FORT WORTH, TX − Billy Bob Thornton hit a gusher in November playing hard-living Big Oil crisis manager Tommy Norris in “Landman.” Paramount+ says nearly 15 million people watched the series within four weeks of its debut. “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan’s upstairs-downstairs oil drama ended Season 1 with onscreen heartache and the death of charismatic M-Tex Oil CEO Monty Miller (Jon Hamm). With Hamm ending his run, Thornton, 70, harnesses star-power reinforcements for Season 2 (premiering Nov. 16) as these exclusive first look photos show. Western legend Sam Elliott joins the cast as the character called T.L., and Demi Moore and Andy Garcia will have bigger roles in Season 2.
Elliott, 81, has already blazed an epic trail in the Sheridan universe as Shea Brennan, the grizzled wagon‑train leader in the 2021 “Yellowstone” prequel “1883.” Thornton and Elliott share credits in “1883” and 1993 Western film “Tombstone.” “Sam and I go way back, and he’s a longtime hero of mine,” Thornton tells USA TODAY during a visit to the “Landman” set.
Western acting legend Sam Elliott joins Billy Bob Thornton in “Landman” Season 2 (Paramount+, Nov. 16). See all the exclusive first-look photos from the new chapter of executive producer Taylor Sheridan’s Big Oil drama. (James Jordan, far left, plays engineer Dale Bradley.)
Cami (Demi Moore) and Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton) work together on the business side of M-Tex Oil in Season 2 (pictured with Guy Burnett, left, as Charlie and Kayla Wallace as Rebecca).
Thornton recalls how he commuted to the “Tombstone” set in Elliott’s “old Suburban” along with co‑star Bill Paxton. “And at the end of the day, we’d open an ice chest full of beer and we all had one, and then went to our hotel room.” Sheridan is keeping details of Elliott’s “Landman” character under wraps. But Monty’s death ensures renewed drama at every level, from the cutthroat boardrooms to the West Texas rigs where Tommy’s son Cooper (Jacob Lofland) began as an entry-level worker with big ambitions.
The fallout will hit the mourning Cami (Moore), forcing a quick transition to protector of her husband’s company and legacy as board member. In Season 2, the socialite rises to the business challenge, a character arc Thornton says was always part of Sheridan’s plan. “Taylor has got it mapped out,” Thornton says. “Last season Demi was essentially just the wife of a big-oil guy. There wasn’t a lot to do. Taylor always knew she wasn’t being underused, but (instead) that there was a plan all along.”
Tommy also gets an unwanted work promotion with longtime friend Monty’s death, accepting the company president job. It’s a different world for the competent fixer, managing everything on the ground from oil breaches to cartel threats. Just don’t expect Tommy to pull up his sagging Wrangler jeans, or stop wrangling. “There’s something that fuels him about that fixer job. The president stuff is just an added pressure that Tommy certainly didn’t expect and didn’t really want,” Thornton says. “But I’m there, and I care enough about the company to keep it going for my old buddy.”
Tommy’s balancing act includes navigating his uneasy relationship with the charming but dangerous cartel kingpin Gallino (Andy Garcia). Gallino saved gas-soaked Tommy from cartel execution in the season finale but immediately turned on his own heat by suggesting a business alliance.
Ainsley is college-bound in ‘Landman’ Season 2
Unfiltered daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph) will head to college, leaving the modest Texas ranch‑style house Tommy shares with M-Tex lawyer Nathan (Colm Feore) and engineer roommate Dale (James Jordan). Reunited ex-wife Angela (Ali Larter), who moved in Season 1, will continue to bring an emotional charge to the home. “Angela throws these dinner parties where I’m inevitably going to say something that makes her extra mad,” Thornton says. “That’s the appeal of those scenes. If we just had dinner one night, nobody would tune in.”
