Sam Elliott Joins Landman Season 2 as a Major Series Regular! Here’s Why It’s a BIG DEAL!

I’m pretty sure I know what Taylor Sheridan has planned for Sam Elliott’s new character in Landman, and it would be great if it were true. Landman is the Yellowstone executive producer’s new oil drama starring Billy Bob Thornton. The show premiered alongside the final season of Yellowstone, debuting in November 2024 to immediate success. The West Texas saga follows Thornton’s frontman, Tommy Norris, the fixer for the M-TEX oil company, run by Monty Miller (John Hamm) in Landman season 1.

In Landman‘s first 10 episodes, we get to know Tommy and his family. Landman‘s cast includes Tommy’s wife and daughter, Angela (Ali Larter) and Ainsley Norris (Michelle Randolph), who move in with Tommy amid the more harrowing events of Landman season 1. Things will get even wilder for Norris as he steps up to run M-TEX after Monty Miller’s death in Landman season 1’s finale. Landman season 2 has also added Sam Elliott to the cast, and I think I know just what the iconic Western actor’s role will be after Tommy’s M-TEX promotion.

Sam Elliott’s Landman Character Could Be M-TEX’s New Landman: M-TEX Needs A New Landman After Tommy’s Big Promotion

Since Hamm’s Landman character, Monty Miller, died in Landman season 1’s finale, Thornton has said that Tommy will play a more significant role in Landman season 2 in the company’s operations, with Norris sometimes throwing a “sports jacket” over his oil patch clothes. While it’s almost impossible to imagine anyone else in Thornton’s role as landman, with Tommy stepping up to run the oil company’s more executive functions, M-TEX will need a new fixer to manage the day-to-day ground operations in Tommy’s place.

With Landman season 2 adding Sam Elliott to the cast, I wonder if Elliott has been chosen to replace Thornton as M-TEX’s fixer. Elliott has a robust career as a leading man, so it makes sense that his casting would be a significant one, symbolically taking Thornton’s place. Elliott’s character taking over for Tommy Norris as landman would be hard to argue with, since the actor has the chops for the role, and is already a tested Taylor Sheridan actor. Elliott was one of the key cast members in 1883, Sheridan’s first Yellowstone spinoff.