Jamie Dornan & Danielle Macdonald Explain Why ‘The Tourist’ Is Worth Visiting (VIDEO)

Jamie Dornan may be basking in the critical glow surrounding the Oscar-nominated Belfast, the gorgeous Kenneth Branagh feature in which he stars with Outlander‘s Caitriona Balfe, but it’s The Tourist that he may actually be more proud of.

“This was the hardest job of my life,” he readily and good-naturedly admits. In the puzzle-box miniseries currently streaming on HBO Max, filmed on location in Australia, The Fall star plays a nameless John Doe who awakens from a coma after a heinous car crash with no memory of his identity or why someone would try to run him down. “The outback is no joke,” he adds. “It’s a hostile environment, there’s sandstorms…it was roasting when we got there and freezing when we left.”

Ian Routledge/Two Brothers Pictures

All of that sweaty, sandy mess has paid off because the show’s prior international launches have earned it raves. “In the UK and Ireland and Australia…everywhere its been shown, it makes me so happy that it’s been received so well,” Dornan continues with a laugh. “Because to have gone through something like this…[it] was so hard!”

Over the course of The Tourist‘s six twisty hours, Dornan’s character methodically pieces together his past with the help of Helen Chambers (a wonderful Danielle Macdonald), a compassionate cop who could use a friend (and a divorce lawyer), while the less-than-kindly folks looking for him begin to close in.

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Far from your typical thriller, however, this one also takes unexpected tonal shifts that temper the sweaty, almost-noirish vibe with a quirkiness that even the actors got a kick out of. During our recent chat with Dornan and Macdonald, the Once Upon a Time alum admits that he “loved the challenge of it and the sort of mix of stuff that happens” to his character along the way. “That all added to the fun of it all for me.”

The Tourist, Streaming Now, HBO Max