the tourist finale recap

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The Tourist Season 2 Ending Explained: Helen’s Dream, the Feud, the File, and the Finale

Binged The Tourist season 2 and still have questions? Spoilers below.

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Warning: contains major finale spoilers for The Tourist season two.

In The Tourist season one, Jamie Dornan played Elliot Stanley, an amnesia sufferer who pieced together unsavoury details about his life before he lost his memory in a road collision. Elliot had been the accountant of an international drug baron named Kostas, from whom he’d stolen $1 million in cash in collusion with Kostas’ con-artist fiancée ‘Victoria’. He’d forced vulnerable addicts including a Russian woman named Lena Pascal to become drug mules, resulting in the deaths of two of Lena’s friends. Elliot had also fallen for Australian traffic cop Helen Chambers, whose forgiveness of his past misdeeds gave him enough hope that he chose not to take his own life in the season’s final moments.

By the end of The Tourist season two , everything had changed. Jamie Dornan was now playing Eugene Cassidy, part of one side in a multi-generational Irish feud between the Cassidys and the McDonnells. Eugene had skipped town years earlier after fathering a child – Fergal – with the wife of a McDonnell man, who’d shot Eugene’s brother Joe dead in revenge, having mistaken him for Eugene.

In the twist-packed second season finale, Elliot learned that his mother Niamh Cassidy, a criminal kingpin who’d spent decades waging war against the McDonnells, was in fact a McDonnell herself and the biological sister of her mortal enemy Frank McDonnell. Niamh’s mother and Frank’s father were a secretly-in-love Romeo and Juliet deal back in the day, and they’re all really one big unhappy family.

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What Eugene doesn’t know at the end of season two is that the real Elliot Stanley – a local scuba diver who’d disappeared in 1981 after Eugene’s mother killed him – is likely his biological father. He and Helen also don’t know, after they decided not to read the file on Eugene’s pre-amnesia life, that he’s a deep cover secret agent, which explains his driving/fighting and speaking-Russian abilities. Additionally, he’s a trained ballet dancer, but let’s not focus on that just now.

If any of The Tourist ’s second season left you scratching your long and healthy beard in confusion, we break it all down here.

The Real Elliot Stanley, the Sunk Plane, and the Stolen Love Letters

In the 1950s, Niamh Cassidy’s mother and Frank McDonnell’s father were in love but couldn’t be together because of the longstanding feud between their families. They secretly had a baby together – Niamh – who was raised to be a McDonnell-hating Cassidy, despite being a biological McDonnell herself. In 1981, Frank’s father was on his deathbed in Boston, US, and decided to lay bare his secret perhaps in an attempt to finally stop the bloody feud between the two families. He sent a bundle of love letters Niamh’s mother had written him, to his son Frank.

The plane containing the letters went into the sea. Awaiting an important parcel from his father, Frank hired scuba diver Elliot Stanley to search the wreckage. Stanley, whose widow hinted had been having multiple affairs including with Niamh and possibly resulting in Eugene’s birth, found the submerged plane with Niamh but she cut his oxygen tube and stole the parcel. When she read the letters and realised she was a McDonnell, she buried them and the feud continued for over 40 years.

Eugene and Claire’s Affair, Fergal, Donal and Joe

History repeated itself to some extent with Eugene and Claire’s story, but instead of a love affair between a Cassidy and a McDonnell, theirs was between a Cassidy and the wife of a McDonnell. Eugene and Claire had an affair that resulted in the birth of Fergal, who was raised as the son of Donal McDonnell. Donal was a violent man who physically abused his wife, and he was eventually shot dead by Niamh Cassidy – who turned out to be his biological aunt. That made Eugene and Donal first cousins, meaning that young Fergal is indeed a blood relative of Donal and Frank McDonnell, just a first cousin once removed/great nephew instead of a son/grandson.

When Donal discovered that Fergal was biologically Eugene Cassidy’s son, he planned to kill Eugene but mistook Eugene’s older brother Joe for him and killed Joe instead.

Helen’s Coma Dream, Book, Private Detective and the Cowboy’s Return

For anybody checking their phone during episode five, it could have been quite the stumper. In it, Helen had surgery after being shot in the stomach by Lena Pascal and seemed to recover at remarkable speed. She and Eugene flew to Australia, where they rented an apartment with a dodgy oven and started a new life. She was at home writing a book while secretly investigating the secret of Elliot Stanley and the missing parcel from Frank McDonnell’s father, while the couple grew further and further apart. Then the dead Cowboy from series one turned up to torment her, the walls started closing in, and nothing made any sense.

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If it seemed odd, that’s because none of the Australia stuff was real – it was all a dream Helen was having while in a coma after Lena had shot her; she and Eugene had remained in Ireland the whole time. Helen’s subconscious was working out her mistrust of Eugene, her need to dig up the past, and her instinct about Eugene’s mother Niamh with the private detective story, while the beeping oven alarm she kept hearing was actually the beep of her heart monitor in the hospital.

Did DS Ruairi Slater Kill Mary?

No, she died of cancer, but he did break the law by failing to have her body collected and keeping it in his basement in a rebuilt museum of their home, along with a mannequin dressed in a wig and Mary’s clothes. He also broke the law when he kidnapped Helen and held her against her will in the creepy basement, and despite promising to turn himself in, didn’t. At the end of season two, Ruairi was still a free man and acting as a police detective, along with his new-found pal Ethan Crumb – Helen’s newly reconstructed ex-fiancé from season one .

Why Did Lena Pascal Collude With the McDonnells?

Absolute nonsense, that bit, wasn’t it? It would have been much simpler for Lena to get her revenge on Eugene for all the drug mule horrors when they were still on the same continent. Instead, she bafflingly contacted his enemies in Ireland, got them to send her a photo of Eugene as a younger man, which she then sent to the police station in the remote Aussie town where he’d unexpectedly ended up with amnesia, to lure him back to Ireland, where she later followed him, just so that she could shoot his girlfriend in the stomach and disappear. Transporting all that heroin must have addled her brain.

Finally, Eugene is Really a Deep Cover Secret Agent?

That’s what the file he was sent by an anonymous stranger said – not that he knows about it because he’d (apparently) burned it before reading.

Season three, anyone?

The Tourist seasons one and two are available to stream on BBC iPlayer now .

Louisa Mellor | @Louisa_Mellor

Louisa Mellor is the Den of Geek UK TV Editor. She has written about TV, film and books for Den of Geek since 2010, and for…

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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

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The Tourist ending explained: What happened in the final episode of Jamie Dornan’s BBC drama series

The tourist, a new bbc drama series starring jamie dornan, remains a head-spinning series throughout its six episodes.

The Tourist , a gripping new series set against the harsh backdrop of the Australian outback, arrived on BBC One on New Year’s Day.

While the series is airing weekly on BBC One, you watch the whole lot whenever you like  on BBC iPlayer .

So it’s likely that many viewers will already know that unsurprisingly the ending, while giving a lot of answers, also asks a few extra questions.

Here’s everything you need to know, and for the absence of any doubt MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW…

How did Jamie Dornan’s character end up in Australia?

We eventually discover that Jamie Dornan’s mysterious character was called Elliot , and was previously a criminal working for a notorious crime lord called Kosta.

But Elliot found himself in love with Kosta’s girlfriend, Luci, and fled to Australia with her and $1 million of Kosta’s money.

Kosta tracks them down and sends his underlings to deal with them, but as one of them is friends with Elliot, the two are given a warning.

A later scuffle sees Luci and Kosta both shot, and Elliot drives off, just before a the car crash that gives him amnesia and provides the basis for the entire series.

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Who is Lena in The Tourist ?

When Elliot finally meets Lena, the warm and affectionate woman who’d consistently appeared in the fragments of his memories, he learned that her happiness was all a facade.

Lena was actually a trafficking victim of Elliot’s, one of three woman who smuggled heroin within their stomachs into Australia for him.

She’d appeared affectionate in his memories because Elliot had made her smile and appear relaxed to rehearse her acting.

The other two women had died when the bags of heroin exploded in her stomach, and Lena’s was cut out on Elliot’s orders by one of his colleagues, leaving a nasty injury.

After the truth is revealed Lena then leaves, telling Elliot that his punishment is having to live with his evil actions.

Does Jamie Dornan’s character die at the end of The Tourist ?

Helen, the rookie police officer who formed a bond with Elliot, is disgusted upon hearing his true character and leaves him alone.

Also repulsed at himself, Elliot attempts to overdose with a cocktail of drugs and alcohol, and lies dying on the ground.

As he does so, Helen finds it within herself to accept Elliot for who he is now, not what he was before. She texts him a burrito emoji, burritos being Elliot’s “happy place”.

The series ends as this message makes him raise a smile, so it’s all very ambiguous: Elliot is most likely dead, but the story has left everything open for a potential second series.

What do the reviews of  The Tourist  say?

The Tourist has been well received by critics, with i ‘s Gerard Gilbert praising how “neat simplicity of the premise was enhanced by the barren desert backdrop”.

He adds “Dornan was well cast as the man with no name,” and says that the series “could be among the [Williams brothers’] best work yet”.

“If Channel 4’s ludicrous recent Close to Me made you want to forget all about amnesia thrillers,” Gilbert concludes, “ The Tourist reminds you why they can also be memorably moreish.”

The Guardian ‘s Lucy Mangan agreed that it is “well worth watching this fun, stylish and confident caper”, while Ed Cumming wrote in The Independent that the series “might be [Dornan’s] best work yet”.

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The Tourist Ending, Explained: Is Elliot Dead or Alive?

The thriller series ‘The Tourist’ centers around a car rollover victim named Elliot Stanley, who completely loses his memory due to the incident. With the help of a few acquaintances in the town of Burnt Ridge, Elliot tries to find out more about his identity and involvement in a series of perplexing predicaments.

Written by Harry and Jack Williams, the series progresses through Elliot’s attempts to unravel the mystery behind his enemies, who unceasingly chase him. The first season of the engrossing series ends with a cliffhanger, leaving the viewers nothing but stunned. If you are trying to make sense of its ending, we have got you covered! SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Tourist Recap

A man gets chased by a giant truck as he drives through the Australian outback in his car. After considerable effort, he loses the truck but eventually gets hit by the same. He wakes up in a hospital in the town of Cooper Springs, without any memory of his past or identity. Probationary constable Helen Chambers visits the man and tries to retrieve information about him but fails to do so. From his clothes, the man gets a scrap paper with the address of a diner along with the date of a meeting.

The man discharges himself from the hospital and goes to the diner in Burnt Ridge, a nearby town, and sits at the table mentioned in the paper. When he steps out to go to the restroom, a bomb explodes at the diner. He realizes that he is being hunted by an unknown enemy. With the help of Sue, the owner of his shelter in the town, the man tries to find out what he was doing in the region prior to his memory loss. At that point, he receives a call from a man buried in an oil drum, seeking his help.

Along with Luci, a waiter at the diner, the man locates the buried man but finds out that he is dead. While returning, he notices that Luci’s handwriting and the handwriting on the scrap paper are the same. When he confronts her, Luci reveals that he is Elliot Stanley, her ex-boyfriend. As they return to Burnt Ridge, a fellow named Billy arrives at Sue’s home and tries to kill Elliot, Luci, and Helen. Elliot saves Helen from Billy and they both escape. Billy goes to Luci’s place and gets killed after a fight. Meanwhile, Detective Rogers arrives at Burnt Ridge to investigate the explosion. He alerts police stations nearby to find Elliot.

When Helen realizes that the police are looking for Elliot, she pleads with him to surrender. However, he holds her at gunpoint to flee from the region and find Luci, who tries to leave the town. During their expedition, Helen and Elliot start to nurture a bond. By that time, Kosta Panigiris, an infamous drug lord, arrives at Burnt Ridge for Elliot. He kidnaps Rogers’ wife and asks the detective to find and take Elliot to him. The detective agrees and locates Elliot at a nearby motel. When a local police officer named Lammon comes in the way of Rogers’ plan, he kills him and takes Elliot to Kosta.

Kosta threatens to kill Elliot unless he finds a bag that contains $1 million Elliot stole from the notorious criminal. As they try to locate the bag, Elliot starts to remember his past and realize that he was Kosta’s accountant. Meanwhile, Luci arrives to save Elliot. A shootout ensues when Elliot and Luci try to escape, which results in Kosta’s instant and Luci’s eventual deaths . Upon escaping, Elliot meets Helen. They find out that Detective Rogers has framed them for the murder of officer Lammon.

The Tourist Ending: Is Elliot Dead or Alive? Why Does He Try to Kill Himself?

When Helen realizes that her and Elliot’s lives are being targeted, the probationary constable calls her colleague Freddie for help. Freddie discovers a speed camera photo that clearly shows that it was Detective Rogers who had Elliot under custody and not the other way, as the police officer told his superiors. Still, Elliot gets imprisoned for holding a group of people hostages. While he waits for the bail, Lena Pascal comes to see him . To a perplexed Elliot, Lena reveals that he used her and a group of women for heroin trafficking.

Lena shows the scar of the cut made to retrieve heroin bags from her stomach to Elliot and tells him how her comrades died during the mission. An astounded Elliot tries to dismiss her accusations but her persistence to let him know of his cruelties get better off him. His conscience gets filled with guilt as he realizes that he pushed two innocent women to death for his selfishness which he can’t even remember. The terrifying and upsetting presence, revelation, and scar of Lena escalate the guilt that grows in Elliot. His tearful eyes see Lena as the embodiment of his ruthlessness.

Upon Elliot’s release from prison, he contemplates life and the guilt leads him to commit suicide. After ensuring that Kosta’s $1 million will reach the hands of Sue, he crashes his own car to die. Elliot survives the crash and stays away from death but not for long. When Helen comes to know about Lena’s revelation, she confronts Elliot for being such a dreadful man. The bond they gradually nurture gets shattered when Helen realizes that she can’t accept what Elliot did to Lena and other women of her group. Seeing his “only friend in the whole wide world” walk away from him, Elliot decides to end his life.

The guilt of harming Lena and killing her friends and the grief of separating from Helen make Elliot vulnerable. In addition, the helplessness of not understanding whether anything about his past is actually true leads Elliot to death again. He swallows a handful of pills to die, expecting death to conquer him any second. The first season of the show ends before we get to see whether Elliot actually dies or not. Right after he swallows the pills, Elliot receives a message from Helen. He picks up the phone and sees a burrito emoji, the symbol of his happiness.

Helen’s message may give Elliot the satisfaction of dying peacefully, knowing that the one person he cares for in this world has forgiven him. He may still accept death and cherishes a moment of happiness seeing the emoji before he dies. Otherwise, Helen’s message may retrieve Elliot from the clutches of death. He may realize that Helen has forgiven him and there’s a ray of hope to be a better person. He may seek emergency medical assistance and stay alive to give himself a second chance at life as a new person. Either way, we may need to wait for the potential second season of the show to know without a doubt.

Read More:  Do Elliot and Helen End Up Together in The Tourist?

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‘The Tourist’ Season 2 Ending Explained: What Did Elliot’s File Say?

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• The Tourist
• Jamie Dornan

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ on Netflix, the Quasi-Naughty Sex-Dungeon Romance Starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan

Emily blunt claims some on-screen kisses have made her want to throw up: “i’ve definitely not enjoyed some of it”, where was ‘the tourist’ season 2 filmed top filming locations, jamie dornan “wasn’t pleased” with the ballet scene in ‘the tourist’ season 2 finale.

The Tourist follows a car crash victim ( Jamie Dornan ) who wakes up in a hospital with amnesia and tries to uncover his past after suspecting that dangerous people want to kill him.

The first season sees the man learning the basics about himself and navigating the logistics of his situation– dealing with lawyers, doctors, and whatnot. He is told that his name is Elliot and he’s involved in a drug trafficking ring.

Elliot also makes amends with Helen, portrayed by Danielle Macdonald , a police officer whom he kidnaps while on the run but grows close with.

 The second season changes things up. Taking a darker route, the new episodes give greater insight into the people chasing Elliot and his family relations.

Elliot’s mother Niahm (Olwen Fouéré) is introduced, along with his enemy Donal McDonnell (Diarmaid Murtagh) and Donal’s son Fergal ( Mark McKenna ).

With tons of twists and turns, and a budding romance between Elliot and Helen, the journey to the end of Season 2 can get confusing. Need help ironing out the details? Here’s a breakdown of The Tourist Season 2, now streaming on Netflix .

What Was on Elliot’s File?

Once again, the season finale of The Tourist sees Helen unsure if she can be in Elliot’s (now known as Eugene) life given his dangerous past. The episode opens in the aftermath of Donal’s death and it’s revealed that Elliot’s prints are all over the gun that killed him. Elliot denies his involvement in the death, despite having a motive. Helen visits Elliot at the police station and breaks up with him.

“I don’t know you,” Helen tells Elliot in a tearful monologue. “I don’t know who you really are and that… I wish that it was different. I wish that I could just be happy.”

“We still can be,” Elliot says. 

“I’m sorry,” Helen replies before standing up to leave.

Elliot tells Helen that he loves her and she says, “I love you too, but it’s not enough.”

Meanwhile, crime lord Frank (Francis Magee) is trying to convince Fergal to seek revenge on Elliot for killing Donal, and he hesitantly agrees after his family’s legacy is mentioned. Frank arranges for Elliot to be released from the police station. 

Upon being released, Niamh warns Elliot that Frank wants him dead. Elliot claims that the current feud is not his fate and he doesn’t want to be involved.

Helen goes to the airport and bumps into her ex Ethan (Greg Larsen) and his new friend Detective Ruairi (Conor MacNeill), and the detective tells her about Frank’s arrangement. They decide to team together to help Elliot. Oh, we love where this is going. 

Elliot takes a different approach and asks Fergal to help him hide from Frank, which lands them both in trouble with Frank. After a car chase, they meet with Niamh at Cassidy’s Pub, and she is doubtful of Fergal’s intentions.

Later, Helen, Ruairi, and Ethan — who have been digging into the secrets of Elliot and Niamh’s past — arrive at the pub, shortly after Frank and his gang has arrived. Before violence can break out over the latest revelation that Niamh killed Donal, Helen reveals that she has found the missing case from Frank’s father that Niamh stole.

Inside the case are love letters between Niamh’s mother and Frank’s father, which reveal that the two are half-siblings. Niamh tries to shoot Helen, but Elliot stands between them.

“We are not blood,” Niamh tells Frank. “We’ve spilled too much of each other’s to be anywhere fucking near that.” But Frank seems touched by the news. Elliot tells Niamh that she’s going to have to shoot him if she wants to get to Helen, and she refuses.

At this moment, Ethan offers some comedic relief, saying, “A lot of potential for incest here… with the two families.”

Niamh storms out of the pub and says she can’t forget the past, and Elliot and Helen kiss and make up. 

The episode concludes with a brief time jump that sees Elliot and Helen living in Amsterdam. Elliot has received a file with information about his old life but has been waiting for Helen to open it. She arrives home and expresses that she doesn’t want to open it and she’d rather stay present in the new life they’ve built for each other. Elliot burns the file in the fireplace. 

Hilariously, Helen carts them off to a theater and she encourages him to dance since Niahm insisted he was a skilled ballet dancer in his youth. Elliot shows off his skills as the file burns in the fireplace. Before completely turning to ash, it is revealed that the file reads that Elliot was a secret agent.

Well, that left us with a few burning questions.

Jamie Dornan on Elliot and Helen’s Relationship

Decider spoke with Dornan ahead of the Netflix release of the new season. The Irish actor expressed that Elliot and Helen’s decision to burn the file was a “good thing.”

“They need to try to have some normalcy in their lives,” Dornan told us. “They’ve gone to Amsterdam, it’s a fresh start. [Elliot’s] grown his hair a bit. They’re trying to live a normal life. The past in the past. Let’s get rid of that.” Though, Dornan acknowledges that because the viewers are aware of what’s in the file, the show has opened itself to “endless possibilities.”

“What happens next? How much of that will Helen and Elliot get to know? It felt like a ploy… like we could do more of the story. But I think for the relationship, it was probably the right thing to do… sort of wash them of all that crap. They don’t need to know any of that stuff. They close the door,” Dornan concluded.

Despite the setup for a third season, Dornan isn’t sure that it will happen . “I don’t know if there’s been conversations had about that. We’re staying out of  all that  and seeing if it happens. I don’t think it’ll happen. I’m pretty busy now until the end of 2025, so it’ll be a while,” he shared.

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Jamie Dornan agrees the end of The Tourist season 2 is ‘f---ing mad’

Actor talks final bombshell and a possible season 3.

Senior Writer

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Tourist season 2.

The Eire-set second season of Netflix's thriller series The Tourist has more twists and turns than the most winding of Irish country lanes — right up to the very end. In the season's closing moments, show creators Jack and Harry Williams reveal that Jamie Dornan 's amnesia-stricken criminal is, in fact, a deep undercover special agent of some sort. What on earth did the actor think when he read that page of the script?

"It was just a f---ing very Jack and Harry mad thing to throw in there," says Dornan, who costars with Australian actress Danielle MacDonald on the show. "My reaction was probably like, of course you’ve done that, of course that’s what he f---ing did. It’s just so mad, unexpected, and just a bit bonkers, but very them, and very in keeping with the quirkiness of the show. There was probably a little bit of an emphasis on keeping that open-ended and letting the audience into that. [It] leaves that open for whatever they want to do next."

The Irish actor doesn't know if there will be another season of the show, but he was in the same situation after shooting his character's initial Australia-set adventure . Dornan recalls that, "the idea was always just to do one series. It was pitched as a limited series of six episodes and I was very on board with that. That felt like the right thing in that mad peak COVID time of it all, to go and do this clean, cool, punchy, odd drama that will live by itself. And then, ah Jesus, a lot of people watched it in the U.K. and Ireland and it got a lot of love, there was a lot of good energy around it."

Dornan admits that there have been "conversations" about a season 3 but that he is "very busy, I think, for the next couple of years."

Wait a second, EW smells a scoop. Dornan is one of the actors reportedly in the frame to take over the role of James Bond from Daniel Craig . Is it possible he will be "very busy" playing and promoting the next 007 adventure?

"Not that I know of!" he says with a laugh. "When are they shooting that? I wonder if they’re even shooting that in the next two years. I don’t know. I can’t keep up with that!"

Dornan says it is likely that any third season of The Tourist would be set in Holland, given that his and MacDonald's characters have relocated to Amsterdam by the end of season 2.

"There’s probably a world where it happens in Holland in some capacity, if they were to do more, which wouldn’t be a bad thing," he says. "I like the Dutch, they’re an interesting bunch, and always really fun, and it’s a beautiful place. But who knows!"

Season 2 of The Tourist is now streaming on Netflix.

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Related content:

• Jamie Dornan says Outback shoot for crime show The Tourist was 'not a fun day at the office'
• The Tourist stars break down that shocking season 1 finale
• Awardist podcast: Jamie Dornan on his secret 'silly' side
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The Tourist season 2 ending explained: What was in the file?

After we finally learned what's in the suitcase.

The Tourist season 2 ending explained

What was in eugene's file, will there be a tourist season 3.

The Tourist season 2 ending spoilers follow.

While a runaway hit in the UK, The Tourist has now found its audience in the US – thanks to its launch on Netflix .

"Netflix has quite a good history of reviving shows that didn't, for whatever reason, land in the States the first time around," Dornan told Decider during a recent interview.

"[ The Tourist ] was a big hit in the UK. It was the most-watched drama of 2022. It was strange to have such fanfare over there and then not have many people knowing about it in the States," he said.

With this in mind, there's likely a whole new audience of people wanting to analyse The Tourist season two's ending – which is handy, because we have the perfect explainer.

In the second season of The Tourist , the man formerly known as Elliot Stanley was revealed as Eugene Cassidy ( Jamie Dornan ). While many of the questions posed over the six-episode stretch were finally answered in the season finale, it did leave us with one or two lingering queries.

The final episode finds Eugene under lock and key in the Garda station, having been arrested for murdering Donal (Diarmaid Murtagh). He's visited by Helen (Danielle Macdonald), who is struggling to wrap her head around the whole 'Eugene being up for murder' thing.

Despite his protestations of innocence, Helen realises she doesn't really know who he is, since he's definitely not Elliot Stanley. If this were an episode of Love Island , this is the point at which Iain Stirling's voiceover would bellow from on high: "And one couple has hit the rocks!"

Meanwhile, Frank (Francis Magee) is comforting Fergal (Mark McKenna) after the death of his father and talking him into seeking revenge on the McDonnell clan by killing his biological father, Eugene.

A couple of the mysteries finally tied up in the finale are the questions of who Elliot Stanley actually was and what was in that suitcase Niamh Cassidy buried in decades gone by.

Perhaps most surprising of all, we finally got a pay-off for Eugene's long-teased dancing skills with a really quite good ballet performance. Dornan has since joked in an interview with The Guardian that the bit has given him "proper PTSD", after he first read the Chekhov's gun reference in the script.

But before we get to those closing moments, let's unpack episode six of The Tourist 's second series.

If you thought it might make sense for Helen to return to hospital to treat that wound after her quick spell in the prison visiting room, you would be mistaken. Instead, she has bounced back from the brink of apparent death to attempt the 20-hour-plus flight to Australia.

But at the airport, she runs into Ethan (Greg Larsen) and Detective Ruairi (Conor MacNeill), who have become best pals and are embarking on a getaway to Budapest. A buddy comedy spin-off down the line, perhaps? But park that for now because instead, the unlikely trio team up to hunt down answers about Eugene's past.

This takes them first to Elliot Stanley's widow and then to the cab service that ferried him and Niamh Cassidy (Olwen Fouéré) to dive down to that sunken wreck way back when. Among a mammoth stack of ring binder folders, they find the location of where exactly Niamh was dropped off.

Meanwhile, Eugene is making the most of being sprung from jail by spending quality time with his son Fergal, whom he agrees to help hide from his fearful grandfather.

After a car chase ensues – featuring winding roads, smashed fences and a lightly harmed cyclist troupe – the pair manage to clip off their seatbelts and escape pursuit from Frank's lackeys with little more than a chin scratch. Just before their car jettisons off a cliff, too.

Eugene and Fergal decide to walk across the rolling Irish fields to the Cassidy pub, where Niamh is displeased he has brought a McDonnell in. A search of his bag produces little more than "snacks and clothes and bollocks". (Those unpacking after a Christmas getaway might be able to relate.)

Meanwhile, Helen, Ruairi and Ethan are out on a jaunt. Helen has cracked the case that Niamh must have buried whatever she found below sea level. But Ruairi's had word there's a "potential all-out war situation" developing at Niamh's pub, so they're on a clock.

Helen sets about the nigh-impossible task of finding that buried suitcase. Between this and the instant gunshot wound recovery, she truly is capable of anything, because she does indeed come across a patch of freshly disturbed dirt on the Irish coast. And by flashlight nonetheless!

Back at the powder keg that is the Cassidy pub, Frank has pitched up with a homemade bomb in tow, threatening Niamh and her lot with mutually assured destruction. Niamh doesn't seem that bothered by that though – and, to Eugene's very understandable dismay, is prepared to go up in flames.

But Helen bursts in, just as they're about to start pulling triggers, proffering the contents of that suitcase: love letters from Frank's father to Niamh's mother. So, Niamh and Frank are half-siblings.

"We're not blood. We've spilt too much of each other's to be anywhere f**king near that," Niamh growls, trying to shoot Helen, then Eugene. She says she can't forget and storms out.

While all might be lost for the Cassidy and McDonnell clans to patch things up, Helen and Eugene find a way to do so. As the season rolls to an end, we jump forward six months to see the lovebirds have moved to the Netherlands. Eugene must have outrun those murder charges, despite his prints apparently being all over the weapon.

Helen is now a private investigator and Eugene has a new sleek haircut – as well as a manila file he describes as the "life and times of Eugene Cassidy". He gives Helen the opportunity to read it, but when she says no, he leaps to toss it in the nearby Dutch oven, prompting a vague look of regret from Helen.

They then go to a concert hall and Helen cues up 'Swan Lake', telling a nonplussed Eugene to do "whatever comes naturally" – which is an epic ballet dance. Just as we start to wonder if that is really Jamie Dornan leaping across the stage or a body double artfully cloaked in shadow, we cut back to the burning file.

The papers start to curl into view, revealing an official document that states Eugene Cassidy is a special agent who was on "general assignment". Until it disintegrates in the flames.

So Eugene could have been an undercover agent when he left Ireland to go to Australia. This is all unknown to Eugene and Helen in their Netherlands idyll. So there's even more to unpack about Eugene/Elliot/The Man's murky identity – potential season three fodder , if we get one.

At present, there are still no confirmed plans for a third season, but there weren't any for season two either.

"No, we didn't plan it," creator Jack Williams said (via Radio Times ). "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 one 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."

Dornan himself has provided fans with a more promising update, recently telling Entertainment Weekly that there have been "conversations" about another chapter in Elliot's story.

The actor did, however, add that he is "very busy, I think, for the next couple of years".

But if a third season were to happen, Dornan thinks it would likely be set in Amsterdam.

"There's probably a world where it happens in Holland in some capacity, if they were to do more, which wouldn't be a bad thing," he said. "I like the Dutch, they're an interesting bunch, and always really fun, and it's a beautiful place. But who knows!"

The Tourist is available to stream on BBC iPlayer and continues on BBC One.

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The Tourist season 2 ending explained: Who is Jamie Dornan's character really?

Forget everything you thought you knew about Jamie Dornan's character from season 1... *WARNING – CONTAINS FULL SPOILERS FOR ALL SIX EPISODES OF THE TOURIST SEASON 2*

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Two months after The Tourist season 2 debuted on BBC iPlayer, the new season is now arriving on Netflix in the US, meaning fans stateside will be able to find out all the new information we just learnt about Jamie Dornan's Elliot Stanley.

In season 2, Elliot and his girlfriend Helen (Danielle Macdonald) went travelling, before ending up in Ireland , looking for answers regarding amnesiac Elliot's past.

Throughout the season they got more than they bargained for, as more and more secrets came to light – culminating in another jaw-dropping twist ending, setting up a potential third outing.

Jack Williams, who along with his brother and co-writer Harry participated in a RadioTimes.com debate over The Best Ever TV thriller earlier this year, revealed that this ending could well get followed up on .

He said: "There is a little nod at the very end of this season that does suggest some interesting avenues for exploration, I would say.

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"It depends on us finding the right thing, but we love the world and we love the characters and we love working with Jamie and Danielle, so that's always going to be interesting to us."

So, what did we uncover about Jamie Dornan 's character in The Tourist season 2? And how did things come to an end for Elliot and Helen this time around? Read on for everything you need to know about the ending of The Tourist season 2 .

*WARNING: CONTAINS FULL SPOILERS FOR ALL SIX EPISODES OF THE TOURIST SEASON 2 - NOW AVAILABLE ON BBC iPLAYER*

The Tourist season 2 ending explained: What is the twist?

One of the most crucial pieces of information we learned this season about Jamie Dornan's character, Elliot Stanley, is that he was not, in fact, Elliot Stanley .

Instead, he was Eugene Cassidy , the son of Niamh, matriarch of the Cassidy family, who had been locked in a brutal feud with the McDonnell family for decades. He also seemingly had a penchant and talent for ballet. Go figure.

When Eugene was younger, he had had an affair with Donal McDonnell's wife, Claire, and the two had had a son, Fergal. Donal had tried to kill Eugene, but had instead killed his brother by mistake.

Feeling guilty for his brother's death, this is why Eugene left Ireland in the first place, with Donal left raising Fergal and keeping his ancestry a secret.

When leaving the country, he had taken the name Elliot Stanley... but why?

Who was the real Elliot Stanley?

The real Elliot Stanley was a diver, who Frank McDonnell hired to find a downed plane which his father had been on. His father had called him telling him he had important information to share, but had died on the plane before he could show him.

Hoping to find what was inside, Frank hired Elliot. However, Elliot had also become acquainted with Niamh Cassidy, and had travelled down to the plane with her.

While there, she handcuffed him to the plane and sliced his breathing apparatus with a knife, killing him so he couldn't reveal the truth of what had been found there.

Helen, Ruairi and Ethan discovered this when they met with Elliot's widow Deirdre, who also hinted that Elliot was in fact Eugene's father.

This would explain the resemblance between Eugene and Elliot, as well as, perhaps, why he took his name.

How did the family feud come to an end?

The feud ramped up to new levels when Niamh killed Donal, and everyone assumed it had been Eugene that had done so. The two families met at the Cassidy pub, ready for an all-out war.

However, Helen got there just in the nick of time, having located the files that Frank's father had wanted to show him. Niamh had buried them near the coast years ago, hoping to stop anyone from finding out what she had once she read them.

It turned out that the files were, in fact, love letters between Frank's father and Niamh's mother. They had had an affair, which they kept quiet because of the family feud, but this meant that Frank and Niamh were, in reality, brother and sister.

Niamh had tried to bury the secret because she couldn't forget the past and all that had happened between the two families. Frank seemed willing to forget the past and move on as one joined family, but Niamh stormed out of the pub, unable to do so. Where the two families went from here is unclear.

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Did Helen and Elliot get together in The Tourist season 2?

Yes, Helen and Eugene managed to put his past actions and the mystery surrounding him behind them, and moved into a flat together in Amsterdam.

However, there was one last twist in the tale. After Eugene was arrested for Donal's murder earlier in the finale, an article had been published in the local newspaper. Someone had seemingly seen this, tracked Eugene down, and sent him a file on his past.

What was in the file in The Tourist season 2?

Neither Eugene or Helen read it, with both saying they didn't care about his past. Eugene put it in the fire and burned it, and the pair went off to test whether he had retained any of his dancing skills post-amnesia.

However, while they never saw what was in the files, we got a glimpse as the cover burned away. It turns out Eugene was a special agent, at least as far back as 2005.

Exactly what this means for Eugene's past, or indeed the future of The Tourist, remains to be seen...

The Tourist season 2 is available in full now on BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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The Tourist season 1 episode 5 spoilers: The last before finale

The Tourist January 16, 2022

Obviously, it makes a good bit of sense that Jamie Dornan’s character is going to take center stage within this episode, but we’re also building towards one of the biggest episodes for Helen so far. She’s going to look to the police for help, but may figure out some things that alter the course of everything.

Below, you can check out the full  The Tourist  season 1 episode 5 synopsis with more news as to what lies ahead:

Shocked to her core by what she’s witnessed, Helen (Danielle Macdonald) turns to the police for help.

But when she receives some information from an unlikely source, she decides to lead the charge on a risky mission.

Meanwhile, figures from The Man’s (Jamie Dornan) past converge and he finds himself face to face with a dangerous old acquaintance. But soon The Man is sent on an unsettling mental journey, and finally makes a breakthrough about his past.

However, an increasingly torturous interrogation forces him to think on his feet and bring them back to a familiar location. Can he interpret his jumbled memories before his questioner’s patience runs out?

Is there going to be a huge payoff at the end of all of this? That’s one of the other big things that we’re left to wonder here. This show has spent so much time trying to build up this enormous central mystery. In doing that, though, they’ve also put themselves in a position where if things don’t deliver at the end, the whole journey will be a disappointment.

Related  – Be sure to get some more news when it comes to The Tourist right now

What do you most want to see when it comes to  The Tourist  season 1 episode 5?

Be sure to share right now in the attached comments! Once you do just that, remember to stick around for some other updates that you don’t want to miss. (Photo: BBC One.)

The Tourist: what happened in season one? The ultimate recap

Here's all of the drama before the tourist season two that you need to know....

The Tourist is returning for season two very soon, and sees Jamie Dornan back once again as the amnesiac man being hunted down - though this time he is on the run in Ireland. Since the hit BBC series was released in January 2022, even the biggest fan might need a reminder of what went down in season one, so check out our ultimate recap here… 

In season one, Jamie is on the run from a truck hellbent on trying to murder him. Unfortunately, he doesn’t succeed, and the truck knocks him and his car off the road, badly injuring him. When he wakes up in hospital, he has no memory of who he is or what he is doing in Australia. A kindly police officer, Helen Chambers, attempts to help him as his "only friend in the world". 

Helen, incidentally, is engaged to Ethan, who makes her attend Weight Watcher classes with him and undermines her on every occasion. 

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Jamie sticks with his only clue - a note about a meet-up time and place - and goes to a cafe where he meets a waitress named Luci. Luci shocked when he can’t remember anything about his past. As they leave the cafe,  the table where Jamie was told to wait is blown up - revealing that he narrowly avoided another assassination attempt. 

After spending some time with Luci, who decides to help him track down his identity and why he is being pursued, he discovers that he and Luci know one another after all, and she reveals his real name: Elliot Stanley. 

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Elliot continues to have dreams about a woman named Lena Pascal, who he feels is connected to his past and who he needs to find. It becomes apparent that the Crime boss Kostas Panigiris is behind the hunt for Elliot, who owes him a lot of money which has disappeared. 

Elliot realises that he has a connection to Kostas and his associate, Marko, and was involved in their crime operation. It is eventually revealed that he was Kostas’ accountant who fell in love and ran away with his fiancee, Luci, stealing a bag of money to start their new lives. He discovers the bag of cash while having a face-off with Kostas, who is killed. However, Luci is also wounded in the aftermath and dies.  

He then discovers that he was never a good person, and Lena was actually a woman who smuggled heroin for him, and who he performed surgery on to remove the drugs. Despite having a blossoming friendship with Elliot, which ultimately leads her to become a completely different person and break up with her fiancé, Helen is shocked by his actions and turns from him. 

Despondent, Elliot attempts to die by suicide, but after some reflection, Helen appears to forgive him by sending him a burrito emoji, which they agreed in an earlier conversation meant that everything was good. Now, who’s ready for season two?!

The official synopsis reads: "Set against the striking backdrop of Ireland, the upcoming series sees Elliot and Helen dragged into a longstanding feud and forced to deal with the consequences of his past actions. After Elliot quickly goes missing, Helen seeks the help of Detective Ruairi Slater before secrets of Elliot’s past are later uncovered." 

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The Tourist season 2 episode 4 recap: Who is 'Miss Cassidy'?

Elliot is desperate to make amends with Fergal, while Frank McDonnell is more determined than ever to make him pay...

* The Tourist season 2 episode 4 recap contains spoilers *

The Tourist season 2 episode 1 recap The Tourist season 2 episode 2 recap The Tourist season 2 episode 3 recap The Tourist season 2 episode 5 recap The Tourist season 2 ending explained

After learning he has a son — Fergal McDonnell — Elliot heads to his mother's house and she fills him in on a little bit more of Cassidy family history, before they're forced to make a hasty escape. Meanwhile, Frank McDonnell is infuriated by the bombshell about his grandson and is determined to get his revenge, as this thriller really hots up...

The fourth episode starts by taking us back to that mysterious diver, who we saw retrieving a suitcase from a plane beneath the sea at the end of the first episode — and not before time. But what’s in the suitcase? Is it the thing that Frank McDonnell has been after all these years? 

Meanwhile, Niamh Cassidy is digging up a similar suitcase but is furious when she finds it. Does this mean there were originally two cases and one was stolen? Why is she so upset? Either way, while she shoves it back into the hole, the mysterious diver is busy burying hers. However we get a big clue as to who this woman is when the taxi driver calls her ‘Miss Cassidy’? Is she Eugene's sister and has she betrayed Niamh? 

Did Frank REALLY not know the truth about Fergal?

Elsewhere, Eugene calls Frank and says he's Fergal’s father. Frank says he didn’t know that, but we’re not sure we believe him. He was very keen to keep Fergal around in the last episode. Did he want to keep him around so he could use him as leverage against Elliot? If he did know the truth, why would he lie about it? Hmmm...

What's in that suitcase? 

But never mind about that, because Frank is now unloading some key plot info. It seems before his father died in America over 40 years ago, he sent Frank something important, however the plane went down in the sea. Frank sent a diver down to retrieve the bags, but he didn’t return and he suspects Niamh Cassidy is responsible and still has it to this day. 

If Elliot gets it back, Frank says he’ll return Fergal… And the name of the man who went to retrieve the bags? Elliot Stanley. But what's in that case? 

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Later on Detective Ruari Slater walks into a bar and bumps into… Ethan! Oh man, imagine the craic these guys are going to have!

Who was Elliot's uncle? 

Elsewhere, Donal McDonnell finishes his drink and returns home to his wife Claire and confronts her about Fergal's parentage. We kind of assumed this was what Donal was so furious with Elliot about, but it seems he’s only just found out, so imagine how livid he is with Elliot now! Seconds later, Fergal walks in during their argument and learns the truth as well. 

Claire speaks to Fergal later on and says his father — and we presume she means Donal — thinks it would be best if he left town for a bit, so they pack him off to study Irish at college.

Later on, Elliot visits his mother who finds the news about her newly-discovered grandson hilarious. Yet the mood soon changes when Elliot asks his mum about the thing she took from Frank all those years ago. She responds by telling him the story about how Frank murdered her brother — Elliot’s uncle — with a million-pound bottle of whisky, which puts a different spin on things. However, Niamh does say she will help him in his bid to get his son back. But we're desperate to know more about Elliot's uncle... 

That evening, while Elliot and Helen discuss their matrimonial future, Niamh is getting her camo gear on and preparing for the private army that is almost certainly coming for them. When they arrive, an almighty gun battle erupts, while Eugene, Helen and Niamh escape through a back door. 

Will Helen survive?!

The next morning Elliot receives a call from his son Fergal who wants to meet with him. Niamh asks him to take some of her crew with him for safety, but he refuses and sets off with Helen, who clearly is increasingly desperate to leave Ireland. 

Elsewhere, when Claire gets back from dropping off Fergal, she finds Frank waiting for her and he’s absolutely furious. If he had always known the truth about Fergal then he's putting on a good performance since it came out. 

He says Fergal needs to prove his loyalty to the McDonnell clan — but what’s he going to make him do? Betray his biological father? Is Elliot being lured into a trap by his son? Or is Frank using Fergal as bait? 

We don't have to wait long before we get an answer, as when Elliot and Helen get to the (very remote) meeting place, they spot a suspicious guy wandering about, who they overpower and force to reveal Fergal's location. When they find him, the youngster tells them he didn’t want to call, but Frank insists before Elliot goes on to explain that while he’s done a lot of bad stuff in his past, he’s a changed man and would never abandon his son, as he did before. But their heart-to-heart is soon interrupted by Donal and his men, who take Elliot and Helen away. Some first day at college for Fergal! 

The McDonnells take the couple to the woods, where Lena is waiting for them. She tells him she wants to see him suffer and then shoots Helen in the stomach! Shit! 

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. 

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