On screen, the hostility is intense. Cooper (played by Jacob Lofland) and Ainsley (played by Michelle Randolph) clash constantly, delivering venomous arguments that make it genuinely hard to believe they share the same bloodline. Their scenes are sharp, ugly, and painfully convincing — which is exactly why they’ve become one of the show’s most talked-about elements.

But according to Lofland, what viewers see on screen couldn’t be further from reality.

With Season 2 of Landman currently winding down on Paramount+ — and just three episodes left — Lofland offered some behind-the-scenes clarity in a featurette released alongside the latest episode, “Forever Is An Instant.” And yes, he’s very aware of how brutal the Cooper–Ainsley dynamic looks.

“When me and Michelle get to work together we’re always fighting. It’s always an argument, but it’s so funny because our dynamics off the set are not like that. We are like brother and sister off set, but we get along tremendously. So, it’s like we’re really having to act like to not like each other on screen, and as soon as we cut it’s always like, ‘I’m sorry.’ We have a great time. Those scenes are always fun.”

This also explains why the Cooper and Ainsley storyline works as well as it does. The pair’s ability to convincingly sell hatred without letting it bleed into real life is a testament to both actors’ skill — especially considering how uncomfortable sibling conflict can be to portray

Jacob Lofland Teases More Twists And Turns To Come

In the most recent episode, Tommy does inform his son of Gallino’s true nature. However, Lofland reveals in an interview with TVLine that the younger Norris still isn’t fully aware of how messed up the situation actually is. The actor explained that Tommy wasn’t completely honest with him and was lying to him by omission by not telling him the full truth, such as seeing the cartel boss kill four people in the first season of Landman.

Lofland explained that there is still a lot of information that is being withheld from him by his father that the audience isn’t even aware of yet, either. He cryptically stated that there are many more twists and that his character may or may not find out that he is being deceived by the end of season 2. He added that viewers will just have to wait to see what happens.

I don’t think he understands how f**ked he is yet. That’s the thing. Tommy definitely knows more about Gallino than Cooper does, by any stretch, but Tommy doesn’t tell him that he saw him kill four people in the last season, and what kind of man we’re in business with. [Cooper] just knows it’s a problem. Doesn’t know why exactly. So that’s still to come. Possibly Cooper’s going to figure that out later — or maybe we don’t! [Laughs] We’ll see. There’s many a twist and turn still coming in the second half of this thing.