The Tourist cast say season 2 is “just as chaotic and surprising”

Danielle Macdonald and Conor MacNeill spoke exclusively with RadioTimes.com about the new season.

By James Hibbs

Published: Monday, 11 December 2023 at 10:38 AM

The first season of The Tourist blew viewers away when it arrived in 2021, delivering twist after twist which kept everyone on their toes.

Now, the show is returning for season 2, with a predominantly new cast and fresh setting in Ireland.

However, one thing that fans can expect to remain the same is the series’s ability to surprise.

Danielle Macdonald, who played Helen in the first run and is returning for season 2, spoke exclusively with RadioTimes.com, along with Conor MacNeill, who joins the show in season 2 to play new character Ruairi.

Asked whether fans can expect as many twists and turns as in the first outing, MacNeill said: “One hundred per cent, yeah. I think it’s just as chaotic and surprising and exciting as season 1.”

Jamie Dornan as Elliot and Danielle Macdonald as Helen looking concerned, with three other characters and a van in the background
Jamie Dornan as Elliot and Danielle Macdonald as Helen in The Tourist.
BBC/Two Brothers/Steffan Hill/Russell Kirby

Macdonald said: “There’s a lot of new characters and there’s a lot of twists and turns. I think Jack and Harry [Williams, show creators] are really good at setting up a bunch of things and then they unravel as the series does. And yeah, I think it’s very much the same.”

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MacNeill then added: “They do that amazing thing where there are one-off characters that come into this, like there were in season 1, that are just electric and brilliant and odd and exciting to watch.”

Jamie Dornan is, of course, also returning as Elliot Stanley, who in this new season is in a relationship with Helen, and travels back to Ireland to uncover more about his mysterious past, which he forgot following an accident in the first season.

Dornan previously explained what convinced him to return for season 2 when speaking with RadioTimes.com and other press, saying that the location change was key.

“My thinking was, ‘Where are we going? Like, if we’re doing this, where are we going?’” Dornan explained. “Because it was a bit of an upheaval to go to Australia, and the idea of going again so soon after… I mean, [other cast members] don’t have kids, I have three kids.

“And I took them all with me, they went to school there, it was a big thing family-wise to do that. And the idea of doing that again so soon wasn’t hugely appealing.

“But luckily, Jack and Harry had plans to make it something closer to home, and I probably approved those plans pretty quickly.”