Why Landman Star Sam Elliott Found His Season 2 Casting 'Overwhelming'

"Landman" season 2 saw Sam Elliott join the series as Thomas "T. L." Norris, the father of Billy Bob Thornton's Tommy Norris. While you might expect a veteran such as Elliott to take a streaming series in his stride, the actor actually told People that he got nervous when joining the show, mostly due to its hugely successful first season and the fact he was coming onboard part-way through.

Is there anything more Taylor Sheridan than two gruff old boys croaking their way through a Lone Star State oil drama? Well, maybe that Sheridan-created Western series you've never heard of but otherwise, no. "Landman" doubles down on the more conservative-leaning entertainment-genetically-engineered-to-appeal-to-dads approach that made every other show from the "Yellowstone" creator such a hit, and it saw major success as a result.

Adding Elliott to the mix is perfectly emblematic of that same approach. The veteran star, who has been acting since the 1960s, so perfectly exudes the kind of rough macho energy of a Sheridan joint that it seems sort of strange that he wasn't a part of the first season. Season 2 righted that wrong, with Elliott joining the successful Paramount+ oil drama to play the Norris patriarch, and it seems he's not only grateful to be part of the whole thing, but was a tad overwhelmed when he first stepped on-set. Considering the show was one of the biggest of last year, that's somewhat understandable. But it's still surprising to learn that a man of Sam Elliott's caliber was overwhelmed by a melodramatic Paramount+ drama.

"Landman" season 2 isn't the first Sam Elliott/Taylor Sheridan collaboration. The former starred in the latter's "Yellowstone" prequel show "1883," where he played Shea Brennan, leader of a major westward expedition. Somewhat surprisingly, however, Elliott also trashed "Yellowstone" as being too soapy, which isn't all that controversial if you've seen the mothership series but still seemed like an odd confession on the part of the spin-off's lead actor. Meanwhile, Sheridan revealed how he really felt about working with Elliott on "1883" and was nothing but complimentary, ensuring the pair would reunite despite the actor's distaste for "Yellowstone."

That reunion came with "Landman" season 2. Elliott described the show as "a real gift," extending that compliment to "anything else that Taylor does." Whether that includes "Yellowstone" remains unclear but Elliott is clearly grateful to be working with the prolific creator again, and in his People interview seemed almost in awe of "Landman" itself. In particular, the actor was delighted to work with Thornton, with whom he briefly collaborated before on multiple projects, including "1883" on which the actor had a cameo appearance. "This time, we're in deep," said Elliott, "and it's just a treat to go to work and be with him. I've loved him afar for a long time, and now I get to love him up close. It's special."

But it wasn't Thornton that made Elliott a tad nervous when he first joined "Landman." The actor went on to say that it was "a little overwhelming" to walk on-set, adding:

"Even after 56 years, or whatever it's been ... I mean, coming in and joining [Thornton] on an established show, we have a history, so that made it a lot easier. Had I not known Billy before this, it would've really been daunting."

2025 was a huge year for Taylor Sheridan, not least because "Landman" season 1 — which ran from November 2024 to January of the next year — was so successful. According to Paramount, the show became the number one Paramount+ original of all time, a claim backed up by the Nielsen ratings, which showed "Landman" to be one of the biggest shows of 2024-25 with an average of 15.8 million viewers over five weeks.

Inspired by the podcast series "Boomtown," (not to be confused with "Superman" star Rachel Brosnahan's 2017 drama of the same name) "Landman" combined realistic depictions of oil worker experiences with the kind of soapy drama that Elliott found so repellant in "Yellowstone." The result was a major hit, so it's understandable that even someone like Elliott might have felt intimidated when he first walked on-set.

That didn't dampen his enthusiasm for the show, however, with the actor telling People, "This is one of those where you don't have days when you don't want to go to work. We love to go to work on this show, and we love all the cast, it's an amazing crew — best crew I've ever worked with." He went on to praise the "great words from Taylor" and said he felt "blessed every day because of this show." That's a pretty good outcome considering he thought "Yellowstone" was "too much like f***ing 'Dallas' or something."