Introduction
Considering his monumental output over the last decade in both writing, directing, and being a showrunner, one might think Taylor Sheridan was able to clone himself successfully. To the best of this writer’s knowledge, he hasn’t. Starting in 2015, the Texas native has gone on a prolific run (in both film and television) that shows no sign of slowing down.
Sicario (2015), Hell or High Water (2016), Wind River (2017), Yellowstone (2018), The Last Cowboy (2019), 1883, Mayor of Kingstown (both 2021), Tulsa King, 1923 (both 2022), and Lioness (2023) have cemented Sheridan’s status as a critically acclaimed and profitable filmmaker, writer and showrunner. Landman (2024), which Sheridan creates, writes, directs (two episodes), and produces, might be his best streaming series yet.
Synopsis
In Landman, Paramount+’s thrilling and often hilarious new dramatic series, Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton) is a world-weary and perpetually pissed-off crisis-fixer for the fictional M-Tex Oil company. Located in the oil-rich west Texas region known as the Permian Basin, Tommy is tasked with everything from violent land lease negotiations with the Mexican drug cartel to making sure the families of killed workers are tended to and compensated.
Tommy’s job is to also quickly resolve anything that might cause a headache for his boss, Monty (Jon Hamm). Monty, while a billionaire, relates to Tommy and values his advice. They are both self-made men who rose to the top of their fields through sheer will. It’s also clear that the pair have a long history with each other. However, when accidents in the field start piling up, Tommy realizes that he and Monty are potentially on the hook.
While the drama of navigating the oil-drilling business might be enough for some content creators, that’s not Taylor Sheridan’s style. Tommy also has his hands full with an aggressive and over-the-top flirtatious ex-wife, Angela (Ali Larter), a scantily clad and manipulative 17-year-old daughter, Ainsley (Michelle Randolph), and a 22-year-old college dropout son, Cooper (Jacob Lofland), who is determined to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Add to the mix Rebecca Falcone (Kayle Wallace), a highly intelligent, viper-tongued, young attorney summoned on behalf of Cooper and M-Tex’s insurance company to investigate the latest worker-related accident. Making matters worse (and funnier) is Tommy is sharing his sprawling home with Nathan (Colm Feore), M-Tex’s lawyer, and Dale (James Jordan), an oil patch engineer. It all adds up to a highly dramatic and laugh-out-loud funny Taylor Sheridan soap opera.
Analysis
While the entire cast of Landman is fantastic, especially Ali Larter and the always enjoyable Colm Feore (who can forget Stephen King’s Storm of the Century), this series lives and dies on the shoulders of Billy Bob Thornton. And through the first eight episodes, he is cooking. Thornton rips off page-long soliloquies like something out of an Aaron Sorkin or David Mamet production. It’s his best work since he wrapped up the final season of Amazon’s Goliath back in 2021.
“Oil and Gas Industry makes $3 billion a day in pure profit. Generates over $4.3 trillion a year in revenue. It is the seventh largest industry in the world, ranked ahead of food production, automobile production, and coal mining, and at 1.4 trillion, the pharmaceutical industry doesn’t even crack the top ten. The industries listed ahead of oil and gas are completely dependent on oil and gas. The more they grow, the more we grow. That’s the scale. That’s the size of this thing. And it’s only getting bigger”
–Billy Bob Thornton as Tommy Norris
Based on co-creator Christian Wallace’s successful podcast Boomtown, Landman does what so many other Taylor Sheridan productions manage to pull off—eliciting sympathy towards people and industries where there would normally be none. In this case, the cutthroat and profit-minded oil industry. We may not care much about ‘big oil,’ but we care about the people who are working and running its fields and wells. This is due to Sheridan’s fleshed-out character development and humanizing of his protagonists.
Further Discussion
At face value, Landman seems to be another triumph for the growing Sheridan empire. However, dig a little deeper, and the series, for all of its qualities, shows its one flaw, common for a Taylor Sheridan production. One-dimensional female characters that often border on caricature. Larter and Thornton have great chemistry and are having a fun time with their respective roles. But, Larter and her on-screen daughter are largely relegated to comedic relief. That said, the viewer needs that comic relief to balance the grim realities of drilling for oil.
The one exception to this is Kayle Wallace’s Rebecca Falcone. She’s shot right out of the Aaron Sorkin cannon, destroying her male chauvinistic lawyer counterparts in some of the best monologing of the series. It’s a shame she’s relegated to a smaller role as the show progresses. Her scenes with Thornton in the first few episodes are among its best. It’s also puzzling as to what exactly Demi Moore’s role in Landman is. She has prominent billing but through eight episodes is largely non-existent as Cami, Monty Miller’s wife.
Conclusion
The first few episodes of Landman destroyed the previous streaming records for Paramount Network’s streaming service, Paramount+. One would think that this would ensure a second season of this wildly popular show. To date, nothing has been confirmed regarding a second season from either Paramount or Sheridan. However, at the most recent Cannes Film Festival, Demi Moore, promoting her film The Substance, stated:
“It’s a very interesting world in the boomtown of Fort Worth, Texas. It’s kind of this subculture that we haven’t seen before, which is what I think Taylor does so well…there’s delicious drama within and family dynamics…I’ve already completed the first season and I’m excited for us to start the second which will be at the beginning of next year”
Sheridan has created four successful streamers for Paramount+, all of which have lasted at least two seasons (Tulsa King, 1883, 1923, and Mayor of Kingstown). Based on this it seems all but a given that Thornton, Sheridan, and the gang will be back for more Southern-fried drama and a second season of Landman. Let’s hope Sheridan fleshes out Moore’s character in Season Two as her talents have thus far been wasted. Especially considering she’s a potential Oscar nominee for her fantastic performance in The Substance.
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