Landman (2024)

Landman is an American drama series created by Taylor Sheridan and Christian Wallace, inspired by the podcast series Boomtown hosted by Wallace. Starring Billy Bob Thornton as a landman for an oil company, the show premiered on November 17, 2024, on Paramount+. In March 2025, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on November 16, 2025. In December 2025, the series was renewed for a third season. Despite some elements igniting controversy, the series has been received positively by critics overall.

Synopsis

Landman is set within the world of oilfields in West Texas, where "roughnecks and wildcat billionaires are fueling a boom so big it is reshaping our climate, our economy, and our geopolitics." The lead character, Tommy Norris, can be abrasive, as is the out-of-town lawyer, Rebecca Falcone, who is investigating a fatal accident, early in season one.

Cast

Main

Billy Bob Thornton as Tommy Norris, a combination of a petroleum landman and an operations VP at M-Tex Oil, later President

Ali Larter as Angela Norris, Tommy's ex-wife and Cooper and Ainsley's mother

Jacob Lofland as Cooper Norris, Tommy and Angela's son and Ainsley's brother, a former petroleum geology student who dropped out of Texas Tech

Michelle Randolph as Ainsley Norris, Tommy and Angela's daughter and Cooper's sister, high school cheerleader

Paulina Chavez as Ariana Medina, Elvio's widowed wife and Cooper's love interest

Kayla Wallace as Rebecca Falcone, a causation lawyer at Shepherd-Hastings and later in-house counsel for M-Tex Oil to work for M-Tex as a roustabout

Mark Collie as Walt Joeberg, the Sheriff of Midland County

James Jordan as Dale Bradley, a petroleum engineer

Demi Moore as Cami Miller, Monty's wife and later the owner of M-Tex Oil

Jon Hamm as Monty Miller (season 1), the owner of M-Tex with a long personal and professional relationship with Tommy

Andy Garcia as Danny "Gallino" Morrell (season 2; guest season 1), the Cuban American head of the international Gallino drug cartel who presents publicly as a legitimate financial investor

Sam Elliott as Thomas "T. L." Norris (season 2), Tommy's father

Recurring

Colm Feore as Nathan, an M-Tex Oil attorney and administrator

Alex Meraz as Jimenez (season 1), lieutenant of the local Midland drug network, part of the international Gallino drug cartel

Mustafa Speaks as Theodore "Boss" Ramone, the lead oil crewman on Cooper's second crew

Caleb Martin as Ben "BR" Reynolds (season 2), a member of Boss's second season crew

Dougie Hall as Russ "King" Fisher (season 2), a Comanche member of Boss's second season crew

K.C. Clyde as Barney (season 2, guest in season 1), head bartender at The Patch Cafe

Stefania Spampinato as Bella Morrell (season 2), Gallino's Italian wife

Guy Burnet as Charles "Charlie" Newsom (season 2), a British geologist who falls in love with Rebecca

Francesca Xuereb as Cheyenne (season 2), a stripper turned physical therapist Tommy hires to help TL

Guest

Michael Peña as Armando Medina, a lead oil crewman who is training Cooper

Emilio Rivera as Luis Medina, an oil crewman, and Armando's and Elvio's uncle

Alejandro Akara as Elvio Medina, an oil crewman, Ariana's deceased husband, Luis's nephew, and Armando's younger brother

Robyn Lively as Ellie, a waitress at the Patch Cafe

Bart Johnson as Patrick Ramsey, a representative of one of M-Tex Oil's partners

Octavio Rodriguez as Antonio, a member of Boss's oil crew and a cousin of Armando, Luis, and Elvio

J. R. Villarreal as Manuel Lopez, another member of Boss's oil crew and cousin of Armando, Luis, and Elvio

Colin Ferguson as Bob Knowles, president of a competing oil company

Audrey McGraw as Shelby, the teen neighbor who befriends Ainsley

Mitchell Slaggert as Ryder Sampson, Ainsley's second boyfriend

Deidra Shanell as Margaret, senior citizen home nurse

Marco Perella as Hank, a resident in a senior citizen home

Gail Cronauer as Beverly, a resident in a senior citizen home

Maxwell Caulfield as the Governor of Texas

Ben Browder as Ivey, a Colonel in the Texas National Guard

Jerry Jones as a fictional version of himself

Tim DeZarn as Perry Hardin, a small parcel landholder with a dry oil well on his property

Matt Peters as Mel, the manager of a Rick's Cabaret in Midland

Michael Tow as Dr. Michaels, Monty's cardiac surgeon

Jim Meskimen as Alan Thomas, Monty's personal lawyer

Miriam Silverman as Greta Stidham, TCU admission officer

Bradley Snedeker as Robert James, lawyer for a company that insured a damaged gas extraction platform in the Gulf

Christopher Stanley as Eric McDougal, lawyer for a company that insured a damaged gas extraction platform in the Gulf

Bobbi Salvör Menuez as Paigyn Meester, Ainsley's non-binary almost roommate at TCU

Mackenzie Astin as Detective Hayes, Odessa Police Department

Wolé Parks as Detective Miller, Odessa Police Department

Shannon Thornton as Brit Sterling, TCU cheerleader coach

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2024–25)

Season 2 (2025–26)

Production

Development

In February 2022, Paramount+ ordered a television series inspired by the podcast Boomtown titled Landman from screenwriter Taylor Sheridan. Billy Bob Thornton stars in the series. In May 2023, Jacob Lofland, Ali Larter, and Michelle Randolph joined the series. In January 2024, Kayla Wallace, James Jordan, Mark Collie, and Paulina Chávez joined the series as series regulars. In February 2024, it was reported that Jon Hamm joined the series. In April 2024, it was reported that Octavio Rodriguez and J. R. Villarreal joined the series as recurring characters.

In May 2024, it was confirmed by Demi Moore that a second season was planned, with production set to commence in early 2025. In March 2025, Paramount+ renewed the series for a second season.

In April 2025, it was announced that Sam Elliott joined the cast as a series regular for the second season. In June 2025, it was reported that Stefania Spampinato was cast in a recurring role for the second season.

In December 2025, Paramount+ renewed the series for a third season.

Filming

Filming started in and around Fort Worth, Texas, in February 2024 and concluded in June 2024. Filming locations included the headquarters of the American Association of Professional Landmen, the national association that represents land professionals, as well as the Fort Worth Petroleum Club, Rivercrest Country Club, and Texas Christian University.

Filming for the second season started in April 2025 and concluded in August 2025. Filming for the third season was scheduled to commence in May 2026, but was later delayed until August.

Music

Andrew Lockington, who worked in Mayor of Kingstown and Lioness, has composed the music for the series, marking his third collaboration with the series' creator. UMG Nashville has released the series' seasons 1 and 2 soundtracks. Some of the songs in the soundtrack albums were written by actors Billy Bob Thornton and Mark Collie. Music from Yellowstone actress/musician Lainey Wilson is used in season 2.

Release

The first season launched with two episodes on Paramount+ on November 17, 2024. Subsequent episodes of the 10-episode first season were available weekly on Sundays through January 12, 2025. The second season premiered on November 16, 2025.

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 78% based on 37 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Landman plumbs much of the same territory as other Taylor Sheridan–penned series, but having Billy Bob Thornton on hand turns this Texas crude into highly watchable fuel." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 60 out of 100 based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

The second season has an 83% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 41 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Further refining its brutish elements into addictive drama, Landman's second season makes minor improvements in its treatment of female characters while continuing to benefit from Billy Bob Thornton's hangdog swagger." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 66 out of 100 based on eight critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Criticism

Renewable energy

Reviewers have criticized a scene where the fictional oil man Tommy Norris falsely claims that the amount of steel, oil, and concrete needed to construct a wind turbine produces such a high carbon footprint that it will not offset the costs over the course of its lifespan (said to be twenty years). This dialog led many conservatives to repost the clip on social media. Life cycle analyses of wind energy show that far more carbon is offset by wind energy than is produced during wind turbine construction. Joshua Rhodes, an energy researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, estimates that a wind turbine offsets the carbon spent to make it within one year.

Female characters

The program has also been criticized, at least in the first season, for presenting female characters as caricatures and negative stereotypes of women. A reviewer for Texas Monthly writes "With all the low-cut tops, high-cut shorts, and dumb-blonde dialogue, I felt like I was watching a racy reboot of a T & A show." When reviewing the first two episodes of the first season, the reviewer from National Public Radio noted that the talents of Demi Moore and Ali Larter were being underutilized and in those scenes, they were "playing caricatures and male fantasies". A writer from Rolling Stone noted that "The show gives an unsolicited glimpse of what The Dukes of Hazzard would have looked like if it had been on late-night Cinemax. Thornton’s Tommy has an ex-wife and a daughter who are seemingly characters plucked from dubious scenarios on PornHub." In her review for Entertainment Weekly, the reviewer wrote "the women of Landman exist solely in the context of how they are perceived by Tommy and his cowboy cohorts — put simply, they are around to distract, annoy, titillate, entreat, or yell at the men." A writer for The New Yorker commented "The screenwriting plays fast and loose with sexist stereotypes; Tommy’s ex-wife, Angela (played by Ali Larter), with whom he rekindles a relationship, is a kind of red-state Manic Pixie Dream MILF, flaunting her cleavage, giving road head, and acting crazy when she’s getting her period." While reviewing Sheridan's writing style, a critic for Vulture wrote, "But what’s tough to digest is how so much of that simplicity is tied to the whole misogyny thing — and it is misogyny, no doubt about it. In addition to being some weird expression of daddy-daughter shit that Sheridan is clearly obsessed with, Ainsley is such a difficult character to defend as a creation: an excessively sexualized teenage daughter, played by an obviously older woman, who’s perpetually scantily clad around older men. It’s just icky."

In contrast, actress Ali Larter defended Sheridan's controversial writing style claiming that he writes "women in their prime, that were still allowed to be alive." Larter also defended her portrayal of Angela, "stating that Angela is able to express that side of herself, and that the character is a full rainbow." Actress Michelle Randolph also defended Sheridan and her own portrayal of Ainsley.

Paul Harvey

On June 23, 2025, Paulynne, Inc., which owns and controls all of famed broadcaster Paul Harvey's intellectual property, sued Paramount Global in New York federal court. The company sued Paramount for using a 90-second audio clip from The Rest of the Story in Landman without permission. Paramount used a segment about rising gas prices from Harvey's 2009 "Gas Crisis" episode in the opening of Landman's Season 1 finale. The lawsuit accused Paramount of failing to obtain permission to use the clip as well as editing the clip to change Harvey's viewpoint with regard to government fossil-fuel policies and his interest in alternative fuels.

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

Official website on Paramount+

Landman at IMDb