Quick LinksWho Stars in Taylor Sheridan’s Landman? Why Yellowstone Fans Must Watch Landman
As Yellowstone bids its final farewell in December 2024, Taylor Sheridan fans must immediately check out his new dramatic series Landman. Premiering on Paramount+ on November 17, 2024, Landman stars Billy Bob Thornton as Tommy Norris, a West Texas oil company executive specializing in crisis management. With two episodes released weekly, the inaugural 10-episode season is slated to conclude on January 12, 2025, four weeks after Yellowstone’s slated finale.

With Yellowstone saying goodbye to Kevin Costner in tragic fashion on November 10, 2024, it’s an opportune time to migrate south from Montana to Texas and discover what acclaimed scribe and show-runner Taylor Sheridan is up to next. While unrelated, Landman’s geopolitical drama is an ideal TV alternative to Yellowstone this fall and winter.

Set in the proverbial boomtowns of West Texas, Landman is a modern-day tale of fortune seeking in the world of oil rigs. Based on the notable 11-part podcast “Boomtown,” the series is an upstairs/downstairs story of roughnecks and wildcat billionaires fueling a boom so big, it’s reshaping our climate, our economy and our geopolitics.Where To Watch Paramount+

What Is Landman About?

Taylor Sheridan co-created Landman with Christian Wallace, based on the latter’s podcast, Boomtown. Set in contemporary West Texas’s Permian Basin, the drama revolves around the ever-changing oil industry and those directly and indirectly involved. Billy Bob Thornton portrays the protagonist, crisis management executive Tommy Norris, who works for a local oil company. Beyond his work, Tommy must keep the peace between his ex-wife and his spirited teenage daughter.

Like much of Sheridan’s work, the confluence of ambition, capitalism, greed, and industrialization paves the way for a complicated geopolitical scene and the environmental impact drilling for oil has on the nation. Of course, fans of Yellowstone and its 1883 spin-off will delight in knowing Sheridan reunites with Billy Bob Thornton, making it an ideal director-actor duo partnership with shared Southern sensibilities.

4:25 Related Ali Larter Dishes on Taylor Sheridan’s New Series Landman & Looks Back on Varsity Blues Ali Larter discusses working with Taylor Sheridan and Billy Bob Thornton on her new show Landman and looks back on The Rookie and Varsity Blues.

Thornton played U.S. Marshal Jim Courtright in 1883’s second episode, “Behind Us, a Cliff,” teasing fans through his brief collaboration with Sheridan. Now that Thornton takes center stage in Landman, Yellowstone fans must migrate from Montana to Texas to witness more soapy geopolitical and socioeconomic drama in the American West. And that doesn’t even account for the alluring supporting cast.

Who Stars in Taylor Sheridan’s Landman?

Landman features a stellar international supporting cast alongside Thornton, ranking as one of the show’s primary attractions. Ali Larter stars as Tommy’s ex-wife, Angela Norris, while Michelle Randolph plays their 17-year-old daughter, Ainsley Norris. Ainsley is described as “strong-willed,” sure to give Tommy domestic strife that he must deal with outside his work hours. Jacob Lofland plays Cooper Norris, Tommy and Angela’s son.

Professionally, Tommy’s main allies include Monty Miller (Jon Hamm), a wealthy and highly influential Texas oil magnate who has a long history with the protagonist. Fresh off her award-worthy performance in the body horror movie The Substance, Demi Moore plays Monty’s wife, Cami Miller. According to Moore via Vanity Fair:

“Cami is somebody who is not involved in the business but is running their entire life. They’re a couple that built this entire empire and family together.”

Moore provided extra details about the Millers in Landman, adding:

“Jon said to me at one point, ‘I think this might be the first time I’m playing a character who’s actually in a good relationship, where they actually have real love, commitment, and affection.’ Her focus is her family and their social existence. It’s the ups and downs of keeping him grounded, healthy, and safe.”

Additional cast members include Andy Garcia as influential socialite Galino, Michael Peña as oilfield worker Armando, Mark Collie as Sheriff Walt Joeberg, James Jordan as oil engineer Dale Bradley, Kayla Wallace as local woman Rebecca Savage, Paulina Chavez as Ariana, a woman affected by oil drilling, and Colm Fiore as a mysterious man named Nathan. Robyn Lively, Dani Raen, Mustafa Speaks, Octavio Rodriguez, J.R. Villarreal, J.J. Thompson, Mitchell Slaggert, and Alex Meraz round out the Landman cast.

Why Yellowstone Fans Must Watch Landman

Beyond the star-studded ensemble and the reunion between Sheridan and Thornton, Landman offers a mature, throwback drama for adults tired of superhero and video game adaptations geared toward a younger demographic. Sheridan is at his best when fusing top-flight entertainment with substantive subtext, with glaring examples like Sicario, Wind River, Hell or High Water, and Yellowstone achieving critical and commercial success.

Even sillier diversionary action movies like Those Who Wish Me Dead have nostalgic ’90s qualities that meld pressing modern-day issues like deforestation and climate change with pure action escapism. Given Sheridan’s creative track record, Landman stands to plumb profound geopolitical and socioeconomic subjects to make statements about the contemporary division between the rich and poor.

4:50 Related Yellowstone Star & Long-Time Taylor Sheridan Friend Gil Birmingham Comments on Season 5 Gil Birmingham & Taylor Sheridan have collaborated many times, and shares where Yellowstone and his character Thomas Rainwater are headed in Season 5.

As economic inequality widens in America, exploring the intersection of small-town Texas values and the billionaire oil boom again shows Sheridan’s socially conscious storytelling approach. Of course, Landman also provides an excellent alternative to Yellowstone, Sheridan’s flagship franchise that has several spin-offs in the works. The fifth and final Yellowstone season has begun airing on the Paramount Network, with the remaining episodes set to explore who took John Dutton’s life. As Yellowstone rides off into the sunset in 2024, Landman is the next best Taylor Sheridan show to drill into. Landman is available to stream on Paramount+.