The Texas sun doesn’t just burn in Landman Season 2—it scorches souls, melts loyalties, and ignites a powder keg of betrayal, blood, and billion-dollar greed. Premiering January 18, 2026, on Paramount+, Taylor Sheridan’s oil-soaked saga returns with a vengeance, thrusting Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy Norris into the ruthless throne of M-TEX Oil after the explosive death of Monty Miller. But power in the Permian Basin isn’t a crown; it’s a target. With cartel overlord Galino (Andy Garcia) sharpening his knives, ex-wife Angela (Ali Larter) fanning family flames, and Demi Moore’s Cami Miller clawing for control, the stakes are higher than a gushing well. Add Sam Elliott storming in as a grizzled new series regular, and you’ve got a season that doesn’t just dig deeper—it detonates. Filming kicked off in March 2025 with a funeral sequence so chilling it’s already rewriting the rules of TV drama. Buckle up: Landman Season 2 is Sheridan’s most combustible ride yet, where every rig hides a secret, every handshake seals a betrayal, and the body count is just getting started.
A Throne Built on Blood
Season 1 ended with a bang—literally. Monty Miller, the larger-than-life patriarch played by Jon Hamm, met his maker in a fiery helicopter crash that left M-TEX Oil leaderless and the Permian Basin reeling. The finale’s final frame—Tommy Norris staring at the wreckage, his face a mask of ambition and dread—set the stage for a power vacuum that Season 2 fills with chaos. Billy Bob Thornton, reprising his role as the cunning, weathered landman, steps into Monty’s boots as M-TEX’s new CEO. But as Thornton revealed in a gritty set interview under a Fort Worth drilling rig, “Tommy’s not built for the corner office. He’s a street fighter in a boardroom, and the streets are about to bleed.”
The transition is anything but smooth. Episode 1, titled “Ashes to Empire,” opens with Monty’s funeral—a sequence filmed in a sweltering West Texas cemetery that insiders call “a gut-punch masterpiece.” Hundreds of extras in black Stetsons stand under a merciless sun as Tommy delivers a eulogy that’s half tribute, half declaration of war. “Monty built this empire with grit and guile,” he says, voice like gravel. “I’ll keep itStanding with blood if I have to.” The camera lingers on the mourners: Cami Miller (Demi Moore), Monty’s widow, her eyes cold as crude oil; Angela Norris (Ali Larter), Tommy’s ex, clutching their daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph) with a grip that screams unfinished business; and a shadowy figure in the back—Galino (Andy Garcia), the cartel kingpin whose smile promises vengeance.
The funeral isn’t just a send-off; it’s a chessboard. Every glance, every whispered deal, sets the season’s dominoes tumbling. “That scene took three days to shoot,” director Stephen T. Kay shared on set. “The heat was 108 degrees, and you could feel the tension cooking everyone alive. It’s the spark that lights the whole season.”
A Cast Forged in Fire
Billy Bob Thornton is the beating heart of Landman, and Season 2 pushes Tommy Norris to his breaking point. No longer Monty’s right-hand man, he’s the kingpin now, juggling billion-dollar deals, cartel threats, and a family that’s fracturing like shale under pressure. Thornton, sweat-soaked and dust-caked between takes, described Tommy’s arc as “a man who thought he wanted the throne, only to find it’s a guillotine.” His performance is rawer, leaner, with a haunted edge that recalls his Oscar-winning Sling Blade but drips with Sheridan’s signature moral ambiguity. “Tommy’s not a hero,” Thornton said, spitting tobacco juice into a Styrofoam cup. “He’s a survivor. And survivors don’t get clean hands.”
Demi Moore’s Cami Miller is the season’s wildcard. Grief-stricken but ferocious, she’s not content to play the grieving widow. “Cami’s playing a longer game,” Moore teased in a Vanity Fair profile, her manicured nails tapping a glass of bourbon. “She loved Monty, but she’s not done fighting for what’s hers.” Her clashes with Tommy are electric—boardroom showdowns that feel like duels, each line laced with subtext. A leaked script page from Episode 3 has Cami hissing, “You think you’re king now? Kings get buried in these fields, Tommy.” Moore’s return to TV after decades is a coup, and her chemistry with Thornton crackles like a live wire.
Ali Larter’s Angela Norris is the emotional core. Tommy’s ex-wife, a former wildcatter’s daughter who traded oil rigs for PTA meetings, is done playing nice. Her daughter Ainsley’s rebellion—partying with roughnecks, flirting with danger—pulls Angela back into Tommy’s orbit. “Angela’s fighting for her family,” Larter said, wiping dust from her boots on location. “But Tommy’s world is poison, and she knows it.” Their scenes are gut-wrenching, especially a midnight confrontation in Episode 5 where Angela slaps Tommy across the face, screaming, “You’re killing us all!” The moment, filmed in a single take, left the crew in tears.
Then there’s Andy Garcia as Galino, the cartel kingpin who elevates Landman into narco-thriller territory. Season 1 hinted at his shadow; Season 2 unleashes him. Garcia, sporting a salt-and-pepper beard and a silk suit that screams money laundered through blood, is a predator in a Stetson. His first scene—a tense negotiation in a dusty cantina—ends with a henchman’s throat slit for interrupting. “Galino doesn’t negotiate,” Garcia said, his smile chilling. “He owns.” His cat-and-mouse game with Tommy is the season’s pulse, with Galino’s cartel muscling into M-TEX’s pipeline deals, demanding a cut or a corpse.
The biggest jolt? Sam Elliott, joining as series regular Neal McCoy, a legendary landman who mentored Monty and now sees Tommy as a pretender. Elliott, all squint and swagger, rides in like a dust storm in Episode 2, his voice a low rumble that commands silence. “Neal’s the ghost of the oilfields,” Elliott growled on set, chewing a cigar. “He’s seen empires rise and fall, and he’s not impressed.” His dynamic with Tommy is pure Sheridan—mentor vs. protégé, respect laced with contempt. A leaked still shows them facing off at a rig, Elliott’s hand on his holster, Thornton’s eyes blazing.
A Season That Explodes
Landman Season 2 is Sheridan at his most audacious, blending the corporate intrigue of Succession with the visceral violence of Sicario. The
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Landman Season 2 — The Oilfields Are Boiling, and the Body Count’s Not Done Yet…
The Texas sun doesn’t just burn in Landman Season 2—it scorches souls, melts loyalties, and ignites a powder keg of betrayal, blood, and billion-dollar greed. Premiering January 18, 2026, on Paramount+, Taylor Sheridan’s oil-soaked saga returns with a vengeance, thrusting Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy Norris into the ruthless throne of M-TEX Oil after the explosive death of Monty Miller. But power in the Permian Basin isn’t a crown; it’s a target. With cartel overlord Galino (Andy Garcia) sharpening his knives, ex-wife Angela (Ali Larter) fanning family flames, and Demi Moore’s Cami Miller clawing for control, the stakes are higher than a gushing well. Add Sam Elliott storming in as a grizzled new series regular, and you’ve got a season that doesn’t just dig deeper—it detonates. Filming kicked off in March 2025 with a funeral sequence so chilling it’s already rewriting the rules of TV drama. Buckle up: Landman Season 2 is Sheridan’s most combustible ride yet, where every rig hides a secret, every handshake seals a betrayal, and the body count is just getting started.
A Throne Built on Blood
Season 1’s finale was a seismic shock: Monty Miller, the swaggering titan played by Jon Hamm, perished in a helicopter inferno that lit up the West Texas sky. The wreckage wasn’t just metal—it was M-TEX Oil’s future, smoldering in the dust. Tommy Norris, Monty’s cunning right-hand man, stood amidst the ashes, his silence louder than the explosion. Season 2, titled “Empire of Dust,” opens with Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton) ascending to CEO, a promotion that feels less like a victory and more like a death sentence. “Tommy’s not ready for the big chair,” Thornton said on set, squinting under a blazing Fort Worth sun. “He’s a scrapper, not a suit. And the Permian don’t forgive weakness.”
Episode 1, “Ashes to Empire,” begins with Monty’s funeral—a masterstroke of tension filmed in a bone-dry cemetery outside Midland. Hundreds of extras in black Stetsons and boots bake under 108-degree heat as Tommy delivers a eulogy that’s part homage, part war cry. “Monty built this empire with blood, sweat, and a few bodies in the ground,” he growls, his voice cutting through the mournful wail of a lone harmonica. The camera pans the crowd: Cami Miller (Demi Moore), Monty’s widow, her black veil hiding eyes that burn with ambition; Angela Norris (Ali Larter), Tommy’s ex, gripping their daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph) like a lifeline; and, in the shadows, Galino (Andy Garcia), the cartel kingpin whose tailored suit and predatory smile scream danger. “That funeral’s the spark,” director Stephen T. Kay revealed. “Every look, every whisper—it’s a contract signed in blood.”
The sequence took three days to shoot, with dust storms halting production and Thornton improvising lines that left the crew speechless. One extra, a local roughneck, whispered to a PA, “Feels like we’re at a real boss’s burial.” The scene ends with a single gunshot—someone firing into the air, a Texas tradition turned threat. It’s a promise: This season, nobody’s safe.
A Cast Forged in Fire
Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy Norris is the season’s battered heart. No longer Monty’s enforcer, he’s the king now, juggling billion-dollar pipeline deals, cartel extortion, and a family unraveling faster than a frayed rig cable. Thornton, caked in dust and sweat between takes, described Tommy’s arc as “a man who grabbed the devil’s pitchfork and found it burns.” His performance is visceral—eyes like flint, voice like a rusted chain, every gesture heavy with the weight of choices that can’t be undone. A leaked script page from Episode 4 has him snarling at a boardroom of suits, “You want clean energy? Try cleaning the blood off my hands first.” It’s Thornton at his rawest, channeling the moral rot of Bad Santa with the gravitas of Goliath.
Demi Moore’s Cami Miller is a force of nature. Grief has sharpened her into a blade, and she’s not content sipping martinis as the dowager queen. “Cami’s playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers,” Moore said in a Vanity Fair interview, her smile sharp enough to cut glass. Her boardroom battles with Tommy are electric—two predators circling the same carcass. In Episode 3, she leaks a damning M-TEX report to a reporter, forcing Tommy to clean up her mess. “You think you’re king?” she hisses in a dimly lit bar. “Kings get dethroned, Tommy.” Moore’s return to TV is a triumph, her chemistry with Thornton a powder keg waiting for a match.
Ali Larter’s Angela Norris is the emotional anchor. Once a wildcatter’s daughter who traded rigs for suburbia, she’s dragged back into Tommy’s orbit by their daughter Ainsley’s spiral—partying with drillers, flirting with Galino’s low-level runners. “Angela’s fighting for her kid,” Larter said, wiping dust from her jeans on location. “But Tommy’s world is a black hole.” Their scenes are heart-wrenchers: a midnight showdown in Episode 5 where Angela slaps Tommy, screaming, “You’re poisoning us!” The take was so raw the crew applauded. Larter’s performance grounds the chaos, making every betrayal sting.
Andy Garcia’s Galino is the season’s dark star. Season 1 teased his cartel’s shadow; Season 2 unleashes it. Garcia, in silk suits and a salt-and-pepper beard, is pure menace—a kingpin who’d rather burn a rig than lose a deal. His intro in Episode 2—a cantina negotiation ending with a henchman’s throat slit—sets the tone. “Galino doesn’t blink,” Garcia said, his grin wolfish. “He owns the room, then he owns your soul.” His game with Tommy is cat-and-mouse on steroids: a pipeline deal in Episode 6 turns into a hostage crisis, with Galino holding Ainsley’s boyfriend at gunpoint. Garcia’s performance is a masterclass in controlled chaos.
Sam Elliott’s Neal McCoy is the wildcard. A legendary landman who mentored Monty, he rides in like a dust devil in Episode 2, all squint and swagger. “Neal’s seen it all—booms, busts, bodies,” Elliott growled, chewing a cigar between takes. His disdain for Tommy is palpable; their first scene, a standoff at a rig, ends with Neal spitting, “You’re no Monty, boy.” Elliott’s gravitas elevates every frame, his chemistry with Thornton a clash of titans. A leaked still shows them drawing pistols at dawn—whether it’s a duel or a metaphor, viewers will have to wait.
A Season That Explodes
Landman Season 2 is Sheridan’s most audacious swing, fusing Succession’s corporate savagery with Sicario’s narco-brutality. The 10-episode arc is a pressure cooker: corruption seeps from boardrooms to backroads, betrayal lurks behind every oil rig, and the body count climbs faster than crude prices. Episode 7, “Black Gold, Red Blood,” is a standout—a rig explosion kills 12 workers, pinning Tommy between Galino’s sabotage and Cami’s media leak. The visuals are staggering: flames licking the night sky, workers screaming, Tommy wading through burning oil to save a trapped roughneck. “It’s the most expensive episode we’ve shot,” EP David Glasser told Deadline. “But it’s worth it for the gut punch.”
The action is relentless. A car chase in Episode 4 through Odessa’s backstreets ends with a tanker flipping, spilling crude like blood. A boardroom assassination in Episode 8—poisoned bourbon, a traitor unmasked—feels like Godfather in Stetsons. Sheridan’s dialogue crackles: Tommy to Galino, “You want my wells? Come take ’em.” Galino’s reply: “I don’t take. I bury.” The violence is brutal but purposeful, each death a domino in the season’s collapse.
Family is the emotional core. Ainsley’s rebellion—hooking up with a cartel runner, stealing M-TEX files—puts her in Galino’s crosshairs. Angela’s desperate bid to save her daughter leads to a deal with the devil in Episode 9, betraying Tommy to protect Ainsley. The fallout is devastating: a father-daughter scream-off in a dusty trailer, Tommy’s voice breaking as he begs, “Don’t make me choose between you and the empire.”
Behind the Rig: Production and Buzz
Filming began in March 2025 in Fort Worth and Midland, with dust storms and 110-degree heat testing the cast. The funeral sequence, shot in a real cemetery, used 300 extras and a live coyote for authenticity. “It felt cursed,” a crew member whispered. “Like we were summoning something.” The explosion in Episode 7 required 12 stunt performers and a controlled burn that lit up the horizon for miles. Sheridan, ever the taskmaster, demanded realism: Thornton learned to operate a rig pump, Moore shadowed a real oil heiress, and Garcia trained with ex-cartel informants for Galino’s menace.
The buzz is seismic. Early screenings at Austin’s ATX Festival drew gasps; Variety called it “Sheridan’s Godfather.” X is ablaze with #LandmanS2, 4.1 million posts dissecting leaked stills: Tommy bloodied, Cami with a gun, Neal’s showdown. A teaser trailer—Monty’s coffin lowering, Galino’s laugh, a rig exploding—has 22 million views. Betting pools on Reddit predict six major deaths, with Tommy and Ainsley as wildcards. Merch is flying: M-TEX hats, “Black Gold, Red Blood” tees, even a Galino-inspired cigar line.
A Legacy in the Dust
Landman Season 2 isn’t just TV—it’s a reckoning. Sheridan, fresh off Yellowstone’s finale, doubles down on his obsession with America’s underbelly: the men and women who drill for black gold while their souls leak out. The Permian Basin is a character—dusty, unforgiving, alive with greed. The season asks brutal questions: What’s power worth if it costs your family? Can you outrun the devil in a world built on his fuel?
As the finale looms, rumors swirl: a cliffhanger where Tommy faces Galino in a rigged showdown, Cami’s betrayal exposed, Neal’s past catching up. Will Tommy hold the throne, or will the oilfields claim him? One thing’s certain: Landman Season 2 will leave you gasping, cursing, and begging for more. The body count’s rising, the rigs are burning, and Taylor Sheridan’s just getting warmed up.
