Warning! SPOILERS For Landman Season 1
Paramount+ renewedLandmanfor season 2, and its addition of a new cast member will reunite two stars who teamed up in a previous Taylor Sheridan show.Landmanseason 1premiered alongsideYellowstoneseason 5, part 2, replicating the franchise’s gritty neo-Western themes in the West Texas oil fields. Billy Bob Thornton helmsLandmanseason 1’s castas Tommy Norris, a fixer for an oil company run by Monty Miller, played byMad Men’s John Hamm. However, Tommy’s longtime boss experienced heart issues, causing an uncertain fate forMonty inLandman’s season 1 finale.
Amid uncertainty over Jon Hamm’s return,Landmanseason 2 added an iconic Western actorwho worked with Taylor Sheridan in1883.The miniseries is the earliest-setYellowstoneprequel, which takes place along the Oregon Trail, and1883’scasthelps sell the rough, survivalist nature of the journey. While it’s a subversive story for the genre, shifting traditional expectations for a Western,1883has some classic Wild West moments. This includes a shootout with two iconic actors who will team up together again onLandman,building on their existing shared screen time.
Landman Season 2 Casts Sam Elliott In Billy Bob Thornton’s Show
Sam Elliott Will Join Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore, And Ali Larter For Landman Season 2
Landmanseason 2 adds Sam Elliott to the cast, known as quite the Western acting legend (viaPuck). Sam Elliott’s best Western movie and TV performances have the actor at the forefront, and Elliott’s performance in Taylor Sheridan’s1883is no exception. That said, the entire body of Elliott’s work informs his1883character, with his experience in the genre elevating Sheridan’s production. Elliott also has a central role inTombstone(1993), one of the best Western movies about real cowboys and events in the American West, playing the oldest brother of Kurt Russell’s Wyatt Earp.
Sam Elliott’s 10 Best Western Movies & TV Shows
Sam Elliott’s best Western roles in his storied career resulted in some iconic movie and TV performances of complex and layered Western characters.
While there’s no word on what Sam Elliott’sLandmancharacterentails, his performance will doubtlessly elevate the series as it did in1883.Still, perhaps we can deduce something about the character. Based on his other performances andLandmanseason 1, Elliott seems more suited for the rusty backdrop of M-Tex’s oil fields than the manicured business spaces that Hamm occupied as M-Tex’s president. If he’s hanging around the patch,Elliott will likely appear alongside M-Tex’s fixer, Thornton’s character, allowing for ample screen time between Tommy and whoever Elliott’sLandmancharacter ends up being.
Sam Elliott And Billy Bob Thornton Already Worked Together In 1883
Billy Bob Thornton Plays Fort Worth City Marshal Jim Courtright In 1883
Landmanseason 2 viewers can be sure that the actors will be great on-screen together becauseBilly Bob Thornton and Sam Elliott shared a scene in1883.While Thornton has a minor role in the production, playing Marshal Jim Courtright, his screen time is a memorable element of the series. In1883episode 2, “Behind Us, A Cliff,” the earliest members of theDutton family treecamp by Texas' Trinity River outside Fort Worth and prepare to embark on their journey. However, when Claire Dutton (Dawn Olivieri) throws a rock at some rude passers-by, they retaliate, killing multiple members of their party.
Thornton’s Marshal Jim Courtright character in1883is based on a real person.
Sam Elliott plays Shea Brennan in1883,one of the wagon train’s leaders. After the incident,Shea and James Dutton (Tim McGraw) go to Thornton’s Marshal Jim Courtright, who accompanies them to the White Elephant Saloon in Fort Worth to apprehend the criminals. After identifying the crew, Thornton’s character immediately starts shooting. Afterward, Thornton delivers his best1883line to the saloon, saying:
If you want to dance with the girls? Dance with the girls. If you want to drink at the bar? Drink at the bar. But if anybody here fancy himself a gunman… You’re in the wrong town. There’s only one killer in Fort Worth and that’s me.
Marshal Courtright has some pretty mean gunslinging skills, blending perfectly with Shea, James, and Thomas (LaMonica Garrett), all Civil War veterans. After all the immigrant-killing criminals are dead, Shea is quietly impressed with a job well done.
Landman Season 2 Can Make Sam Elliott And Billy Bob Thornton’s Dynamic Even Better Than 1883
Landman Can Give The 1883 Actors More Shared Screen Time
With his best line, Marshal Courtright proves he is one of the people out West who’s just as mean and hard as Shea Brennan, who lost both his wife and daughter to smallpox before embarking on his final Oregon Trail expedition. Courtright and Brennan work seamlessly together, with Thornton and Elliott selling the classic shootout scene.Billy Bob Thornton and Sam Elliott are so much alike on-screen in1883that I’m quite curious to see how Taylor Sheridan will pair them up inLandmanseason 2.Regardless, it will resemble the actor’s1883pairing, taking place against the Texas sky.
Just like the untamed land that Isabel May’s Elsa Dutton describes in her 1833 narration, Tommy Norris’ world is deadly and harrowing.
Like Tommy inLandman,Sam Elliott’s1883character is commanding yet compassionate to those around him. It makes Elliott the perfect choice forLandman’s duality, with its contrasting callous and heartfelt themes. Just like the untamed land thatIsabel May’s Elsa Duttondescribes in her1833narration, Tommy Norris’ world is deadly and harrowing. Elliott has proven that he has the chops to navigate that setting in Taylor Sheridan’s productions and will surely be one of the best on-screen. AsLandmanseason 2 continues to take shape, learning more about Sam Elliott’s character will be exciting.
Landman
Cast
Set in West Texas, this series explores the world of oil rigs and the fortunes they create. It portrays a modern upstairs/downstairs narrative of roughnecks and billionaires, highlighting the profound impact on the climate, economy, and geopolitics in these boomtowns.
1883
1883 is a Western drama series set at the beginning of Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone franchise and explores the origins of the Duttons and how Yellowstone came to be. The show chronicles a generation of the Dutton family as they embark on a difficult journey to the western frontier to establish a new legacy.
