The Tourist season 2: US release date, cast, plot and more

Jamie Dornan The Tourist season 2
Elliot (Jamie Dornan) will be heading home to Ireland in season two (Image credit: BBC)

Jamie Dornan fans will be delighted that The Tourist season 2 is finally here, with the whole series now available to watch on BBC iPlayer in the UK and Netflix in the US. 

With the action switching from Australia's Outback to Ireland, the landscape looks very different from when we last saw Elliot. But whether he's running away from some mysterious pursuers or covered in blood, his situation doesn't seem to have improved too much!  

Teasing the new series, Jamie says: "For the second series we pick up with Elliot in Ireland where he tries to discover his real family and get some answers on who he is. Whilst Elliot is in Ireland, he also gets caught up in all kinds of craziness with people trying to kill him."

He adds: "Family is a big theme in this series. We're dealing with a guy who has no concept of who he is, and you can only imagine how terrifying that is, but little by little there are these kernels of information revealed to him and he starts to piece his history together and his family history. It's not that pretty, but it's vital and it's a big part of our story."

Screenwriters Jack and Harry Williams — whose previous screenwriting hits include The Missing and One of Us — have penned the scripts of the follow-up series.

The Tourist season 1 was a big hit when it launched on BBC One and the iPlayer last January, with 12 million people watching it in the first 30 days it was available online. It then went on to have similar success on HBO for US fans. Here's everything we know about season 2...

Danielle Macdonald in The Tourist season 2

Danielle Macdonald returns as former Constable Helen Chambers (Image credit: BBC)

The Tourist season 2 release date

The Tourist season 2 premiered on BBC One on Monday 1 January 2024 at 9 pm. The second episode follows on Tuesday 2 January on BBC One at 9 pm. Subsequent episodes air on consecutive Sundays throughout January. The whole series is available now as a box set on BBC iPlayer. 

The Tourist season 1 was broadcast on HBO Max in the United States, but it has moved to Netflix for the second season, with all the episodes available to stream from 29 February 2024. 

The Tourist season 2

Production began in Ireland in April 2023 (Image credit: BBC)

The Tourist season 2 plot

Jamie Dornan stars in The Tourist season 2

Elliot comes home to Ireland in a bid to discover more about his roots (Image credit: BBC)

The first series started with "The Man" — whose name was revealed to be Elliot — waking up in Australia with total amnesia before he and Constable Helen Chambers (Danielle Macdonald) became embroiled in a cat-and-mouse game with mysterious figures chasing them across Australia. 

The new series sees Helen accompanying Elliot back to Ireland as he tries to rediscover his roots, where they soon find themselves dragged into the dangerous whirlwind of his past life. An official synopsis reads...

"After their adventure in the Australian Outback, The Tourist’s epic second series follows Dornan and Macdonald’s characters Elliot and Helen as they travel to Ireland together. 

"In an attempt to rediscover Elliot’s roots following his memory loss, they’re dragged into the dangerous whirlwind of his past life and are confronted by friends and foes both old and new, including Niamh Cassidy (Olwen Fouéré) and the McDonnell family – Donal (Diarmaid Murtagh), Orla (Nessa Matthews), Fergal (Mark McKenna), and Frank (Francis Magee). 

"Detective Ruairi Slater (Conor MacNeill) becomes embroiled in the crossfire between the McDonnells and the Cassidys as the secrets of the family rivalry unravel."

Danielle Macdonald in The Tourist season 2

Constable Helen Chambers arrives in Ireland (Image credit: BBC)

The Tourist season 2 cast

Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades of Grey, Belfast) is back as Elliot, while Australian actress Danielle Macdonald (Bird Box) again plays former Constable Helen Chambers.

Joining them for the second series are Conor MacNeill (Industry, The Fall), Olwen Fouéré (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Northman), Francis Magee (Justice League, Then You Run), Mark McKenna (Sing Street, One of Us is Lying), Diarmaid Murtagh (Vikings, Outlander), and Nessa Matthews (Neon, HEN)

Series two also sees Greg Larsen reprise his role as Ethan Krum.

The Tourist season 2 trailer

Here you go...

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Sean Marland

Sean is a Senior Feature writer for TV Times, What's On TV and TV & Satellite Week, who also writes for whattowatch.com. He's been covering the world of TV for over 15 years and in that time he's been lucky enough to interview stars like Ian McKellen, Tom Hardy and Kate Winslet. His favourite shows are I'm Alan Partridge, The Wire, People Just Do Nothing and Succession and in his spare time he enjoys drinking tea, doing crosswords and watching football.