It looks like another major celebrity will be calling Australia home for a few months, after the announcement that 50 Shades of Grey star, Jamie Dornan, has been cast in a Stan Original series.
Dornan will play the lead in the new series, The Tourist, a character-driven, mystery-packed, six-part thriller charting one man’s search for his identity.
HBO Max has also been confirmed as the US partner of the show, which will begin production in South Australia in the early part of this year.
“The Tourist are some of the most exciting scripts I’ve ever read. I can’t wait to go to Australia with such a talented group of people,” Dornan said in a statement.
According to the official synopsis: “Dornan stars as a British man who finds himself in the glowing red heart of the Australian outback, being pursued by a vast tank truck trying to drive him off the road. An epic cat and mouse chase unfolds and the man later wakes in the hospital, hurt, but somehow alive. Except he has no idea who he is. With merciless figures from his past pursuing him, The Man’s search for answers propels him through the vast and unforgiving outback.”
Starring alongside Dornan is Australian actor Danielle McDonald, who played opposite Jennifer Aniston in Dumplin’, and also starred in Stan Original film, I Am Woman and Unbelievable on Netflix.
She will star as Helen Chambers, a fledgling Probationary Constable, and Shalom Brune-Franklin (Line of Duty, Roadkill) is set to play Luci, a waitress who’s swept into The Man’s journey for answers.
“Helen is a fascinating and intriguing character, I fell in love with her on page one,” McDonald said in a statement. “I ended up reading all the episodes in one sitting because I couldn’t put them down! I’m so excited to get to be a part of this incredible project and I can’t wait to start filming alongside the amazing cast and production team.”
Acclaimed actor, Hugo Weaving (The Lord of The Rings) will play Agent Lachlan Rogers, one of the most highly regarded detective inspectors in Australia, leading Major Crime for the state police.
The series is full of “shocking, surprising, funny and brutal turns” and is set in a world populated by quirky, enigmatic characters.
It’s an off-beat black comedy that punctuates high-stakes action, however, at its heart is a story of self-discovery with a ticking timebomb underneath: as ‘The Man’ starts to uncover the mystery of who he was, he’s also forced to ask who he is now – and fast.
“Will he unlock the secrets of his identity before those who are trying to kill him catch up with him?”