Sam Elliott Joins ‘Landman’ Season 2 as Billy Bob Thornton’s Father, Calls Joining the Cast a Gift (EXCLUSIVE)
The veteran actors talk reuniting on Taylor Sheridan's hit series, plus Thornton and Mark Collie's music together
When Sam Elliott took on the role of Billy Bob Thornton’s father, T.L. Norris, on the hit Paramount+ series Landman, he admits he didn’t realize the age discrepancy. At 81, Elliott is only 11 years older than Thornton.
“I hadn’t really done that math,” he tells Woman’s World with a bemused grin, “but I think it really doesn’t matter it in terms of the work.”
Created by Taylor Sheridan and Christian Wallace, Landman stars Thornton as Tommy Norris, a landman for a Texas oil company, constantly navigating his challenging profession as well as his chaotic personal life. The series returns for Season 2 on Nov. 16 with Elliott joining a cast that includes Demi Moore, Andy Garcia, Ali Larter, Jacob Lofland, Michelle Randolph, Kayla Wallace, Colm Feore, and Mark Collie.
Elliott previously worked with Sheridan on the Yellowstone prequel 1883 and says he was happy to continue acting in Sheridan’s world.
“Particularly if it’s an opportunity to work with Billy,” he says. “I’ve known Billy for a long, long time. We worked briefly a couple of times, having an opportunity to come and see him on a daily basis and try to do something special with Taylor’s work together, it’s just a great opportunity. A real gift.”
‘Landman’s’ popularity and appeal
Since debuting last November, Landman has become one of the most-watched series on TV, garnering an enthusiastic audience drawn to its colorful characters and entertaining mix of drama and humor.
“I believed that it was going to be important, and it was going to be a hit, but I don’t think anyone was prepared for the kind of response that it’s received,” says Mark Collie, who plays Sheriff Walt Joeberg. “It’s just a wonderful feeling to be a part of something that’s had this great of an impact on entertaining people and making them tune in. Billy Bob does a great job of delivering that character. The essence of the character is just Billy Bob. He’ll tell you that Taylor wrote this with him in mind. They are a great team.”
Elliott also credits Sheridan’s talent for the show’s appeal.
“It’s got all the elements,” he says. “It’s got humor. It’s got drama. It’s got reality. It’s got Taylor Sheridan all over it. Taylor tells the truth, and he knows a lot of things and he knows about different subjects that will interest people. It’s just well-written and well-grounded stuff. There’s a gifted bunch of people that have the opportunity to say Taylor’s words and I think it’s a lot of fun for the audience.”
Thornton agrees.
“Taylor, like Sam said, he writes great stories. He writes truth and I think it’s also because the characters are unabashedly who they are and people want to see that. They want to see people being 100% of who they are, and this could be for a bad guy or a good guy, or a good girl, bad boy or whatever it is. They want to see you go all the way with everything that you have and be honest with it. People like that about the show.”
Season 2 reveals new depths for Tommy Norris
The addition of Elliott as Tommy’s father, T.L., in Season 2 leads to surprising revelations about Tommy’s relationship with his parents and spotlights more of his character’s backstory.
In Season 1, Tommy was a badass fighting drug cartels and oil field disasters, but Season 2 reveals a more vulnerable side to Thornton’s character.
“Taylor knows what he’s going to do with each season in any of his shows, so a lot of that was about, ‘Let’s set up the world, show these crazy characters,’ and in Season 2, now you are going to get to know them. You see that Tommy actually wants to be a good father. He wants to have a father. You see all of it. It’s a very emotional season in a lot of ways, but still with a lot of humor.”
A lot of the humor erupts from Tommy’s relationship with his ex-wife, Angela. She’s a volatile personality, and Season 2 finds her flipping out and flinging plates during a dinner argument.
“It’s a logistical nightmare for the prop department, but we’re fine. We go have a donut,” Thornton says with a smile, “but those scenes are a lot of fun. I love doing them. I’ve enjoyed every family dinner, even though as a character I don’t.”
Elliott’s character evolution
Elliott sees his character having a “great evolution,” but admits he was initially concerned his character’s first scenes would be in a wheelchair at a retirement home.
“I looked at that for the first time and I didn’t particularly like the fact that I was in a wheelchair or looked like I was on my last lap,” he says, “but as I’ve got a couple more episodes delivered to me from Taylor I thought, wow, this is going to be a lot of fun and I’m just looking forward to continuing it on.”
Music inspired by ‘Landman’
For Thornton, Landman has also allowed him to indulge his passion for music, as he and Collie have written songs for the show featured on the soundtrack album Landman—Songs From and Inspired by the Paramount+ Original Series (Volume I).
“Mark and I go way back,” Thornton says of his longtime friendship with Collie. “We used to tear Nashville up in the old days and LA too. It’s been a real pleasure to work with Mark as an actor because we’d only wrote songs together starting back 30 years ago or more.”
Thornton credits Collie with suggesting they write songs for Landman.
“I said, ‘I don’t really write country songs,’ and he said, ‘Yeah, you do. Don’t you remember those we wrote back in Oceanway in Nashville in ’98 or whatever? And I said, ‘Let’s give it a shot,’ and so we did,” says Thornton, who also writes, records, and tours with his longtime band The Boxmasters. “[Mark and I] wrote or co-wrote five that are on the soundtrack for MCA and it was a real pleasure and joy to do it. We got some really great songs and some great artists—everybody from Parker McCullum and Flatland Calgary and Billy Gibbons and Dwight Yoakam and Ronnie Dunn, so can’t beat that.”
Mark Collie on songwriting and cast chemistry
“We love to write, and we have a great chemistry,” adds Collie. “So we started writing songs inspired by the Landman stories, the people and the towns. The next thing you know a couple of them make it onto the show. ‘Living It Up Down in Texas’ [recorded] by Billy Gibbons, and Flatland Calvary did a great job on ‘Midland After Midnight.’
“We’re working on songs now that might be candidates for the Season 2 soundtrack,” Collie continues. “Billy is a prolific storyteller and writer. He brings a different perspective that really gets me fired up to write and tell stories from a different perspective. It brings a freshness to what we’re doing, and I enjoy it. We write on set after a day’s work or on the weekend. We’re always writing songs.”
Collie is also enjoying working with Thornton as an actor.
“I’ve been wanting to do something with Billy forever,” he says. “I’ve known him for quite a while, and because we’ve known each other for some time, I’ve always told him that one of these days I want to do a scene with him. Fortunately, he recommended me to Taylor, and he hired me, so it’s been a great experience. I love being a part of this cast. It’s more like a family.”
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