Netflix Scoops Up Jamie Dornan's 'The Tourist'

To the surprise of just about nobody, The Tourist is moving house for Season 2. The Jamie Dornan-starring BBC series debuted to such high numbers in the U.K. that it landed a Season 2 despite most of the cast being killed off in the finale. However, in America, it was yet another British series lost in the wilds of "HBO Max" (now rechristened "Max") along with other brilliant gems the streaming service criminally failed to market like It's A Sin, I Hate Suzie, The Girl Before, Starstruck, Our Flag Means Death, and of course, The Great Pottery Throwdown. The fact is, Max deserves to have all these shows taken away and put somewhere people will watch them. For now, we must settle for The Tourist getting out and heading to Netflix.

When Season 2 was announced, it was evident that Max wasn't automatically picking up Season 2. The BBC announcement did not mention Warner Brothers Discovery co-producing the new season; it merely noted who was handling the international distribution rights as if it was not a settled matter. However, that did not mean the show wouldn't return to Max; it just meant nothing had been decided yet. The series also could have landed anywhere, from BritBox to Acorn TV to Sundance Now, where it would have only reached a modest viewership, even with an actual marketing campaign.

However, Netflix is a different story. At this current juncture, it is leagues ahead of the competition regarding the streaming wars, and head and shoulders above the rest in surfacing content to create hits. The list of shows that were flops, or merely modest hits on other streaming services, that blew up upon hitting Netflix is almost comical at this point, from You to Suits to the original Netflix bump shows that are still bumping like Breaking Bad. If there is any service that can turn The Tourist into a hit by snatching Season 1 from Max, where nobody saw it the first time, and debuting Season 2 after it premieres on the BBC, this is where it will happen.