Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton returns to star in season two of Paramount+’s Landman, premiering on November 16, 2025. The new season picks up the action in the aftermath of Monty’s (played by Jon Hamm) death. The dynamic between Thornton’s Tommy Norris and Demi Moore’s Cami Miller has shifted, Andy Garcia returns as Galino to cause Tommy problems, and Sam Elliott joins the cast as Tommy’s father.
Paramount+ recently hosted press conferences with the cast, and the following are highlights from the Q&A with Billy Bob Thornton. The Oscar winner doesn’t just give yes or no answers, so buckle up and prepare for a lengthy discussion of all things Landman.
On Taylor Sheridan’s writing and their working relationship:
Billy Bob Thornton: “Taylor and I have a very good working relationship, and he wrote this series for me. I mean, specifically for me. Because I had done that cameo for him in 1883 and he said, ‘I think I have your voice. I think I know how to write for you.’ And sure enough, when I read the first script of season one, I was like, ‘Yeah, you kind of got it down.’
But he’s very lenient with me. I mean, he will allow me to ad-lib if I feel it, which I do quite often. And if he likes it, he keeps it. And if he doesn’t, he dumps it, which is very fair. But his writing is pretty tight. And I think the reason his writing appeals to a broad audience … because initially, we thought probably the middle of the country would like it, but maybe not the coasts … maybe not internationally. We didn’t really know. But I think the reason it has an international appeal is because he writes characters who are unabashedly themselves. They say what they feel, you know?
I’ll put it to you this way. We were doing a Q&A in New York last year and there was this lady. When you go, just like reading your wife or whatever, you can also read audiences. And also, I grew up in the music business, so as soon as you come on stage to do a concert, it’s like, ‘There’s the jealous musician. There’s the husband who came because his wife wanted him to come, and he hates being there.’ And so, there was this lady on the front row, and I knew when I got there, she’s the one who’s going to ask the creepy question. And sure enough, when they opened up questions to the audience, she raised her hand, and they picked her first. She said, ‘How do you justify the morality of doing a show about the oil business?’
I was like, well, I’ll put it to you like this. If they figure out a way to run everything on earth using water, the oil guys will get into the water business. It’s a corporation, like the pharmaceutical companies or tech companies, anybody. They’re moneymakers. And so, this show just shows you a peek behind the curtain of the oil business. It’s not a political thing. It’s like he’s not saying ‘yay oil’ or ‘boo oil.’ He’s just saying, ‘Here’s how it works.’ And I think because of that, people respond to it. Because it’s just showing you how it is.
I mean, if you make a movie about a serial killer and everybody goes, ‘Oh my god, you know Actor X was amazing playing the guy that eats people or whatever,’ and then he gets the Academy Award for it and stuff. But then for some reason, you’re doing a show about oil, and it’s like, ‘Well, oil is like…’ Yep, so you like serial killers? I don’t quite understand that, because our job as artists is to portray whoever we’re portraying in an honest way. He allows us to do that, and he writes it that way.”
On the oil business and his takeaway on those who work the fields:
Billy Bob Thornton: “One of the things that I learned, and I learned this on the first season, is I learned a lot about the people who actually work in the oil fields. I mean, the business part of it, I knew a little bit about already because I know some oil attorneys in Texas and stuff that I just happened to meet over the years. So, the business part I get.
What surprised me was how many people work in this very dangerous business because they’re mainly people who would never be able to make that much money in another business. Let’s say you’re a poor person; maybe you’ve been in prison, you grew up in a rough way, whatever it is, you can’t really get a job in any other place, but they’ll take people out there because the job is so dangerous. It’s not easy to get everybody to come do it. They’re willing to risk their lives or their limbs or whatever it is to take care of their families because they can’t get jobs anyplace else.
I didn’t realize how many people work in the oil fields who had either a criminal past or just a rough upbringing, or they’re destitute, have nowhere else to go. Because, you know, some of these people, they make $180,000 a year working these things and they could never do that anywhere else. I mean, they’d probably be working at a fast-food place, but they can actually make money for themselves and their families in this very dangerous job and they’re willing to do it. So, that was one of the things I learned.”
On working with Ali Larter who plays Tommy’s wife, Angela:
Billy Bob Thornton: “She’s not a whole heck of a lot different with me off screen. […] I’ve gotten to know her pretty well and so when we do scenes together, it really mirrors our life off-screen. So, it’s pretty easy to read. And I love those scenes with her. I really do. The great thing, I think, about the dynamic between those two characters is the fact that you know they love each other, even though they’re at each other constantly because they’ve been together a long time and know each other very well. They know each other’s tricks.
[…] We didn’t know each other before season one, but somehow, we just had this thing.”
On finding the truth in scenes, even when the dialogue is difficult to deliver:
Billy Bob Thornton: “[…] There’s an episode coming up when I read the scene and I was like, ‘You gotta be kidding me.’ Somehow, we made it real and we made it funny and we made it emotional. And it’s always dangerous with Ali, […] you never know when she’s going to hit me in the face. So yeah, sometimes I do see things and I wonder. It’s like, ‘How do we do this?’ What you have to do is you have to find a way to make it honest.
The thing about this show, and I think it may be why this show in particular has been the most successful show for Taylor, is because some of his shows, like Lioness is action, Yellowstone was drama. Landman has humor, it has absurdity, it has heavy drama, emotion, danger, all these different things. So, it kind of covers everything. And that’s the way the old movies were. You know, when we watched the movies of the ‘30s, ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s, they always had all of that stuff. I think that’s why people respond to it.
I think one of the charming things about these characters, all of them, is that they say exactly what they say. There’s no holding back. And at the end of the day, isn’t that what art is really supposed to be? Isn’t it supposed to be, there are no rules. There are no fences here. You know, Taylor writes something because that’s what he feels. He made this relationship with Ali and myself, and that’s how they are with each other.
So yes, he says those things to her. Would I say that to my wife? No. My wife is half Mexican, half Irish. I never piss her off. [Laughing] Well, no, I can’t say I never do. I try not to.”
On the reaction of the real oil community and how Landman plays in Texas:
Billy Bob Thornton: “We haven’t really seen this since, remember the movie Giant with Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean? I mean, since Giant, we haven’t really had a real look at the oil business. They had the show Dallas but that was a nighttime soap. I think this is the first thing since Giant that actually did show a look at it. And I’m always interested to see another world. I mean, it doesn’t matter what it is.
Sometimes if they beat it to death, you get kind of sick of it, you know? I mean, how many more horror movies are we going to have where the daughter suddenly becomes possessed in some house they buy in Vermont? You see her down the hallway and she has a white face and makeup dripping down or whatever. But, you know, this oil industry is an interesting thing to look at. It doesn’t matter if you like it or don’t like it. It’s just, this is the way it is, and here’s a look at it. Here’s a look at what happens to the people involved, the people on the periphery of it.
The oil people are very fond of it. I mean, every now and then you get somebody who comes up to you and they say, ‘Well, you would have never used that X14 wrench. You would have used an E32.’ And it’s like, ‘Dude, I don’t write the stuff. I just say it.’
And obviously, when you do anything, you have to take artistic license and maybe heighten the reality of it some way for audiences. You know what I mean? So, if you made an actual movie about the oil business and saw what they do, you might get bored after a little while if you don’t throw in some spicy stuff.
[…] But when you’re looking at a world, it’s not always exactly what it is. Because a movie audience is not going to respond to it if you just show what actually happens every moment.
I had this friend years and years and years ago, he was a very well-known homicide detective in Los Angeles, worked some of the bigger cases, like the Hillside Strangler and different things like this. He was a technical advisor on a couple of movies I wrote, and he said, ‘Have you ever watched a movie about a homicide detective and they’re always chasing somebody down the alley with a .44 Magnum?’ I said, ‘Yeah, and it’s always action.’ He said, ‘Here’s what a homicide detective actually does. They stay in their office, they go through phone bills, they look through receipts, they go visit families and question them and stuff like that.’
He said, ‘In all my years as a homicide detective, I’ve had my gun out of my holster twice, both times to change holsters.’
So when you watch movies about homicide detectives, if there’s action, it’s not reality. But, I mean, the good thing about this particular show is that there actually is, when we show the action stuff, that stuff really does happen. So, you know, we don’t stretch it that far.”
On the joy of returning for a second season:
Billy Bob Thornton: “I just loved doing the show. And the way it ended last season, it ended with a bang. Andy Garcia and I have known each other for years and years and years. We’re old friends, but it’s the first time we’ve worked together. That last scene with Andy and me excited me to see where that was going to go. And we found out, and it’s pretty cool.
On developing the father-son relationship with series newcomer Sam Elliott:
Billy Bob Thornton: “Once again, Sam and I go back to 1986, and we’d done two things together, both times it was two scenes. We always wanted to have something where we could be together on a daily basis, and it was just one of the joys of my life. I love Sam; I used to tell people that if I were a woman, I would have married Sam Elliott.
Sam and I know each other so well, it’s literally just two guys talking to each other. And my relationship with my father was very difficult. He and I have talked about that at length, and whatever that scene is, we just do it. It comes natural to us. He’s amazing, and I love every minute with him.”
On the partnership between Tommy and Cami:
Billy Bob Thornton: “It’s a little bit strained. I mean, I’m the one who knows how to do this. It’s fallen in her lap because of her husband’s passing, and she has a lot to learn. And when she says to me, ‘Well, if I don’t do this, how am I going to learn if you’re doing everything?’ I said, ‘Trust me, I know these guys. They’re not going to respond to you. They’re going to respond to me. They’ll give you all the, you know, easy deals. The hard ones are going to come to me.’
That’s really our relationship is me trying to explain to her that you kind of need to listen to me because I’ve been doing this a long time. And I know that you were with your husband through this whole thing, and you’re a smart person. You can handle it, but you have to have the information before you can do it.”
On what sets Tommy apart from other roles and how much of himself is in the character:
Billy Bob Thornton: “Well, a lot of me is in it because if I were an oil guy, I’d probably be kind of like that because I’m sort of playing myself in the thing. I can’t take much credit, and Taylor wrote it in my voice. And, you know, I have played characters before. The hardest characters to play are the ones where you have to learn technical stuff. I had to learn a little technical stuff for the oils business. But when I did Armageddon, I had to learn how to be the head guy in NASA. You know, you gotta talk to people. You gotta learn what this stuff means.
When I did Pushing Tin, I went to air traffic control school in Toronto. Those are the harder ones. But when you’re just playing a guy, you know, you just go out there and do it.”
