramatic amusement. See also: Gary Bond in Wake in Fright , who drank a lot of beer and went mad; Dennis Hopper in Mad Dog Morgan , who drank a lot of moonshine and went mad; Johnathon Schaech in Welcome to Woop Woop , who spent a lot of time with the locals and went mad; and soon to be Zac Efron in Gold, who, the trailer suggests, finds gold in them thar desert and then goes mad.

Come to think of it, Dornan’s character in The Tourist – billed as “The Man” – is pretty sane compared with these rather rabid fellows. He’s like Guy Pearce in Memento in that he’s determined but displaced (in this instance geographically as well as mentally) and constantly banging against the walls of his own mind. If the whole being rammed into near-oblivion wasn’t enough, “The Man” is also a mite concerned when, after meeting the friendly and charming Luci (Shalom Brune-Franklin) at a diner, there appears to be another (rather spectacular) attempt on his life.

The show’s central mystery has something to do with a man who has been buried alive and calls “The Man” from inside a barrel, begging to be found post-haste. Director Chris Sweeney (who helmed episodes one to three, with Daniel Nettheim steering the others) shoves a camera inside a tight coffin-esque space, evoking memories of Ryan Reynolds in Buried.

A big, beefy, cowboy shirt-wearing villain emerges in Billy (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), who whistles cheerfully but with absolute menace, his merry tune a harbinger of impending doom. In the series’ second half, Alex Dimitriades emerges as another prominent bad guy, hamming it up in super-villain style.

Jamie Dornan as ‘The Man’ with Luci (Shalom Brune-Franklin)

Certain characters aren’t who they say they are, though that does not apply to Helen Chambers – a fair dinkum what-you-see-is-what-you-get probationary constable battling with low self-esteem. She is superbly portrayed by Danielle Macdonald (who played the gossip columnist Lillian Roxon in I am Woman ), bringing loads of colour and detail to what could have been the simple sweet hick. Macdonald’s performance vividly contrasts with the rough and tough Dornan – also perfect in a high-intensity role as a man who is something of a blank slate, frightened by who he is or who he may be. There are philosophical questions about identity to ponder – if viewers pause for a breather and stop chewing their nails – including to what extent each of us are defined by our past actions.

There’s also an oddly good performance from the ever-reliable Damon Herriman, offsetting his recent menacing work by playing a detective inspector in a way that’s both funny weird and funny ha-ha, suiting the show’s quite dry approach to comedy. Many scenes are humorous in a cagey way, sans explicit signposting: at one point for instance we discover a traffic pile-up has been created by two turtles rooting in the middle of the road. Elsewhere, in the aftermath of an intense confrontation, in a shot one could imagine belonging to a Coen brothers movie, the show cuts to a framed picture on a wall bearing the following message: “LIFE IS MADE OF CHOICES. WIPE YOUR FEET OR SCRUB THE FLOOR.”

Damon Herriman as Detective Inspector Lachlan Rogers.

The Tourist is very well shot by Ben Wheeler and Geoffrey Hall (who was also the cinematographer for Chopper , Red Dog: True Blue and Eden ), with colour grading that’s a little off, a little sickly, as if the blues and greens (hard to find in arid outback) in particular have been poisoned from the inside. This is a clever way of visualising the feeling that something isn’t quite right. Sweeney and Nettheim (whose directorial work includes episodes of Halifax: Retribution , Tidelands and Line of Duty) establish a cracker pace that creeps, creeps, creeps up on you, then explodes with a great big thunderclap of action then creeps, creeps, creeps up again.

The “bugger me dead, it’s hot!” action-thriller, as it shall henceforth be known, is by now very familiar, but The Tourist is different: a pulse-pounder that feels fresh despite many genre elements, particularly of the neo-noir variety. The show has a great forwards and backwards momentum, contrasting cliffhanger moments with questions about the past and the ambiguities therein. It’s a vision of Australiana that’s less “ where the bloody hell are you? ” than who the bloody hell are you, and what the bloody hell will happen next? And – summarising my personal response – bloody hell, this is good.

  • Australian television
  • Jamie Dornan

Comments (…)

Most viewed.

  • The A.V. Club
  • The Takeout
  • The Inventory

Jamie Dornan’s turn in The Tourist will make you forget about Christian Grey

With the belfast star in the driver’s seat, hbo max’s six-part series piles on the twists, turns, and the occasional acid trip.

Image for article titled Jamie Dornan’s turn in The Tourist will make you forget about Christian Grey

It takes a big person to admit that they were wrong, which makes it so hard for an actor to shift the established opinion of them within the culture and critical establishment. It seems that HBO’s The Tourist may just do something truly Herculean, and make all the Jamie Dornan naysayers admit he’s actually a pretty good actor.

Not that people were without reason to doubt Dornan’s talents. When he first came to international attention, it was as Christian Grey, a kinky but bland billionaire in the 50 Shades trilog y. Those films were never considered high art, but have aged like warm milk, along with Dornan’s comments that he researched his role as the serial killer in The Fall by stalking unsuspecting women. But credit where it’s due—Dornan now joins the ranks of Robert Pattin son, Kristen Stewart, and former co-star Dakota Johnson as a person who made interesting choices after their franchise ended and looks to become one of our credible millennial actors. The actor delighted audiences in recent hits like Barb And Star Go To Vista Del Mar and Belfast .

This six-episode HBO Max series starts with one of the great tropes of melodramas—total amnesia befalls a handsome stranger after a terrible car crash, leaving him unable to remember so much as his own name. A kindly rookie police officer named Helen (Danielle Macdonald) takes pity on him and hopes to help him recover some, if not all, of his memories. Armed with nothing more than a note with a restaurant name and a time, the man sets out on his quest to figure out who he is and what he is doing in the remote Australian outback. To say much more would spoil much of the fun, and boy, is The Tourist fun. Some of the early twists follow may well-worn paths, but there’s no way to predict the roller-coaster ride ahead.

Macdonald gets to use her native Australian accent to play a character with parallels to Fargo ’s beloved Marge Gunderson, a folksy moral compass whose instincts prove invaluable. But where Marge was a well-respected detective in a loving marriage, Helen can only dream of the same. She is undermined both professionally and personally. One of the most enjoyable supporting characters is her spectacularly awful fiancé Ethan (Greg Larsen), who shames her for eating burgers, complains about her desire for high thread-count sheets, and labels her ambition as “delusions of grandeur” (which he repeatedly mispronounces). Even in a world of abundant brutality, it’s not hard to want a little more of it pointed in Ethan’s direction. It’s a credit to Larsen’s performance that he creates a man so intolerable, it’s worth continuing watching just for Helen’s inevitable realization that she’s far too good for him.

Though a good breakup is reason enough to stay engaged, The Tourist also does great cinematic work in its action sequences. We open with the amnesia-causing incident, where Dornan, driving alone in a dusty compact car through the Outback, singing along to Kim Carne s’ “Bette Davis Eyes,” is pursued by a giant truck. At first, it seems like he’s just come across an asshole driver, but the moment it clicks that this is a many-wheeled high-speed weapon is utterly terrifying. The chase feels more horror film than TV action sequence, a tone that runs throughout the many moments of violence The Tourist puts on screen. Every crunch of bone, severed artery, and choke of breath feels visceral and impressively horrific. Much like Fargo , part of the fun of The Tourist is breaking up humorous moments among sweet local eccentrics with breathtaking cruelty. And those tonal shifts are expertly employed by the supporting cast, particularly Shalom Brune-Franklin, Damon Herriman, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, and Alex Dimitriades, who pack all the intrigue of film noir alongside some great humor and convincing derangement.

Twists aside, The Tourist lags in the middle act, but is buoyed by a distinctly adult tone—there’s a gameness to it that makes the scary, horny, and darkly comic elements work well in tandem. Each twist (and they’re deployed every 15 minutes or so) beyond the second episode lands with full weight, particularly in the final episode where Dornan’s acting chops reach their apex.

It’s hard to imagine that The Tourist will have a seismic impact—the era of excellent television is a thankfully crowded one, and little here breaks new ground. But it’s an absolute hoot to travel down the series’ dusty Australian roads, taking in the trippy, almost Lynchian tangents through fractured minds and broken memories. Anti-hero narratives are familiar for a reason, and The Tourist keeps them as compelling as ever; even when it treads familiar territory, it’s never a bore. The paradigm of TV thrillers may not be shifted, but many people’s perceptions o f Jamie Dornan will never be the same.

Screen Rant

The tourist ending explained by jamie dornan.

The Tourist star Jamie Dornan opens up about the HBO Max mystery action series, shedding light on that shocking and disturbing final reveal.

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for The Tourist .

Jamie Dornan opens up about the shocking ending of The Tourist . Created by Harry and Jack Williams, The Tourist centers on The Man (played by Dornan) who wakes up in a hospital with zero memory of who he is and how he got there. Spending the first of six episodes in a state of utter uncertainty, Dornan’s protagonist is helped along by Helen Chamber (Danielle Macdonald) , and the traffic cop helps The Man uncover the details behind the horrific car crash that led to his amnesia.

By the finale of the Australian-set series, it’s revealed that The Man is a drug smuggler named Elliot. Confronted by Lena Pascal (Victoria Haralabidou), a woman Elliot consistently has visions of, it becomes clear that Elliot’s actions in smuggling heroin inside people’s bodies led to the painful death of two women. It also led to Lena’s disfigurement, all of which she details in a searing monologue that makes plain how awful Elliot was before the crash and why someone would want him dead. This leads Elliot to the same conclusion, too, as he attempts to take his own life.

Related: HBO Max: Every Movie & TV Show Coming In March 2022

Speaking with EW to promote The Tourist , which is currently streaming on HBO Max , Dornan opened up about how difficult it was to film that reveal. The actor admits that it broke him, detailing how uncomfortable and uneasy it made him feel. Dornan’s quote is included below.

“It was crazy, that. So much of this character and this performance for me is, like any performance, you’re trying to stay present, but never more so than when everything is information that you’ve never heard before, particularly if it’s awful information, like that scene. I felt very raw in that moment, I felt very exposed, and vulnerable and kind of awful and terrible about myself. She was doing such beautiful work in front of me and it was having the impact that I felt that it should have. Sometimes you get yourself in a place where you feel so broken that you can’t actually stop crying. [Laughs] I felt a bit like that that day in a good way, I guess. I felt very exposed, very vulnerable. You know, it’s hard stuff to hear, the hardest stuff to hear, so a lot of that luckily was on the page for me in terms of the writing. But, yeah, not an easy day, that.”

Dornan, who goes on to mention that there have been conversations about a possible second season, previously spoke about how The Tourist was his most difficult role because he didn’t know anything about The Man. To go from there, only to learn of the banal evil of this protagonist had to have been as much a punch in the gut for Dornan as it was for the audience. For most of the HBO Max drama, Elliot is positioned as a good guy. Gruff, sure, and certainly flawed, but ultimately the hero of the story alongside Helen. It’s a difficult last-minute switch that Dornan sells perfectly.

Still, even though the reveal leads the audience down a dark path, it ends with hope. It’s heavily implied that Elliot survives his suicide attempt and begins a relationship with Helen. Perhaps, it suggests, in the long-run, that the memory loss provides Elliot with a chance to be a new person. It also opens the door for The Tourist season 2. And maybe, given that many viewers and critics enjoyed the lighter and more experimental aspects of the series, a second outing won’t have quite as bleak a twist.

More: Jamie Dornan Interview: The Tourist

Advertisement

Supported by

‘The Tourist’ Thrills, but Doesn’t Take Itself Too Seriously

Even though the six-episode series, airing on HBO Max, is gripping and full of surprises, its creators made sure to include some offbeat humor.

  • Share full article

the tourist movie jamie dornan

By Desiree Ibekwe

LONDON — After his car is rammed off the road by a mystery driver in a truck, a Northern Irishman wakes up in a hospital in the Australian outback with no memory of who he is. “I keep telling myself to just try and remember,” he tells the police officer that comes to take his statement, “but it’s like trying to make yourself fly.”

That is the starting gun for “The Tourist,” a six-part limited series that premieres Thursday on HBO Max. After the man, played by Jamie Dornan (“ Belfast ”), leaves the hospital, it becomes clear he was involved in some murky business in his former life, and someone definitely wants him dead.

The opening premise would suggest a typical thriller. Memory loss is a familiar plot device for the genre (see: “Memento,” “The Bourne Identity” et al). “The Tourist,” which first aired on the BBC in Britain this year, is similar in form to the broadcaster’s other tense, tight shows, such as “ The Night Manager ” and “ Bodyguard .”

Unlike those offerings, “The Tourist” adds more offbeat humor and touches of the surreal to a gripping central plot that still provides car chases, shootouts and international criminal outfits.

When he first read the script, Dornan found it surprising, he said in a recent interview. “Any time I thought it was one thing, or I had a handle on where it was heading, it was altered,” he said. “It was sometimes really subtle, and sometimes it was a big whack over the head.”

As the episodes unfurl, rooting for the confused, likable character becomes a little more complicated. In a recent interview, Dornan said that when he first read the script he wondered if the audience would still be on the man’s side, “searching for the answers when they find out what some of the answers are.”

Dornan’s character is joined in his hunt for answers by the police officer from the hospital, Helen Chambers ( Danielle Macdonald ), who is on her first assignment off traffic duty. She feels strangely compelled to help the man, who also finds assistance from Luci Miller (Shalom Brune-Franklin), a waitress he meets at a cafe.

The show’s setting in small-town Australia helps provide comic relief through characters like a hapless but well-meaning rookie police officer and the elderly owners of a bed-and-breakfast. Amid the chaos and danger, there are scenes that tip into the wholesome and heartwarming.

Helen, the police officer, is also an unlikely thriller protagonist: kind, honest and unassuming. Macdonald sees her character as the show’s “Everywoman,” she said in a recent interview. When we first meet Helen, it is clear that she is unhappy and underestimated, by herself and her fiancé.

Macdonald said that she had spent some time figuring out the character’s role in the plot. “The rest of the show is so dark and Helen was so light,” she said. “It ended up balancing really nicely.”

The show’s writers and creators, the brothers Jack and Harry Williams, have become known for conventional thrillers such as the Golden Globe-nominated show “ The Missing .” “The Tourist” came from a desire to do something different. “It’s the kind of show we’d watch, it’s the kind of show we really enjoy doing,” Jack said.

The brothers also have experience with dark-hearted television comedies, having been executive producers on Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s “ Fleabag ” and on Daisy Haggard’s “ Back to Life .” Their latest show, then, was about “bridging that gap, because having made comedies and made drama, it just felt like a natural place for us to operate,” Harry Williams said.

They brought on Chris Sweeney, who also worked on “Back to Life,” to direct half of the series. Despite wanting to work on nondirectorial projects at the time, Sweeney said that he had been won over. “I don’t like straight thrillers, it’s not my thing, but I like things that use a device to talk about what is human existence in a playful way,” he said in a video interview.

“The Tourist” questions not only how the past defines us, but also — through the character trajectories of both the central character and of Helen — the other things we lean on to build our identities. Sweeney said that he felt the script had the “personality” of films he loves within the thriller genre, like the work of the Coen brothers. He described elements of the show as a “love letter” to those films, with scenes that evoke “ No Country for Old Men ” and Steven Soderbergh’s “Out of Sight.”

Dornan was initially a little concerned about the show’s genre medley. While shooting in Australia, “the three of us, Shalom, Danielle and I, we were all in equal parts terrified at different moments because of the comedy and the drama, and how to find the comfortable line there,” he said. “I was a bit like, are people going to know what this is, or where to hang their hat on it?”

In Britain, at least, the concerns seem to have been unfounded. When “The Tourist” arrived on the BBC’s streaming service on New Year’s Day, it was met with glowing reviews and quickly became the platform’s third-most successful drama opening to date.

Jack Williams said he thought that the show had resonated with audiences, in part, because of its escapist quality, adding that it “isn’t trying to reflect back some of the angst and misery that everyone’s been experiencing for a few years.”

As well as diving into a mystery, viewers of “The Tourist” are transported to a stark, almost otherworldly landscape. The show was filmed across several different locations in the sprawling expanse of southern Australia, where you can “point the camera anywhere and it just looks incredible,” Harry Williams noted. “That said, we had to travel quite a lot of hours within the outback in order to get that desired effect,” he added.

The travel contributed to the shoot’s lasting five months, a period of filming that was also stretched by the ambition of the show: The opening car chase sequence was filmed over two weeks. “It was the hardest job I’ve ever done,” Dornan said. “It’s the longest job I’ve ever done.”

With the show’s success in Britain has come discussion about the possibility of a second season. The show was conceived as a self-contained mini-series, similar to the BBC’s other six-part shows. That “less is more” approach contrasts with the sprawling nature of much of American network television; Showtime’s thriller “Homeland,” for example, ran for eight seasons and 96 episodes.

Tommy Bulfin, a BBC drama commissioning editor, said in an email that, while the broadcaster has a “tradition of doing six episode runs,” ultimately the practice of doing shorter productions was down to the subject matter. “I think the key to the success of these shows is that they’re all excellent examples of brilliantly crafted stories,” he said.

The Williams brothers echoed that sentiment. In thinking about the length of “The Tourist,” the story took precedence. “You have to kind of follow that and the natural course that it would take and not try and squeeze out more,” Harry said. The pair wouldn’t rule out the possibility of a second season, but added that they were cautious about doing so.

“There is no perfect length, just like there’s no perfect length for a book,” Harry Williams said. “But there is an appropriate length for a story.”

Desiree Ibekwe is a news assistant on the Audio team. Before joining The Times in 2020, she was a reporter at Broadcast Magazine and completed a fellowship at The Economist.  More about Desiree Ibekwe

Explore More in TV and Movies

Not sure what to watch next we can help..

Kobi Libii, the writer and director of the movie “The American Society of Magical Negroes,” has made a satire that may feel primed to be provocative. He responded to some of the discourse .

Hunting murderers, delivering babies or guarding inmates, the Danish TV actress Sofie Grabol plays women who try to keep their country safe , our critic writes.

Fifty years ago, “Free to Be … You and Me,” a TV landmark, took the revolution to the playground, showing Gen X kids that no one else  had the right to tell you who you were.

After six years on “Supergirl,” the actor and producer Melissa Benoist took a crash course in political journalism  to prepare for “The Girls on the Bus,” a new Max series.

If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings   on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime  and Hulu  to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

Sign up for our Watching newsletter  to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.

More From Forbes

Jamie dornan says ‘the tourist’ is a mad love story amid anarchy.

  • Share to Facebook
  • Share to Twitter
  • Share to Linkedin

Jamie Dornan portrays a man with no memory in the Netflix series 'The Tourist.'

In The Tourist , Jamie Dornan portrays a man who wakes up in a hospital in the Australian outback with no memory. He cannot recall his name or anything about his life. His Irish accent clues him into the fact that he’s a long way from home but other than that, he’s got nothing to go on.

At first, he seems like a nice enough guy but it’s soon clear he has done some terrible things. Several people want him dead. It’s an actor’s dream to play a character who teeters the line between good and evil with such dexterity, and for Dornan, it’s exactly the type of role he seeks.

When asked in a recent interview how he sees this mystery man, Dornan explained how tough it is to label him as good or bad. After a pause, he said, “He’s a victim of his circumstances.”

Like his character, who viewers come to know as Elliot, the series itself cannot be put into any specific box. It is a drama, a mystery, a comedy, and a love story with a throughline that challenges the classifications of good versus evil.

Elliot’s luck seems to turn around when local Probationary Constable Helen Chambers (Danielle Macdonald) visits him at the hospital following the car crash that erased his memory. She’s there initially to help him put the pieces of his life together, but they soon form a unique friendship that leads to love.

Season One debuted on February 1 on Netflix, but some fans caught it on Max, where it was originally streaming. Now, Netflix is the show’s exclusive home for Season Two, which premiered on February 29.

Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Of 2024

Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024.

The first season is set in the desert of the Australian outback, while the second season takes place against the lush greenery of Ireland. As the viewer sees throughout the 12-episode series, good people can do bad things and vice versa. So, what kind of a man is Elliot? Is he a good guy who has done some bad things? Or, is he a bad guy with a proclivity for goodness?

“It’s tough because we want to be on his side. The whole idea of the show hinges on the audience rooting for him,” said Dornan, admitting it’s a challenge to keep him likable when details of his dark past surface.

Back to the multi-genre nature of the series, Dornan concludes that the comedic moments Elliot is thrown into, help show a different side of his character.

“The silly scenes allow the bad things he did to get diluted into this sort of mad pulp of a stew that this show is. So, it’s not straightforward in that you get told he did that bad thing so he’s a bad person. The Tourist is never that black and white. I think, ultimately, there’s a real goodness there. I think he’s a good person.”

Elliot is accused of causing the horrific deaths of a few women, but we are not certain what he’s told is true. How can this guy that we’ve been watching have done such things?

Dornan became a household name stateside after he took on the Fifty Shades of Grey movie franchise. He’s also had success with television series, including The Fall and Belfast , that were first popular overseas before premiering in the U.S.

The Tourist is following suit as it was a huge hit in Europe and now American audiences have discovered it. While the first season centers on the mystery of who this man is, how he got to Australia, and why he’s being hunted, the new season is an origin story with his return to Ireland with Helen to find answers about his past.

Dornan welcomed the challenge of portraying a man with amnesia. “I recognized a fair amount of myself in him in terms of how he was reacting to the scenarios that he found himself in and his disbelief about the things he found out about himself. Even in times of real darkness, I’m the guy who makes the joke too soon.”

As for taking on characters who do bad things, Dornan enjoys a deep exploration into the complexities of the human condition. “I’m all for leaning into humanity in every shape and form. Not every character is going to be inherently good. I’ve played characters that are flawed and I’m comfortable with that. I don’t have to like them, but I do have to find a place where I understand them.”

Again, Dornan speaks to human nature and how we are all victims of and influenced by our circumstances. “I think if you understood how he got there, and who put him there, you might give him a break. As humans, we are products of our environment, and if you’ve gone through something horrific as a child, chances are you’re taking that out on the world in some capacity later on in life.”

As for the love story between Elliot and Helen, Dornan says it’s an unlikely union that makes perfect sense. “The only way for Elliot to be saved and lead any hint of a normal life is if Helen is with him by his side. It’s a mad, mad love story amid anarchy.”

When asked about the possibility of a third season, Dornan smiled. “Conversations are being had.”

Dana Feldman

  • Editorial Standards
  • Reprints & Permissions

The Cinemaholic

Is The Tourist on Netflix, Hulu, Prime, or HBO Max?

Mirza Aaqib Beg of Is The Tourist on Netflix, Hulu, Prime, or HBO Max?

Written and co-produced by Harry Williams and Jack Williams, ‘The Tourist’ is a mystery thriller series that stars Jamie Dornan, Danielle Macdonald, and Shalom Brune-Franklin in pivotal roles. The show focuses on a British man with amnesia who somehow ends up in the red heart of the Australian outback and is struggling to make sense of his current situation in his disoriented state.

As if struggling to remember ones’ past was not terrible enough, the protagonist finds out that he is being actively pursued by ghosts of his past which makes the search for answers even more urgent and critical. Curious to learn more about ‘The Tourist’ and why it has been garnering so much buzz since its release? Well, you have come to right the place. Here’s everything you need to know.

What is The Tourist About?

When a British man finally comes to his senses, he realizes that he is being actively chased by a vast tank truck that is trying to push him to drive him off the road. However, for some strange reason, he cannot recall how he ended up in the Australian outback, and to make matters worse, he has no recollection of his past life or who he is. As the countless question makes his head spin, he then suddenly finds himself in a hospital with several injuries. Unfortunately, he is still just as clueless about his past and realizes that he must find answers soon as merciless figures with some inexplicable goal continue to pursue him.

Is The Tourist on Netflix?

Netflix subscribers will have to look for the show on some other platform since it is currently not a part of the streaming giant’s present catalog. However, we recommend our readers alternatively stream ‘ Open Your Eyes .’

Is The Tourist on Hulu?

Sadly, people with Hulu’s basic subscription cannot watch the mystery thriller on the website. However, if you get a Hulu’s HBO Max add-on for $14.99/month, then you can watch all exclusive content, including ‘The Tourist.’ You can learn more about it here .

Is The Tourist on Amazon Prime?

Amazon Prime’s current offering does not include ‘The Tourist.’ The show is also not available for rent/purchase on the platform. Therefore, Prime subscribers can instead watch other somewhat shows like ‘ Black Box .’

Is The Tourist on HBO Max?

In the United States, ‘The Tourist’ is released on March 3, 2022, as an HBO Max Original series. Therefore, people who wish to watch the show must get a subscription to the streamer. In case you are already subscribed, you can watch all the episodes here .

Where to Watch The Tourist Online?

People living in the United Kingdom can watch the Jamie Dornan-starrer on BBC iPlayer . In case you are from Australia, then you can find all the episodes on Stan .

How to Stream The Tourist for Free?

Although HBO Max no longer comes with a free trial, Stan gives subscribers a 30-day free trial, while Hulu’s HBO Max add-on gives people a 7-day time period to experience its services. So, one can use the aforementioned offers to watch the show without paying anything. However, we encourage our readers to refrain from using illegal means.

Read More: Who is Lena Pascal in The Tourist, Explained

SPONSORED LINKS

The Cinemaholic Sidebar

  • Movie Explainers
  • TV Explainers
  • About The Cinemaholic

an image, when javascript is unavailable

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy . We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

‘The Tourist’ Review: Jamie Dornan’s Slow Burn Amnesia Drama Is a Boring Ultimatum

Steve greene.

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share to Flipboard
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Show more sharing options
  • Submit to Reddit
  • Post to Tumblr
  • Print This Page
  • Share on WhatsApp

Having a main character who can’t remember anything can be an incredibly freeing and constricting prospect all at once. Rarely does a story get the opportunity to follow someone with as close to a blank slate as you can get. But without the shortcuts of a protagonist with a baseline amount of knowledge about themselves, there’s a lot of gaps left to be filled by those on the periphery of that life. When presented the choice between these two possibilities, the new HBO Max original “ The Tourist ” opts for a heavy dose of the latter. What seems at the outset like a chance for Jamie Dornan to do some heavy existential lifting never quite makes good on that promise. Instead, “The Tourist” eventually settles into a conventional web of TV intrigue with one convenient mind wipe at the center.

“The Tourist” starts out coy, presenting Dornan as a nameless traveler through the Australian outback. Methodically going about his journeys across stretches of empty desert, he’s soon set upon by a big rig intent on driving him off the road. Quicker than you can read the plot synopsis for “Duel,” our would-be hero flips over in a mangled hail of shatterproof glass and twisted metal. When he finally wakes up later in the hospital, he can’t remember his name or what led him there.

Related Stories ‘Apples Never Fall’ Review: Annette Bening’s Peacock Mystery Taps Enough Juicy Twists to Bear Fruit Oscars Review: Great Winners — and a Greater Gosling — Sustain a Show Out of Step with Itself

So begins a thorny, interlocking mess of personal histories and frustrations, one that draws in just about everyone who tries to help out This Man as he pieces together facts from scraps of paper and grainy surveillance footage from cameras at roadside outfits. He has two main helpers in this quest. Helen Chambers (Danielle Macdonald), the traffic patrol officer initially in charge of taking This Man’s statement, decides to offer a helping hand to help him get back on his feet after he’s literally back on his feet. A chance meeting and a surprise result of a trip to the diner brings him in the orbit of another potential helper Luci (Shalom Brune-Franklin).

Luci’s entrance is a jolt to the series’ dour energy, but it kickstarts a new wave of action-thriller hangups that “The Tourist” ultimately never quite shakes. This Man may not remember who he is, but there are certainly others who do. One of them is Billy (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), a no-nonsense tracker with a smooth husky baritone and a snappy red velvet fedora. (Incidentally, Ólafsson is maybe the only cast member who seems to be really enjoying himself here.) Each new addition to this menacing collection of interested parties — also including a Major Crimes detective (Damon Herriman) and a few shadowy entrepreneurs — tips the scale further from a thoughtful examination of a person’s attempts at fashioning a new life to a pedestrian cat-and-mouse hunt.

Ep1. Stars Jamie Dornan and Danielle Macdonald.

“The Tourist” slowly pulls the curtain back on This Man as the character gets some answers of his own. Even in doing that, this show has a weird relationship to urgency. The writing team of Harry and Jack Williams start out this series with life-or-death stakes and then try to graft some intimate small-scale storytelling on top of it. Helen’s home life gradually curdles as the attention from her fiancé Ethan (Greg Larsen) grows less sweet with each passing interaction. She’s the prime example of one of the main assumptions of “The Tourist”: that anyone assisting This Man recover from a traumatic accident must therefore have their own requisite trauma to be in a position to help. While those parallels may work in theory, it only ends up pulling the show in plenty of directions it doesn’t have the grace to handle.

There’s admittedly some dark comedy to be found in the idea of trying to sort out your own memories and mostly finding people who want you dead. In that way Dornan is a flexible enough presence to be able to handle his own in the show’s more physical moments while also being a bit goofy. (He’s not as locked in as he is when singing to seagulls , but then again, who on Earth is?) Against the backdrop of an increasing amount of bloodshed, those tension-cutting moments never have quite enough bite to justify themselves. It’s more indicative of a simple origin story stretched thin over too much empty, arid landscape.

It’s only when the show makes its grand breakthrough in the final third that “The Tourist” gets a much needed influx of energy. Still, it’s another example of something in this show that feels like it should work in the abstract, but in practice simply feels like slapping on an extra layer without properly seeding that spirit throughout. It doesn’t help that what ultimately boils down to a sentence-long explanation of the root of This Man’s troubles is laden with a bevy of unnecessary detail that adds little to the ultimate payoff. This Man may be wrestling with whether or not he’s a good person, but it’s drowned out by a host of distractions in service of tidying up every last possible dangling thread.

“The Tourist” is so committed to explaining each last puzzle piece that it seems incompatible with what’s compelling about this premise. This is a show that wants points for delving into the ambiguity of human memory, all while laying out the circumstances of This Man’s pre-accident life and leaving precious little to the imagination. When the people around him largely exist for a specific purpose, it’s hard to keep caring about them once they’ve fulfilled that role (if they’re even alive once it’s done). Any unconventional way that “The Tourist” lays out its grand design is more in service of a show built around withholding information rather than being a way to better understand the man fighting for his life in the middle of it.

“The Tourist” is now available to stream on HBO Max.

Most Popular

You may also like.

Would Banning TikTok Be a Boon or Bummer for Hollywood?

the tourist movie jamie dornan

Jamie Dornan finds new Netflix role with bonkers twins twist

Jamie Dornan is set to star in Netflix’s new crime noir series The Undertow, Variety exclusively reported.

The series is based on the Nordisk Film Production show of the same name from Kristoffer Metcalfe. The Irish actor will play twin brother Adam and Lee. Dornan will be joined by Mackenzie Davis, Iain De Caestecker and Gary Lewis.

The series’ official logline reads: “Suffocating in a loveless marriage to Adam (Dornan), Nicola’s (Davis) life takes a dramatic turn when Adam’s long-estranged identical twin brother Lee (Dornan) comes crashing back into her life, and their tangled romantic past threatens to destroy the present. A split-second decision and a terrible accident drives Nicola to protect her children, and over the course of one week, Lee and Nicola are forced together, struggling to maintain a web of secrets and lies. Though they can’t ignore their feelings for each other, they both know they’re living on borrowed time.”

The show will start production later in the year, filming on location in the Scottish Highlands and Islands. The series is written by Sarah Dollard, Hanna Jameson, Scout Cripps and Kam Odedra. Dollard and Dornan will also serve as executive producers.

Dornan was more recently seen in the thriller The Tourist. Its second season premiered in January. He also starred in The Fall for the BBC. He earned nomination for a BAFTA TV award for best leading actor.

However, Dornan is probably more well-known as Christian Grey in the Fifty Shades franchise which were based on E.L. James’ novels of the same name. He co-starred with Dakota Johnson in all three movies, the first of which was released in 2015 and the last in 2018.

His other film credits include last year’s A Haunting in Venice and Heart of Stone, 2021’s Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar and 2018’s A Private War. The actor was nominated for a 2022 Golden Globe award for best supporting actor in a motion picture for the Kenneth Branagh-helmed Belfast.

The post Jamie Dornan finds new Netflix role with bonkers twins twist appeared first on ClutchPoints .

03/14/24

The Tourist Should Ditch This Character After Season 2

Despite his comedic timing, one character in particular should not return in a potential third season of The Tourist.

  • Season 2 of The Tourist shifts focus to Ireland with new characters, leaving little room for recurring ones.
  • Ethan Krum undergoes a transformation in Season 2, bringing comedic relief but may not fit in a possible Season 3.
  • Despite his growth, Ethan should be left behind in The Tourist to make room for more important characters.

Warning: Minor spoilers for The Tourist . Season 2 of The Tourist was recently released on Netflix , and since then, the series has sat comfortably within the platform’s Top 10 list. The show’s first season introduced viewers to Elliot Stanley (Jamie Dornan). Following a car wreck in the Australian outback , Elliot is left with no memory of who he is or how he ended up so far away from home. As the season unfolds, he meets Helen Chambers (Danielle Macdonald), a probationary constable investigating his car wreck. Hellbent on helping him figure out what’s going on, she essentially becomes his only friend. While the season includes a slew of characters that weave themselves in and out of Elliot’s story, Helen remains a constant as the show’s second season makes its way to Ireland. Given how the narrative of the series develops, there isn’t much room for recurring characters.

As Season 2 shifts its focus toward Elliot’s past and changes its setting to Ireland, an entirely new cast of characters enters the fray. While two characters manage to return for the show’s sophomore season, their presence in Ireland is a temporary situation. Also, by the end of the newest season, Elliot and Helen have already moved on to another country, which means a possible third season would see plenty of new characters yet again. While it’s possible characters from seasons past could make an appearance, there’s one in particular it should most definitely leave behind if the show ever continues beyond Season 2. Despite his comedic presence, viewers don’t need to see Ethan Krum (Greg Larsen) return.

Who Is Ethan Krum in The Tourist?

Ethan Krum is Helen’s former fiancé, a mean and manipulative partner in Season 1. Viewers were first introduced to him while he and Helen planned their wedding. Rather than love her for who she is, he continuously pushes her to lose weight and advises her to “stay in her lane” regarding her work aspirations.

Throughout Season 1, he’s always annoyed by her desire to exist outside the confines of their relationship and undercuts her skills as a police officer. While he purports to care about her and love her, he’s simply controlling. Helen finally breaks up with him during one of their dance lessons for the wedding after she realizes that he doesn’t respect her or believe in her abilities the way a partner should.

In Season 2, Ethan provides more comic relief, and his character undergoes a hefty transformation. Following his breakup with Helen, he realizes the error of his ways, and he actually apologizes to her for how he treated her. However, he does so over the phone while she’s on speaker, where a room full of people can hear her. Nonetheless, he’s no longer the mean character from the first season, which makes his comedic timing more enjoyable to watch. He participates in what he refers to as “NED Talks,” similar to TED Talks, to discuss the problem with toxic masculinity and the negative effect it had on his relationship. While on his personal journey, he decides to win Helen back and sets off to find her in Ireland.

Despite his supposed journey of personal growth, he travels from Australia to Ireland for a woman who has no interest in his affection. Such an outlandish gesture is meant to be funny and works well, given who the characters are. It makes sense that Ethan would do something so grand and expect something in return. While in Ireland, his interactions with Helen are humorous as he makes side comments about Helen and her new beau, Elliot. Furthermore, he winds up aiding Helen in her search for the truth about Elliot’s past, showing just how far he’s come as a character.

With The Tourist, Jamie Dornan Has Finally Shed His Christian Grey Problem

Why should ethan be left behind in the tourist, the tourist.

While Ethan’s comedic return worked for Season 2, bringing him back for a possible third season would feel forced. Furthermore, it would counter the progress his character made throughout the series, which was a pleasant transformation to see, given how terrible he was in Season 1. Because Helen and Elliot moved on to another country at the end of Season 2, there’s not a real plausible way to include Ethan. There are a slew of other characters introduced in the latest season that should make a return before Ethan ever does, and the show doesn’t need his comic relief because it already has enough of it via its main characters, particularly Elliot.

Best Netflix Thrillers to Watch Right Now, Ranked

There simply isn’t the proper space in another potential season for Ethan. Members of Elliot’s family should make a return before Ethan does, which would make more sense for the series overall. Given the show only scratched the surface regarding Elliot’s family history, there’s ample opportunity to dive deeper into those dynamics. Furthermore, given what viewers learned at the end of Season 2 , there’s an entirely new rabbit hole for the show to fall into, which inevitably wouldn’t provide any breathing room for a character like Ethan. However funny he might have been, Ethan should most definitely be left behind if the series ever continues. All episodes of The Tourist are currently streaming on Netflix.

an image, when javascript is unavailable

Jamie Dornan to Play Twin Brothers in Netflix Crime Noir Series ‘The Undertow’ (EXCLUSIVE)

By Joe Otterson

Joe Otterson

TV Reporter

  • Bray Wyatt Documentary Set to Debut in April on Peacock 3 hours ago
  • ‘Star Wars’ Series ‘The Acolyte’ Sets Disney+ Premiere Date 3 hours ago
  • Jimmy Kimmel to Produce Marijuana Dispensary Unscripted Series ‘High Hopes’ at Hulu 3 hours ago

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - JUNE 17: Jamie Dornan attends the Netflix's Tudum: A Global Fan Event 2023 at Fundação Bienal de São Paulo on June 17, 2023 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images for NETFLIX)

Jamie Dornan will lead the cast of a new crime noir series that has been ordered at Netflix titled “The Undertow,” Variety has learned exclusively.

“The Undertow” is based on the Nordisk Film Production AS television series “Twin” created by Kristoffer Metcalfe. Dornan will star in the series as twin brothers Adam and Lee. Along with Dornan, the cast also includes Mackenzie Davis (“Station Eleven,” “Blade Runner 2049”), Iain De Caestecker (“The Winter King,” “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”), and Gary Lewis (“Vigil,” “Gang of New York”).

The series will go into production later this year in the Scottish Highlands and Islands. Sarah Dollard, Hanna Jameson, Scout Cripps, and Kam Odedra serve as writers on the series, with Dollard also executive producing. Jeremy Lovering will direct and executive produce. Dornan executive produces in addition to starring. The series is produced by Complete Fiction and wiip. Nira Park and Rachael Prior of Complete Fiction executive produce along with David Flynn and Paul Lee for wiip.

Dornan most recently starred in the thriller series “The Tourist,” with the second season of that show debuting in January. He also previously starred in the BBC series “The Fall,” for which he earned a BAFTA TV Award nomination for best leading actor. In film, he is known for his role in the “Fifty Shades” franchise as well as recent roles in features like “A Haunting in Venice,” “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar,” “Heart of Stone,” and “A Private War.” He received a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actor in a motion picture for his role in Kenneth Branagh’s film “Belfast” in 2022.

He is repped by UTA and Sloane Offer.

More From Our Brands

‘in restless dreams’ may be the definitive paul simon documentary, more people are buying art online, as digital sales rise to $11.8 billion, caitlin clark in topps march madness set before panini deal, the best loofahs and body scrubbers, according to dermatologists, wwe’s braun strowman, bo dallas and more remember the late bray wyatt in new doc — watch trailer, verify it's you, please log in.

Quantcast

an image, when javascript is unavailable

site categories

‘scoop’: prince andrew & emily maitlis do battle in netflix trailer for feature about notorious ‘newsnight’ interview, jamie dornan to play identical twins in netflix uk drama series ‘the undertow’.

By Jesse Whittock , Max Goldbart

Jamie Dornan

Fifty Shades of Grey star Jamie Dornan will play identical twins in a Netflix drama out of the UK.

Unveiled at a Next on Netflix event this evening in London, The Undertow is a crime noir series that will see the Irishman take on the dual roles of identical twins Adam and Lee.

Suffocating in a loveless marriage to Adam, Nicola (Mackenzie Davis)’s life takes a dramatic turn when Adam’s long-estranged identical twin brother Lee comes crashing back into her life, and their tangled romantic past threatens to destroy the present.

Dornan will be more familiar to Netflix subs of late after starring in spy thriller Heart of Stone opposite Gal Gadot, while his BBC-Stan drama The Tourist switched from Max to Netflix in the U.S recently.

Several other shows are expected to be unveiled over the next few hours in the UK, including a new project from Matt Charman titled The Choice which will star Suranne Jones.

Must Read Stories

Hader, brunson, yang & others set for warner animation’s ‘cat in the hat’.

the tourist movie jamie dornan

Why Mark Wahlberg Canine Pic ‘Arthur The King’ Only Got Scraps In Debut

Competition series from youtuber mrbeast set with record $5m payout, what’s in the mix for cannes, part 2: focus shifts to international pics.

Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy.

Read More About:

No comments.

Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Quantcast

Biggest Allegations from Nickelodeon 'Quiet On Set' Documentary Including Drake Bell's Abuse, Fat-Shaming Comments, & Racist Sketches

Biggest Allegations from Nickelodeon 'Quiet On Set' Documentary Including Drake Bell's Abuse, Fat-Shaming Comments, & Racist Sketches

Is a Royal Announcement From BBC Really Happening? What We Learned Today

Is a Royal Announcement From BBC Really Happening? What We Learned Today

Tallulah Willis Reveals Autism Diagnosis

Tallulah Willis Reveals Autism Diagnosis

5 Major Stars Join Cast of 'Only Murders in the Building' For Season 4!

5 Major Stars Join Cast of 'Only Murders in the Building' For Season 4!

Jamie Dornan Addresses His Movie That 'Everyone Hated' While Eating Spicy Wings on 'Hot Ones'

Jamie Dornan Addresses His Movie That 'Everyone Hated' While Eating Spicy Wings on 'Hot Ones'

Jamie Dornan is reflecting on his acting journey while eating the Wings of Death!

The 41-year-old Fifty Shades of Grey star took on the Hot Ones challenge with Sean Evans .

As he began eating the increasingly spicy wings, Jamie spoke about his show The Tourist, real-life scares on movie sets, believing in himself, and the movie “everyone hated.”

Keep reading to find out more…

On filming after a sandstorm on The Tourist :

“…And as I was doing it with Danielle [Macdonald] , who’s my co-star in The Tourist , I’m just watching her and I am trying not to react as flies were like going into her eye, up her nose and her mouth. And then I was like consuming them. When the camera came around on to me and I could see her face like trying to tell me this is happening. They spent so much money painting the flies out.”

On Kenneth Branagh the A Haunting in Venice set:

“He was messing with us a lot on that film ( A Haunting in Venice ). That set was crazy…And there’d often be times, like a window would just slam shut and no one would see it coming, and you know you’d get like Michelle Yeoh and Tina Fey like screaming. He did a lot of stuff like that and I think it’s clever when it’s a movie like that, that is about fear and scaring. So anything that you can aid to get a real reaction in that world is a good thing.”

On The Siege of Jadotville & Wild Mountain Thyme :

“I did a film for Netflix, The Siege of Jadotville …I think a lot of Irish people are happy that I told that story…and then I did a film with Emily Blunt called Wild Mountain Thyme that everyone hated.”

On his acting journey:

“I think there’s so many times that I felt like it wouldn’t happen and I think it’s a really important thing in whatever we do in life to back yourself…I think I’ve always felt like I actually did have something to offer, and in the back of my mind I’m like if you don’t f-cking back yourself like, you have something to offer here. But it’s having someone take that risk.”

He also revealed a famous actor’s email was hacked, and a Hollywood legend got scammed.

Gisele Bundchen Reveals the 1 Food She'll Never Eat & Why, Her Schedule After Tom Brady Divorce, What Time She Goes to Bed & Wakes Up, & More!

JJ: Latest Posts

  • Two Former 'The Good Doctor' Stars Are...
  • The 10 Best 'Grey's Anatomy' Episodes...
  • Paul Mescal & Ayo Edebiri Spark...
  • 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Star Shangela...
  • Kim Kardashian Brings Son Saint to NBA...
  • Maggie Lindemann Talks Her New EP...
  • Dan Schneider Speaks Out Amid Toxic...
  • King Charles Death Conspiracy Theory...
  • Kristen Kish Addresses Taking Over...
  • 'Scoop' Trailer Showcases Prince...
  • Ben Platt Announces Broadway Concert...
  • Gisele Bundchen Reveals the 1 Food...
  • Stars Who Have Opened Up About Being...
  • Tallulah Willis Reveals Autism...

Just Jared Jr.

  • The Kid LAROI & Tate McRae Carry...
  • Christopher Briney Talks Bond with...
  • Nickelodeon Announces New 'Fairly...
  • Julia Lester Gets Embarrassed By...
  • Kids' Choice Awards 2024 Date...
  • Queer YA Novel 'The Sky Blues' Being...
  • Disney Announces 'Big City Greens The...
  • © 2005-2024 Just Jared, Inc. ||
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy Policy
  • Manage Cookies
  • Return to Mobile

Get Ready for a Double Dose of Jamie Dornan as He Plays Twins in a New Netflix Series

He’s taking a page out of Tom Hardy’s book.

The Big Picture

  • Actor Jamie Dornan to lead Netflix's The Undertow , a crime noir series based on Twin .
  • The series follows tangled romantic pasts and dangerous secrets, filmed in Scotland.
  • The Undertow is the latest in Netflix's string of crime thrillers that also includes The Gentlemen.

Actor Jamie Dornan is set to lead Netflix ’s upcoming crime noir series titled The Undertow , Variety reports. The actor has ample projects with the streamer like thriller The Tourist , and Gal Gadot-led Heart of Stone though the upcoming series is very different from these as it’s based on Kristoffer Metcalfe ’s crime drama series Twin . Dornan will star in the upcoming series as twin brothers Adam and Lee.

The series directed by Jeremy Lovering will start filming later this year in the Scottish Highlands and Islands. Along with Dornan in a dual role, it also casts Mackenzie Davis , Iain de Caestecker , and Gary Lewis . The series is written by Sarah Dollard , Hanna Jameson , Scout Cripps , and Kam Odedra and is a thrilling tale of past colliding with the present.

What’s ‘The Undertow’ About?

The series follows Nicolas (Davis) who is stuck in a loveless marriage to Adam (Dornan). Things take a turn when Adam’s long-estranged identical twin brother Lee (Dornan) comes crashing back into her life. Soon their tangled romantic past threatens to destroy the present and a terrible accident drives Nicola to protect her children. Over the course of one week, Lee and Nicola are forced to struggling to maintain a “web of secrets and lies.” Though they can’t ignore their feelings for each other and know they’re living on “borrowed time.” The premise sounds fascinating and Netflix has seen some success with similar series like Fool Me Once , starring Michelle Keegan , which saw a massive viewership when it debuted earlier this year .

The streamer is adding various crime thrillers to its catalog this year , latest being Gyu Ritchie ’s The Gentleman starring the likes of Theo James , which is a slick crime drama where British underworld collides with aristocracy . Dornan’s The Tourist , where he plays a man in search of his identity, also premiered its second season this January and was highly praised by fans and critics alike . Given the streamers streak with good crime dramas, The Undertow is something to look forward to for the fans of the genre and the star.

Dornan’s other credits include BBC series The Fall , which bagged him a BAFTA TV Award nomination for best leading actor. In film, he is known for his role in the Fifty Shades franchise and was last seen in features like A Haunting in Venice , Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar , and A Private War among others.

No release date is set for The Undertow , yet. Stay Tuned to Collider for future updates.

the tourist movie jamie dornan

The Undertow: Jamie Dornan to Star as Twin Brothers

By Ryan Louis Mantilla

Netflix is set to give viewers a double Jamie Dornan treat, as the streamer has officially ordered a new crime noir series — titled The Undertow — starring The Tourist actor as two of the twin brothers. 

Variety reported that the project is based on Twin, a Norwegian crime drama created by Kristoffer Metcalfe. The series starred Game of Thrones actor Kristofer Hivju as identical twins Adam and Erik. Meanwhile, The Undertow will star Dornan as Adam and Lee. 

Blade Runner 2049’s Mackenzie Davis , The Winter King’s Iain de Caestecker , and Gang of New York’s Gary Lewis will join Dornan in the series. According to the outlet, production for The Undertow will begin later this year in the Scottish Highlands and Islands.

What is The Undertow about?

The official description for The Undertow (via Variety) reads: “Suffocating in a loveless marriage to Adam (Dornan), Nicola’s (Davis) life takes a dramatic turn when Adam’s long-estranged identical twin brother Lee (Dornan) comes crashing back into her life, and their tangled romantic past threatens to destroy the present. A split-second decision and a terrible accident drives Nicola to protect her children, and over the course of one week, Lee and Nicola are forced together, struggling to maintain a web of secrets and lies. Though they can’t ignore their feelings for each other, they both know they’re living on borrowed time.”

Jeremy Lovering will direct and executive produce the series, with Sarah Dollard, Hanna Jameson, Scout Cripps, and Kam Odedra serving as writers. Dollard will also executive produce. 

Apart from portraying two characters, Dornan will also executive produce the series. The actor can be seen playing a car crash victim recently in The Tourist. He previously starred in one of his breakthrough roles in The Fall , wherein he played serial killer Paul Spector — a role that earned him a BAFTA TV Award nomination. 

His other acting credits include Marie Antoinette, Anthropoid, Once Upon a Time, Robin Hood, Synchronic, My Dinner with Hervé, Wild Mountain Thyme, Heart of Stone, and Belfast, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination for his Kenneth Branagh role. 

The actor most recently starred on the big screen as Dr. Leslie Ferrier in A Haunting in Venice.

Ryan Louis Mantilla

Ryan is a TV/Film news writer for ComingSoon.

Share article

Will There Be a Wish 2 Release Date & Is It Coming Out?

Wish Disney+ Release Date for Streaming Debut

Scoop Trailer: Gillian Anderson Leads Netflix's Next Royal Family Drama

Scoop Trailer: Gillian Anderson Leads Netflix’s Next Royal Family Drama

Aaron Pierre Blade

Aaron Pierre on MCU Blade: ‘I’m No Longer Part of That’

Marvel and dc.

the tourist movie jamie dornan

Marvel Studios EP Confirms Nova Project is In ‘Early Development’

Ant-Man 3's Katy O'Brian Recalls 'Absolutely Chaotic' Filming Process

Ant-Man 3’s Katy O’Brian Recalls ‘Absolutely Chaotic’ Filming Process

Giancarlo Esposito MCU

Giancarlo Esposito Wants To Play MCU’s Professor X With 1 Change

The Undertow Release Date Rumors: When Is It Coming Out?

The Undertow Release Date Rumors: When Is It Coming Out?

12 12 12

12 12 12: Anthony Mackie & Jamie Dornan to Star in Heist Series

the tourist movie jamie dornan

Jamie Dornan Opens up About Bad Fifty Shades of Grey Reviews

the tourist movie jamie dornan

The Tourist Season 2: Jamie Dornan Heads to Ireland in New Trailer

the tourist movie jamie dornan

IMAGES

  1. Jamie Dornan Leads The Tourist in First Images from HBO Max Show

    the tourist movie jamie dornan

  2. 'The Tourist' Trailer: Jamie Dornan Stars in HBO Max's New Thriller

    the tourist movie jamie dornan

  3. The Tourist

    the tourist movie jamie dornan

  4. The Tourist (2022)

    the tourist movie jamie dornan

  5. Jamie Dornan Reflects Upon His ‘The Tourist’ HBO Max Series: ‘It Was

    the tourist movie jamie dornan

  6. ‘The Tourist’ Review: Jamie Dornan in HBO Max Thriller

    the tourist movie jamie dornan

VIDEO

  1. Jamie Dornan the Tourist Season 2

COMMENTS

  1. The Tourist (TV Series 2022-2024)

    The Tourist: Created by Harry Williams, Jack Williams. With Jamie Dornan, Danielle Macdonald, Greg Larsen, Victoria Haralabidou. When a man wakes up in the Australian outback with no memory, he must use the few clues he has to discover his identity before his past catches up with him.

  2. The Tourist (TV series)

    The Tourist is a drama thriller television series. It stars Jamie Dornan as the victim of a car crash who wakes up in a hospital in Australia with amnesia.. The series premiered on 1 January 2022 on BBC One in the UK, the next day on Stan in Australia, and on 3 March on HBO Max in the US. It is distributed internationally by All3Media.. In March 2022, the series was renewed for a second series ...

  3. 'The ballet traumatised me!' Jamie Dornan on the shocking return of The

    Jamie Dornan and the stars of The Tourist talk about sex on trains, ghosts on set and the scary side of 50 Shades mania. ... That was a bit-part in DayGlo kids' movie Trolls World Tour. "I ...

  4. The Tourist movie review & film summary (2022)

    HBO Max continues stealth drops of some of the best drama mini-series on television. Last year highlights included "The Head" and "Station Eleven," and they start 2022 strongly with the fantastic "The Tourist," a twisty tale that plays like an Aussie version of "Fargo."With sharp dialogue, clever plotting, and career-best work from Jamie Dornan and Danielle Macdonald, this is a ...

  5. 'The Tourist' review: A thrilling series about a man with amnesia : NPR

    In The Tourist, "The Man" (Jamie Dornan) wakes up in a small town hospital in the Australian outback with no idea who he is or how he got there. HBO. Ever since the birth of mass communications ...

  6. The Tourist review

    In six-part TV series The Tourist, Jamie Dornan joins a coterie of famous foreign actors who have been plonked in the Australian outback and left to fry in the sun for our dramatic amusement.

  7. The Tourist

    Subscribe and 🔔 to the BBC 👉 https://bit.ly/BBCYouTubeSubWatch the BBC first on iPlayer 👉 https://bbc.in/iPlayer-Home What he doesn't know, could kill him...

  8. THE TOURIST Trailer (2022)

    THE TOURIST Trailer (2022) Jamie Dornan, Thriller Movie HD© 2022 - HBO Max

  9. The Tourist review: Jamie Dornan banishes the specter of Christian Grey

    Jamie Dornan's turn in The Tourist will make you forget about Christian Grey With the Belfast star in the driver's seat, HBO Max's six-part series piles on the twists, turns, and the ...

  10. THE TOURIST Trailer (2022) Jamie Dornan, Thriller Series

    THE TOURIST Trailer (2022) Jamie Dornan, Thriller Series© 2022 - HBO Max

  11. 'The Tourist' Review: Jamie Dornan in HBO Max Thriller

    The Tourist. The Bottom Line A beautifully shot and well-paced thriller that could have been tighter. Airdate: Thursday, March 3 (HBO Max) Cast: Jamie Dornan, Danielle Macdonald, Shalom Brune ...

  12. The Tourist Ending Explained By Jamie Dornan

    Jamie Dornan opens up about the shocking ending of The Tourist. Created by Harry and Jack Williams, The Tourist centers on The Man (played by Dornan) who wakes up in a hospital with zero memory of who he is and how he got there. Spending the first of six episodes in a state of utter uncertainty, Dornan's protagonist is helped along by Helen ...

  13. Watch The Tourist

    The Tourist. 2024 | Maturity Rating: TV-MA | 2 Seasons | Thriller. In the Australian Outback, a man wakes up in the hospital with no idea who he is — or why so many people want him dead. Starring: Jamie Dornan, Danielle Macdonald, Shalom Brune-Franklin. Creators: Harry Williams, Jack Williams.

  14. 'The Tourist' Thrills, but Doesn't Take Itself Too Seriously

    LONDON — After his car is rammed off the road by a mystery driver in a truck, a Northern Irishman wakes up in a hospital in the Australian outback with no memory of who he is. "I keep telling ...

  15. 'The Tourist': First Look At Jamie Dornan Thriller ...

    May 18, 2021 4:00pm. The Tourist Two Brothers Pictures. Here's your first look at 50 Shades Of Grey star Jamie Dornan in The Tourist, the mystery thriller limited series from Fleabag production ...

  16. 'The Tourist' HBO Max Release Date, Cast, Trailer, Plot

    Jamie Dornan has made his long-awaited return to television with gripping comedy-thriller, The Tourist.Filmed and set in Australia, the series follows the story of a Northern Irish man, who after ...

  17. Jamie Dornan Says 'The Tourist' Is A Mad Love Story Amid Anarchy

    Jamie Dornan talks about his role in the Netflix series 'The Tourist' and though his character is accused of doing some terrible things, he says he's inherently good.

  18. Is The Tourist on Netflix, Hulu, Prime, or HBO Max?

    Written and co-produced by Harry Williams and Jack Williams, 'The Tourist' is a mystery thriller series that stars Jamie Dornan, Danielle Macdonald, and Shalom Brune-Franklin in pivotal roles. The show focuses on a British man with amnesia who somehow ends up in the red heart of the Australian outback and is struggling to make sense of his current situation in his disoriented state.

  19. Everything To Know About The Jamie Dornan Thriller Series 'The Tourist

    New to Netflix, The Tourist stars Jamie Dornan in an Australian thriller series about a car crash victim who wakes up with amnesia in a hospital and must figure out his identity before his life is ...

  20. Jamie Dornan On The Tourist Set

    In this video, take a behind-the-scenes look at The Tourist, and the vast Australian outback where this thrilling new series was shot. The Tourist is streami...

  21. 'The Tourist' Review: Jamie Dornan HBO Show Is a Dull Amnesia Drama

    'The Tourist' Review: Jamie Dornan's Slow Burn Amnesia Drama Is a Boring Ultimatum. ... Incestuous Horror Movie About the Dark Side of 23andMe. Daily Headlines. Daily Headlines covering Film ...

  22. Jamie Dornan finds new Netflix role with bonkers twins twist

    Jamie Dornan is set to star in Netflix's new crime noir series The ... Dornan was more recently seen in the thriller The Tourist. ... He co-starred with Dakota Johnson in all three movies, the ...

  23. The Tourist Should Remove This Character After Season 2

    The show's first season introduced viewers to Elliot Stanley (Jamie Dornan). Following a car wreck in the Australian outback , Elliot is left with no memory of who he is or how he ended up so ...

  24. Jamie Dornan to Play Twin Brothers in Netflix Series 'The ...

    The official description of the series reads: "Suffocating in a loveless marriage to Adam (Dornan), Nicola's (Davis) life takes a dramatic turn when Adam's long-estranged identical twin ...

  25. Jamie Dornan To Play Identical Twins In Netflix Series ...

    Dornan will be more familiar to Netflix subs of late after starring in spy thriller Heart of Stone opposite Gal Gadot, while his BBC-Stan drama The Tourist switched from Max to Netflix in the U.S ...

  26. Jamie Dornan Addresses His Movie That 'Everyone Hated' While Eating

    Jamie Dornan is reflecting on his acting journey while eating the Wings of Death!. The 41-year-old Fifty Shades of Grey star took on the Hot Ones challenge with Sean Evans.. As he began eating the ...

  27. Jamie Dornan Will Play Twins in a New Netflix Series

    Actor Jamie Dornan is set to lead Netflix's upcoming crime noir series titled The Undertow, Variety reports.The actor has ample projects with the streamer like thriller The Tourist, and Gal ...

  28. New Netflix Series With Jamie Dornan, Steven Knight, Julie Delpy

    Dornan, seen recently in Netflix's The Tourist, will play twin brothers Adam and Lee in The Undertow, a U.K. adaptation of the Norwegian series Twin, which featured Game of Thrones actor ...

  29. The Undertow: Jamie Dornan to Star as Twin Brothers

    Netflix is set to give viewers a double Jamie Dornan treat, as the streamer has officially ordered a new crime noir series — titled The Undertow — starring The Tourist actor as two of the twin ...