Despite what can sometimes feel like a glut of interesting shows on TV, it can sometimes be hard to find great thrillers. The Tourist, a Netflix show that first debuted in 2022, fits that bill perfectly, telling the story of a man who wakes up in the Australian outback with no idea who he is and has to work to piece together where he comes from and why he’s being chased.
While The Tourist itself is well worth watching, we’ve pulled a couple of other shows together that have a fairly similar profile. Each of these shows shares something in common with The Tourist, even if they don’t have much in common. Without further ado, here are three shows like The Tourist you should definitely make time for.
Blindspot (2015 – 2020)
Telling the story of a tattooed woman who shows up in Times Square with no memory of who she is or where she came from, Blindspot is probably the closest analog to The Tourist you’ll find.
The show mixes elements of a procedural with an ongoing plot, following its central character as she helps to solve the crimes that are scrawled across her body and unravel the mysteries around who she is and where she came from. Blindspot had a remarkable five-season run and expertly used memory loss to explore how people form their understandings of who they are.
Blindspot can be rented or purchased at digital vendors like Apple TV.
Alias (2001 – 2006)
Alias was about a lot of things throughout its run on the air, but it does have a major subplot involving memory loss in one of its later seasons. More generally, the show focuses on a young woman who discovers that her family has a history of undercover spy work, and she begins working for what she believes to be a secretive branch of the CIA.
Eventually, though, she realizes that her employer has no connection to the CIA, and that’s where things start to get really fun. Ultimately, the best reason to watch Alias is Jennifer Garner (who will pop up later this year in Deadpool 3 as Elektra), but the show still holds up remarkably well 20 years later.
All five seasons of Alias can be streamed for free on Freevee.
Severance (2022 – )
Another show where memory plays a very prominent role, Severance‘s setting is nonetheless pretty different from The Tourist‘s. Here, we follow a group of office workers who work for a company that requires them to “sever” themselves, essentially meaning that their work selves have no idea who they are outside work, and their outside selves have no idea who they are at work.
It’s a fascinating commentary on what it’s like to work at a corporation, but it’s also a remarkably intricate thriller in which the company that they’re working for has much more sinister designs than you may initially realize.
Severance season one is streaming on Apple TV+. Season 2 is currently being filmed.
