'The Tourist' Season 2 Renewal Fate Revealed by BBC

Jamie Dornan will be reprising his role as The Man in The Tourist Season 2. Just two months after the thriller drama premiered and made its North American debut on HBO Max, BBC on Tuesday, March 22 officially renewed The Tourist for its sophomore run. The renewal came alongside the renewals of three other top-rated BBC shows – The Responder, Vigil, and Time.

Created by Harry and Jack Williams and directed by Chris Sweeney, The Tourist premiered in January of this year and this past month on HBO Max. The series centers around The Man (Dornan) waking up in the Australian outback with no memory and only a few clues to help him retrace his identity. As he dives deeper with the help of Constable Chambers (Danielle Macdonald), the clues get darker and lead him down a path he can only wish he forgot. Although details of the second season haven't yet been released, Variety confirmed Season 2 will consist of six 60-minute episodes, with Harry and Jack returning to write the season. They will serve as executive producers alongside Christopher Aird and Tommy Bulfin.

The Tourist's renewal doesn't come as much of a surprise. The new series has been a breakout for BBC, serving as the highest-rating drama of 2022 so far. The series launched with 12 million viewers, and all six episodes of its debut season were the most-watched episodes on BBC iPlayer in January. The Tourist also earned a near-perfect 96% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics' consensus reads, "Jamie Dornan makes for a compelling guide through The Tourist, a beguiling drama that deepens its mystery with solid shocks and welcome moments of levity."

Speaking to PopCulture.com earlier in March ahead of the HBO Max premiere, both Dornan and Macdonald expressed their hopes that The Tourist would be granted a second season. Dornan, who said the series "was the most challenging job I've ever done," said he was "definitely" open to the possibility of returning. Macdonald echoed that sentiment.

"This is the funny thing: it was always meant to be one and done and then people in the UK were, 'Wait, we want to see more,' which is always so exciting because it means people loved the characters and the story and the world," she said. "I would definitely be open to it. I had such a great time with these people and with this world and with this character and so, I would love to explore that more. I have no idea where it would go. No idea. And to be fair, if it ever were to, I would probably be more surprised than even the audience members, because that's kind of how it was for me reading the scripts."

Along with Dornan and Macdonald, The Tourist stars Shalom Brune-Franklin, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Alex Dimitriades, Damon Herriman and Genevieve Lemon. The Tourist is now streaming on HBO Max and BBC iPlayer in the UK.