Landman Season 2: Taylor Sheridan's Oil Drama Returns This Week
Billy Bob Thornton's Tommy Norris returns November 16 as Paramount+'s breakout hit doubles down on West Texas chaos, cartel violence, and corporate warfare
There's a particular rhythm to Taylor Sheridan's television empire — the slow burn of character development punctuated by explosive violence, morally complex protagonists navigating systems designed to crush them, and American landscapes shot with cinematic reverence that borders on worship. Landman, his West Texas oil drama starring Billy Bob Thornton, established that rhythm immediately when it premiered last November, and this Sunday, it returns for a second season that promises to intensify everything the first one started.
Landman season 2 returns to Paramount+ on Sunday, November 16, 2025, reigniting Taylor Sheridan's rugged world of West Texas oil. The premiere arrives just ten months after the first season concluded in January, a remarkably fast turnaround that speaks to both the show's success and Paramount+'s confidence in Sheridan's expanding television universe.
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The numbers justified that confidence. The premiere episode has amassed 35 million global viewers, and Landman holds the titles for most-watched global premiere and finale of any Paramount+ series to date. For a streaming service competing against industry giants with far deeper pockets, those metrics matter enormously.
The Fastest Renewal in Recent Memory
Landman has been renewed for Season 2 at Paramount+ following the first season's conclusion on January 12, with the show launching in November as the best Paramount+ debut in two years. The renewal announcement came on March 12, 2025 — just two months after the season finale aired, an unusually quick decision even by streaming standards where data-driven renewals often take weeks or months longer.
"'Landman' was one of the biggest shows of the year because of Taylor Sheridan's unique ability to tap into the cultural zeitgeist, harnessing the Neo-western themes of rugged individualism, ambition and working-class struggles set against contemporary debates around energy, climate change and economic growth," Chris McCarthy, Paramount's President and CEO, said in announcing the renewal.
That statement encapsulates both the show's appeal and the broader cultural conversation it's tapped into. Landman doesn't take easy positions on oil extraction, climate change, or economic inequality. Instead, it presents characters on all sides — roughnecks whose livelihoods depend on fossil fuels, executives maximizing profits regardless of human cost, and communities caught between economic necessity and environmental destruction.
It's messy, morally ambiguous storytelling that refuses to provide comfortable answers — exactly the kind of complexity Sheridan has built his reputation on across shows like Yellowstone, Mayor of Kingstown, and Tulsa King.
Much like athletes navigating the physical and psychological demands of professional sports, characters in Sheridan's universe operate in high-pressure environments where a single mistake can prove fatal.
Where Season One Left Tommy Norris
The first season of Landman, based on the Texas Monthly podcast "Boomtown" by Christian Wallace, established Tommy Norris as a crisis manager for M-Tex Oil — the kind of fixer who brokers deals with cartels, smooths over environmental disasters, and keeps oil flowing regardless of human cost. Thornton played him with world-weary charisma, a man who understands he's complicit in terrible things but sees no viable alternative in an economy built on extraction.
Monty Miller's shocking fate in the finale left a vacuum, and Tommy filled it — whether he wanted the job or not. The promotion thrust him from operations management into executive leadership, trading tactical firefighting for strategic decisions with even higher stakes.
Following a shocking character death, Billy Bob Thornton's Tommy Norris is thrust deeper into corporate chaos, cartel entanglements, and tense alliances. Season two promises to explore the consequences of that sudden elevation — how a man who thrived in chaos handles institutional power, and whether corporate leadership changes him or he changes the institution.
The family drama that anchored season one will continue. Ali Larter returns as Angela Norris, Tommy's ex-wife navigating her own complicated relationship with the wealth generated by an industry she finds morally reprehensible. Demi Moore reprises her role as Cami Miller, now presumably wielding significant influence following her husband's death.
And Andy Garcia, who made his first appearance in the season one finale, will be more involved this year, with Thornton teasing that Garcia's character — presumably cartel-connected given the show's plotlines — will pose new threats requiring Tommy's particular skill set.
The Sam Elliott Factor
Sam Elliott will join the cast as a series regular, but his role remains secret. Elliott's casting represents a significant get for the series — at 80 years old, he remains one of Hollywood's most distinctive character actors, his weathered face and distinctive drawl perfect for Sheridan's neo-Western aesthetic.
Speculation about Elliott's role has dominated fan discussions for months. Will he play an older wildcatter from oil's earlier boom periods, providing historical context for the industry's evolution? A corporate executive with decades of experience navigating boom-bust cycles? A rival landman competing with Tommy for deals and influence?
Sheridan and his team have maintained complete secrecy, but Elliott's presence alone signals that season two will expand the show's scope beyond Tommy's immediate circle, introducing figures with different perspectives on the oil industry's past, present, and uncertain future.
Production Challenges and Release Date Drama
The path to November 16 wasn't entirely smooth. In a Paramount earnings call in the spring, Chris McCarthy revealed that Landman was planned for a return in November, however over the summer, McCarthy announced the debut would be pushed back a month to December.
The delay sparked concern among fans who'd grown accustomed to Sheridan's typically efficient production schedules. His shows often film in real locations using practical effects and natural lighting, creating authentic visual texture but also exposing production to weather delays, permitting issues, and logistical complications.
But in August, Paramount announced that Landman would be back in November after all, with the season debuting on Sunday, November 16, 2025. The reversal suggested either production challenges were resolved faster than anticipated, or Paramount recognized the competitive advantage of launching before the December holiday season when viewer attention becomes fragmented.
Landman has filmed in tiny towns at the outskirts of Dallas-Fort Worth, as well as in the heart of each city, with locations including Texas Christian University's campus, the Frost Tower in downtown Fort Worth, and Knox District restaurant Mister Charles.
The decision to film extensively in actual North Texas locations — rather than using cheaper alternatives in New Mexico or Canada as many productions do — creates authenticity but also logistical complexity. Coordinating street closures, managing crowds of curious onlookers, and dealing with Texas summer heat all complicate production schedules.
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The commitment to authenticity mirrors approaches seen across different media contexts, similar to how media figures build credibility through genuine connection to the communities they serve.
The Sheridan Formula and Why It Works
Taylor Sheridan has become one of television's most prolific and successful creators over the past decade. His shows — Yellowstone, 1883, 1923, Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King, Special Ops: Lioness, and now Landman — follow recognizable patterns while remaining distinct enough to justify separate series.
The formula involves morally complicated protagonists operating in systems that demand ethical compromises. Settings that showcase American landscapes often ignored by coastal entertainment industries. Violence that arrives suddenly and has lasting consequences. And dialogue that sounds like how actual people talk rather than how screenwriters think people should talk.
"It's a very interesting world in the boomtown of Fort Worth, Texas. It's kind of this subculture that we haven't seen before, which is what I think Taylor does so well," Demi Moore shared at Cannes last year.
That subculture — the world of modern wildcatters, roughnecks, petroleum engineers, and the communities that depend on boom-or-bust oil economics — remains largely invisible in American popular culture despite its enormous economic and political significance. Landman makes it visible without romanticizing or demonizing it, a balance that requires significant storytelling skill.
Thornton's performance anchors that balance. At 69, he brings decades of experience playing complex characters who exist in moral gray zones. His Golden Globe nomination for the first season recognized what viewers responded to immediately — a character who's simultaneously sympathetic and complicit, capable of genuine kindness and calculated ruthlessness depending on what circumstances demand.
When asked about season two, Thornton said, "I loved it. Taylor knows this show very well, he's got a vision for it so it's pretty easy. I didn't expect to read it and go, 'Wait a minute, hang on here.' It was great."
What Success Means for Paramount+
For the final quarter of 2024, Landman ranked as one of the overall Top 10 streaming original series, along with two other Paramount+ favorites, Tulsa King and Lioness. That concentration of success matters enormously for a streaming service that lacks the subscriber base of Netflix or Disney+ but needs compelling original content to justify monthly subscription fees.
Sheridan has essentially become Paramount+'s franchise creator, the way Ryan Murphy functions for Netflix or Shonda Rhimes did for ABC during Grey's Anatomy's peak. His shows provide reliable viewership, generate cultural conversation, and create reason for subscribers to maintain their accounts month after month.
The business strategy is clear: give Sheridan resources and creative freedom, get his shows on screen quickly, and benefit from the audience loyalty he's built across multiple series. Viewers who love Yellowstone will likely try Landman. Fans of Tulsa King might sample Mayor of Kingstown. The interconnected ecosystem keeps people engaged with the platform.
5.2 million viewers launched Season 1, cracking both streaming and cable numbers wide open. Four weeks in, 14.9 million global households pressed play — numbers that demonstrate not just initial curiosity but sustained engagement across multiple episodes.
In streaming economics where subscriber retention matters as much as acquisition, shows that keep viewers watching week after week provide immense value. The episodic release strategy — dropping one episode weekly rather than entire seasons at once — maximizes that retention effect by keeping shows in the cultural conversation for months rather than a single weekend binge.
The Broader Oil Industry Conversation
Beyond entertainment value, Landman engages substantive questions about energy, economics, and America's complex relationship with fossil fuels. The show doesn't preach or provide easy answers, but it makes visible the systems and people that keep oil flowing even as climate change intensifies and renewable energy alternatives expand.
Co-creator Christian Wallace, whose podcast "Boomtown" provided Landman's foundation, brought journalistic perspective to the storytelling. "As long as there are stories to tell, I would love to keep telling them. And I think we really just skinned the surface on our first season, and that's saying something because they cover a lot of ground. So yeah, I hope we keep telling these stories for a while," Wallace said.
The podcast explored how modern oil booms reshape communities, create immense wealth alongside devastating poverty, and force individuals to navigate impossible choices between economic survival and environmental stewardship. The television adaptation maintains that nuance while adding the dramatic tension and character development that serialized storytelling enables.
It's particularly relevant as debates about energy policy intensify. The show doesn't advocate for or against fossil fuel extraction — it simply shows the reality of an industry that remains economically vital even as its long-term sustainability becomes increasingly questionable.
"The genius of Sheridan's approach," observes television critic Emily Nussbaum, "is refusing to let viewers off the hook with simple moral judgments. You can't watch Landman and just think 'oil bad' or 'oil good' — you're forced to reckon with complexity."
What to Expect Sunday Night
New episodes will be available to stream on Sundays. There will be 10 episodes in total, matching the first season's length and maintaining the weekly release schedule that's become Sheridan's signature on Paramount+.
The premiere will likely pick up shortly after season one's finale, with Tommy adjusting to new responsibilities while managing ongoing crises. Cartel involvement will almost certainly escalate — Sheridan's shows rarely de-escalate violence, and Garcia's expanded role suggests major conflict ahead.
Family dynamics will remain central. The relationship between Tommy and his children, his complicated history with Angela, and the power vacuum left by Monty Miller's death all provide rich material for character development alongside the show's action sequences and corporate intrigue.
And the West Texas setting will continue serving as more than backdrop. Sheridan films landscapes with reverence that borders on obsession, using wide shots of oil fields, desert highways, and small-town infrastructure to create atmosphere that reinforces thematic content about American extraction economies.
Between cartel involvement, corporate corruption, and Sheridan's signature brand of high-stakes drama, Landman season 2 looks ready to deliver another wild ride.
Similar high-stakes narratives play out across different contexts, much like competitive environments where individual performance meets systemic pressures.
The Sunday Night Streaming Wars
By claiming Sunday nights for new episodes, Landman positions itself in prime streaming real estate. Sunday has traditionally been television's most prestigious night — The Sopranos, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones all aired Sundays, creating cultural events that dominated Monday morning conversations.
Streaming has fragmented that landscape, but the Sunday slot still carries psychological weight. It signals that a show deserves attention, that it's appointment viewing rather than background content to be consumed whenever convenient.
For Paramount+, establishing Landman as Sunday event programming creates brand association with quality drama. It's the same strategy HBO used for decades — own Sunday nights, and you own the cultural conversation about prestige television.
The competition is fierce. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, and Max all compete for Sunday viewing attention. But Landman's strong first season performance suggests it can hold its own, particularly among audiences drawn to Sheridan's specific brand of American storytelling.
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Looking Ahead
Season two arrives with significant expectations. The first season exceeded most projections, becoming Paramount+'s most successful original series launch. Maintaining that momentum requires delivering on the promise established across those initial ten episodes — escalating stakes, deepening character development, and maintaining the show's careful balance between entertainment and substantive engagement with complex issues.
Thornton's commitment to the role remains clear. At an age when many actors coast on established reputations, he's fully invested in Tommy Norris as a character worth exploring across multiple seasons. The supporting cast brings similar dedication, creating ensemble chemistry that elevates material beyond what's on the page.
And Sheridan continues demonstrating remarkable productivity. Managing multiple shows simultaneously while maintaining quality standards that justify his reputation is no small achievement. Landman benefits from that experience — a showrunner who knows exactly what he wants and has the industry clout to make it happen.
As Sunday approaches, the anticipation is palpable among the show's devoted fanbase. Social media discussion has intensified. Streaming rankings will be watched closely. And Monday morning, the analysis will begin — what worked, what didn't, where the season seems headed.
But for now, there's just the waiting. Four more days until Tommy Norris returns to screens, until we see how season one's consequences ripple forward, until we discover what new crises demand his particular combination of improvisation and ruthlessness.
The oil keeps flowing. The deals keep getting made. And Tommy Norris keeps finding ways to survive in a world designed to chew up anyone who shows weakness. That's the promise of Landman — not that things will get better, but that watching them get worse will remain compellingly watchable.
In the end, maybe that's what makes Sheridan's television empire work. He doesn't promise hope or easy resolutions. He promises authenticity, moral complexity, and characters who feel like they could actually exist in the worlds he depicts. For millions of viewers, that's enough. More than enough.
Sunday night. Paramount+. West Texas oil fields. The chaos continues.
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