Editor’s Note: Spoilers are ahead for Season 2 of ‘The Tourist.’
If you’re just as shocked by the ending ofThe TouristSeason 2, you’re not alone. The final moments of the BBC-produced series streaming exclusively onNetflix created a lot more questions than answers for its protagonists, played magnetically byJamie DornanandDanielle Macdonald. Initially developed as a limited series byHarryandJack Williams, the high-octane dark comedy has evolved across its 12 episodes from acaptivating outback, neo-Western thrillerto a remarkably layered mystery brimming with sharp plot twists. As the sophomore finale makes it look like a “happy ever after” for Eugene Cassidy (formerly known as Elliott Stanley or “The Man”) and Helen Chambers, everything we know is shattered and leads the way to another chapter.
But is another season even happening?While the episode teases a major cliffhanger that involves Dornan’s Eugene leading audiences into another realm of his very covert background, there’s no telling what we might get from the streaming giant — even if its debut season made its way into Netflix’s Top 10 during the first week of its U.S. release. Following the show’s leap from Max to Netflix two years later, the move might be in its favor as this step is reminiscent of thestreamer’s rescue ofGirls5Evafrom its cancelation at Peacock. So, what can we expect, and what will Season 3 look like after those final moments?
The Tourist
When a man wakes up in the Australian outback with no memory, he must use the few clues he has to discover his identity before his past catches up with him.
What Happened in the Final Minutes of ‘The Tourist’ Season 2?
As the finale rolls to the end and wraps up some of the bigger questions, like who Eugene Cassidy (Jamie Dornan) was and what was in the suitcase that his mother Niamh Cassidy (Olwen Fouéré) buried decades ago, the cliffhanger in the show’s final five moments is the real shock and awe. Across the season’s six episodes, Helen (Danielle Macdonald) has been trying her hardest to help her boyfriend Elliot rediscover who he isafter being struck with amnesia in Season 1. After getting into some dire situations that turned Elliot’s hopeful “Eat, Pray, Love” journey into a trip from hell, the couple wants nothing more from the Emerald Isle and has put his shady past behind them. That is until six months later, when the two are confronted in their comfortable Amsterdam apartment witha manila envelope, detailing “The Life and Times of Eugene Cassidy.”
After Eugene was arrested for the murder of Donal McDonnell (Diarmaid Murtagh) in the Season 2 finale but seemingly got off because his mother Niamh had confessed to it, an article was published in the local Irish newspaper. With the sender tracking him down and mailing him information about his past, Eugene admits to Helen he didn’t bother reading anything becausehe doesn’t care for who he was anymore. Helen reassures him, sharing how she knows who he is and no file will compromise her belief in his character. Promptly confirming her response, Eugene proceeds to toss the file into the Dutch oven despite a quick look of regret from Helen.
What That “General Assignment” File Means for ‘The Tourist’
In the closing scenes, reminiscent of a previous story where Niamh revealed to Helen thatEugene used to be quite the dancer before his memory loss, Helen orchestrates a private moment in a concert hall, bringing Eugene’s long-forgotten skills into the spotlight. Firing up “Swan Lake” much to his chagrin, Eugenestarts to dance beautifullyand proves he is light on his feet — a talent he didn’t realize he had in him. While Dornan gives us strongEdgar Paget vibeswhile floating to Tchaikovsky, the scenes cut back to the Dutch oven as we see the file burn down with papers curling into view amid the flames. In this reveal, we discover a document that statesEugene Cassidy has been a “special agent” as far back as 2005 and is on a “general assignment” for the “Sentinel” bureau, which throws a wrench into everything we thought we knew about his character.
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Could it mean, after all this time, Eugene was just undercover?Whatever the “sentinel” bureau is, it appears they had him partake in highly confidential affairs, which led to heading drug trafficking rings and hurting others along the way — even committing murders. When he arrived in Australia during Season 1 and was run off the road by American assassin Billy Nixon (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), there was a lot more than meets the eye to his initial identity reveal and the crimes he was a part of. This all means there is even more to unpack about Eugene’s murky identity and potential for Season 3.
Is ‘The Tourist’ Renewed for Season 3?
Not yet. But in all fairness,The Touristwas meant to be a limited series without a continuation. Following an astonishing, intriguing, and mysterious cliffhanger, there is so much more to delve into. Considering how Netflix is also the official and exclusive U.S. home of the Harry and Jack Williams show, there’s no telling how far it can go.While the showrunners were talking toRadio Times, they hinted that there could be something more around the corner, but that ambiguous finale could also “exist as a thing that ends [there] and we never see again,” but they would also “never say never.”
“There is a little nodat the very end of this seasonthat does suggest some interesting avenues for exploration, I would say,” Jack Williams toldRadio Times. “It depends on us finding the right thing, but we love the world, and we love the characters, and we love working with Jamie [Dornan] and Danielle [Macdonald], so that’s always going to be interesting to us.”
When the producing pair behind Two Brothers Pictures wrote the first season, they admitted how they wanted to tell one story that had an ending and was complete without holding anything back. However, in writing someone like Elliot/Eugene/The Man, there’s only a certain amount that gets revealed when this character is a very layered person with a backstory that couldpotentially open up some incredibly bonkers nuances. “So, in the back of our minds, we did wonder if there was going to be more to tell because Season 1 didn’t reveal everything about him,” Jack Williams said. “It didn’t reveal why he made the choices he made […] but we didn’t want to come back unless we had a really good reason to do so and a story to tell that wasn’t going to undo everything we’d done in Season 1.”
The TouristSeasons 1 and 2 are streaming now on Netflix in the U.S.
