Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy Norris Navigates Deadly Power Plays in Taylor Sheridan’s Explosive Return to West Texas Mayhem

FORT WORTH, TX – November 16, 2025 – The derricks are humming, the pipelines are bleeding, and the Permian Basin is primed for war. Paramount+’s Landman roars back tonight with Season 2, premiering at 3 a.m. ET with two episodes, thrusting Billy Bob Thornton’s battle-scarred landman Tommy Norris into the viper’s nest of corporate overlordship. Following Monty Miller’s (Jon Hamm) fatal heart attack in the Season 1 finale— a seismic shift that left M-Tex Oil’s empire teetering—Tommy steps into the top seat, only to find the throne rigged with cartel dynamite and family fault lines. As the official synopsis teases: “Tommy tries to balance power and family after seismic changes at M-Tex Oil,” but insiders whisper this season doesn’t balance—it detonates.

Filming kicked off in late February 2025 around Fort Worth, wrapping by June after a grueling shoot that captured the raw fury of Texas wildcatters. The opener dives straight into a “chilling funeral sequence” for Monty, insiders say, where Cami Miller (Demi Moore) claws her way from grieving widow to ruthless regent, her eyes “cold as crude” as she eyes Tommy’s every move. Moore, underutilized in Season 1, explodes into the spotlight here—her Cami isn’t just surviving; she’s scheming, whispering boardroom betrayals over bourbon while the new oil gusher floods the fields with black gold and bad blood. “You think you understand how this business works, but you don’t,” Tommy growls to his hotheaded son Cooper (Jacob Lofland) in the trailer. “You have to know the rules to bend them… and really know them to break them.”

The threats multiply like methane leaks. Andy Garcia’s Galino, the silver-haired cartel kingpin teased in the finale, slithers north from Juárez with a vengeance, his enforcers turning dusty lease roads into kill zones. “Galino isn’t a villain—he’s the devil you negotiate with,” Garcia told Variety at SXSW, his Cuban drawl laced with menace. Family fractures deepen too: Tommy’s ex-wife Angela (Ali Larter), the fierce attorney who torched bridges in Season 1, reignites old flames and fresh feuds, her custody war over teenage Ainsley (Michelle Randolph) escalating into a legal bloodbath. Ainsley, now college-bound (filmed on TCU’s manicured quad), grapples with her own secrets—rumors swirl of a forbidden rig-hand romance that could topple dynasties.

Enter Sam Elliott, the gravel-voiced icon of Sheridan’s 1883, storming in as a series regular whose character remains shrouded in secrecy—though bets are on a grizzled wildcatter uncle with a six-shooter and a grudge. “Given it’s Sam Elliott, we’re guessing he won’t be playing some city slicker,” TV Guide quipped upon his April casting reveal. Returning heavy-hitters include Paulina Chávez as Tommy’s sharp-tongued daughter, Kayla Wallace as the no-nonsense geologist, and newcomers like Stefania Spampinato in a recurring arc as a shadowy DEA liaison whose badge hides cartel ties. Colm Feore and Mark Collie round out the ensemble, their oil barons scheming in smoke-filled lounges where deals are sealed with handshakes and hidden knives.

Taylor Sheridan, the Yellowstone architect whose empire now spans eight Paramount+ juggernauts, doubles down on his gritty alchemy: high-stakes corruption where landmen broker souls, not just leases; betrayals that erupt like blowouts under the relentless Chihuahuan sun. Cinematographer Ben Richardson (Yellowstone) lenses the chaos in blistering 4K—rig explosions blooming orange against midnight skies, pickup trucks fishtailing through sandstorms, and close-ups of Thornton’s weathered face etched with the toll of too many dry holes. The score, by Tulsa King’s John Ernsberger, throbs with pedal steel and ominous drones, underscoring Sheridan’s thesis: fortune in the oil patch isn’t drilled—it’s bled.

Season 2’s 10-episode arc, dropping weekly Sundays through January 2026, promises “opportunities for other players” amid the gusher’s glow—think EPA raids, insider trading scandals, and a mid-season cartel ambush that reportedly left three stuntmen with broken ribs. Thornton, chatting with Men’s Journal, relished the escalation: “Tommy’s got two jobs now—executive, landman, family man in a tornado. It’s interesting stuff.” Early buzz from test screenings calls it “Sheridan’s most vicious yet,” blending Sicario tension with Friday Night Lights heart, all dusted in talcum powder and treachery.

Landman Season 1 drew 78% on Rotten Tomatoes, praised for Thornton’s “highly watchable fuel,” but Season 2 aims higher—igniting the streaming wars with a body count that rivals Lioness and plot twists sharper than a lease knife. Tonight, the rigs rumble back to life. In West Texas, power isn’t inherited—it’s hunted. Will Tommy drill to glory or drown in the spill? Stream now on Paramount+—but keep your hard hat on. The fall’s just begun.