Danielle MacDonald unpacks emotional baggage of ‘Tourist’ role

In “The Tourist,” the six-part series streaming on HBO Max, Danielle Macdonald’s cop-in-training must wend her way through this road-trip thriller’s multiple accidents, murders and bombs, decency intact.

Unlike the many venal, malicious and merciless characters she encounters, “Danielle is the moral center of the series,” said Jamie Dornan, whose troubled amnesiac is trying to recover his memory while hopefully saving his life.

Macdonald repeatedly announces her lowly status to the citizens and law enforcement she encounters as Probationary Constable Helen Chambers. She’s not even assigned to the mysterious amnesiac’s case but she can’t quit him.

Helen encounters him early and won’t give up on looking after and helping him. Partly because he’s all alone and she feels (rightly) no one else cares. Partly to do something that’s apart from her live-in relationship with a bullying boyfriend.

“It’s an interesting journey for sure,” Macdonald, 30, said from L.A. in a Zoom interview she shared with her cat on her lap.

“I think that Helen is very much like the truth teller of the series. She’s your guiding light on what’s actually happening, which is nice.

“But then, yes, she’s also going through her struggles — and we really do highlight that. She’s in an emotionally abusive relationship and that is something that she really has to figure out on her own, which is very true to life.

“I think that a lot of people end up in situations like this. And no one ever has any idea how! It’s so easy when you’re watching from the outside and you’re like, ‘What are you doing!’ and you just kind of want to kick him.

“But then,” she emphasized, “that’s also kind of what happens. People have to go on their journey and come to it themselves and that’s really powerful when she does learn and grow and figure out who she is and the kind of situation she’s in.”

While she lives in L.A., this Aussie native spent months back home filming “The Tourist” around Adelaide and nearby towns. Was she recognized and hounded by fans who had seen “Bird Box” or “Dumplin’ ”?  Is recognition any different when she’s in L.A.?

“People really, really leave you alone in Australia. Like I go to my hometown” — Sydney — “and nothing,” she revealed.

“To be honest, I think people stopped me more here in L.A., because there’s a lot more industry people here. So people are, ‘Oh, I’ve seen this’ or ‘I’ve seen you,’ more than in Australia.

“Sometimes you get odd looks or just like a shrug. So yeah, it’s a little bit different.”