Harry and Jack Williams admitted that they originally didn’t plan to make a second season of the BBC thriller.

By James Hibbs

Published: Friday, 29 December 2023 at 07:00 AM

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As viewers get set to catch up with Jamie Dornan’s Elliot Stanley and Danielle Macdonald’s Helen Chambers in the second season of The Tourist, the show’s creators Harry and Jack Williams have admitted they didn’t plan for a season 2 – but have revealed what made them change their minds.

Speaking at a Q&A for the new season, the brothers were asked whether it was always the plan to make season 2, to which Jack said: “No, we didn’t plan it. Not in the sense that we said it wouldn’t happen, but we always kind of want to tell the best stories and in season 1 we just thought, ‘Let’s leave nothing behind. Let’s not try and leave it open ended deliberately’.

“But there were definitely times in watching the first season we did think, ‘Well, you know, Jamie’s character Elliot has a whole history behind him’, we knew we weren’t going to find out all of it, so we knew there was going to be a little gap somewhere that we could explore.

“And it was a lot of fun, and working with actors like Danielle and Jamie is just amazing. So we kind of thought that it felt like once we had the right idea, it felt the right thing to do.”

Harry added: “And I suppose at the end of the first one, a question is posed, which is he’s done this awful thing, but maybe these two should be together. It was interesting to go, ‘God, what happens if you look at the next day of that? Can she forget this awful thing? And how does the relationship work when you know all that’s passed?’”

Read more:

• The Tourist cast say season 2 is “just as chaotic and surprising”
• The Tourist reveals action-packed trailer for season 2 with Jamie Dornan

Once they had decided to go ahead with season 2, the brothers of course had to get the original season’s stars, Dornan and Macdonald on board – and Dornan explained that the show’s change of location in season 2, from Australia to Ireland, was a key determining factor.

“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, these guys don’t have kids, I have three kids.”

He continued: “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 [Williams, creators] had plans to make it something closer to home, and I probably approved those plans pretty quickly.”