Billy Bob Thornton and Demi Moore reunite in the highly anticipated second season of Landman, premiering November 16 on Paramount+. The duo’s characters, Tommy Norris and Cami Miller, must navigate a tense partnership as they become the new leaders of M*Tex Oil following the shocking death of founder Monty Miller, played by Jon Hamm. This season focuses on their efforts to steer the company through a critical period of opportunity and risk, as the oil business threatens either a lucrative boom or devastating losses.
Following Monty’s death in the season one finale, Tommy rose from his role as an oil fixer to become president, while Cami, Monty’s widow and majority stakeholder, steps into a demanding leadership position alongside him. Their uneasy alliance will face numerous challenges as they struggle to balance grief, legacy, and the high stakes of the industry.
Adjusting from Rugged Oil Fields to High-Stakes Boardrooms
Tommy Norris’s move from the oil patch to executive offices is far from smooth. Landman co-creator Christian Wallace explains that Tommy’s world of grit and grime sharply contrasts with the corporate environment he now must command. Monty had long managed the high-profile business dealings and air travel, while Tommy maintained operations in the Permian Basin. Now, Tommy is forced to bridge these two distinct realms—a difficult transition for any newcomer to the executive sphere.
Thornton describes Tommy as a reluctant executive who still clings to the hands-on aspects of his former work.
“Tommy’s kind of a reluctant executive and still acting in his old role too, because he’s the kind of guy who can’t really give up what he knows and where he feels the most comfortable,”
Thornton says. He also confirms that Tommy remains uncomfortable in traditional corporate attire, joking,
“He’s a very uncomfortable guy in a suit. As a matter of fact, so uncomfortable that he doesn’t wear one.”
The demanding shooting schedule reflected Tommy’s new status, with more scenes filmed indoors on sets to escape the harsh Texas heat.
“The way they scheduled it, we weren’t out in the middle of nowhere on the oil fields or wherever for several days in a row,”
Thornton explains.
“It was a very civilized schedule. We were inside a lot. We were on stages a lot. We were in houses and office buildings and things like that.”
Cami Miller’s Reluctant Rise to Power Amid Grief
Following the loss of her husband and the company’s founder, Cami Miller must quickly learn to navigate the oil and gas industry’s male-dominated and cutthroat environment. Co-creator Christian Wallace characterizes her journey as a steep learning curve:
“She’s also facing all these challenges playing in what is largely a man’s world. And now she is having to figure it out while the sharks are kind of circling, you could say. It’s not an easy thing to step into.”
Moore emphasizes that Cami has mostly lived on the edge of her late husband’s work and is now thrust into a demanding leadership role under intense pressure.
“I think a big part of it is her drive of really protecting her husband’s legacy and what that means, and how that looks,”
Moore says. She describes Cami’s dual challenge of mastering business while personally coping with loss as
“a crash course in trying to understand the business and how it works”
alongside
“grappling with the loss of the love of her life.”
Cami is willing to make difficult decisions to honor Monty’s vision, even if those choices prove unpopular. Moore reflects,
“It’s also making choices that she feels Monty would make. And how can I embody that? And how can Cami embody that to make these big decisions for the company that may not be popular?”
Amid her grief, Cami finds some comfort through friendships, including with Tommy’s fiercely supportive wife, Angela, played by Ali Larter.
“There are some great moments that are really trying to, in Angela’s way, push Cami back out and have some moments that aren’t just in the grief,”
Moore remarks.
“And then I, equally, have some of those really deep alone moments of just straight grieving.”
Family Dynamics and Personal Struggles at the Forefront
As Cami and Tommy face their executive challenges, the family side of M*Tex offers its own complexities. Ali Larter describes season two as more emotionally driven, exploring deeper family bonds.
“What you see a lot in season 2 is it really digs deeper into the family, and you really feel the purity of the love between Tommy and Angela,”
she explains. Larter notes Angela’s struggle to find her self-worth beyond motherhood as their daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph) prepares to leave for college.
“You watch Angela go through this crisis where her whole life has been about raising her children, and then when it’s time for them to go on to the next stage of their life, what is she left with?”
Larter asks.
“What is her meaning in life? We really dig into that this season, too.”
Their son Cooper (Jacob Lofland) is also forging his own path, launching an independent oil business. Wallace warns that Tommy is wary of the risks this venture entails, saying,
“He knows the good and the bad of it — the pitfalls of success and failure that come with the oil and gas industry, the boom and the bust, and the kind of lottery aspect of you might get lucky for a bit, and then you might not. And so he’s obviously going to be wary for Cooper to strike out on his own, because it can go either way.”
Larter labels this installment as the “heart season” of Landman, filled not only with suspense but also with intimate moments as the family members reevaluate their identities and connections.
“There’s definitely moments of danger and excitement, but then you also have these moments where [Angela and Tommy are] figuring out who they are and what it’s going to look like if they try to make a go at this, and all that comes with that. If the children aren’t going to be there, who are they to each other?”
Angela finds personal renewal through her work at a retirement home, curating lively and oftentimes chaotic family dinners.
“There’s always something that happens to make things not go right, and then someone gets upset, and then someone’s laughing at someone, and then someone’s screaming at the other one,”
Larter teases.
“It’s the family dynamics that are really, really fun to watch. There’s some good ones this year.”
New characters will add fresh challenges to these family interactions. Larter reveals that her character crosses paths with both Moore’s Cami and Andy Garcia’s powerful cartel figure Gallino, describing how these narratives begin to intertwine.
“It starts with the family and then it kind of grows out into all these different story lines,”
she says.
“And I love when it all starts to intersect. That’s what you feel this season.”
The Shadow of the Cartel and Heightened Stakes
Andy Garcia’s role as cartel leader Gallino looms large over season two, although the show’s creators remain tight-lipped about his full involvement. Thornton hints at a complex relationship with Garcia’s character:
“I’ll just say that Andy and I have a very, very interesting dynamic.”
Wallace adds cryptically,
“The fact that he is back, I think that’s all you need to know.”
While Tommy is familiar with the cartel’s influence, Moore says Cami remains somewhat shielded from the full realities of this dangerous world. She enjoyed collaborating closely with Garcia and Stefania Spampinato, who plays Gallino’s wife, describing it as “such a pleasure.”
Wallace stresses that the cartel storyline, while dramatized for television, is grounded in ongoing real-world issues.
“Just this past year, there’s been a lot of oil theft — people stealing oil from tanks and then selling it on the black market — and some of that has been directly connected to the cartels out of Mexico,”
he reveals.
“It’s an ongoing issue we have. We’ve dramatized aspects of it and really played it up for the narrative drama of it all, but so many of the things in the show are based on these kernels of reality and that is one of them that’s continuing to play out right now.”
This thread could expand further in future seasons as the oil and gas industry continues to battle crime and black market activity in West Texas. Wallace comments,
“I think that’s a storyline that will continue to develop because part of the actual oil and gas industry’s challenges right now is the theft, the crime, and the black market aspects that come into play out in West Texas. We try to bring in these elements of truth that inform an entertaining story, but are also insightful of what it’s like to actually work out in oil and gas.”
Amid this volatile landscape, Thornton highlights that the conflicts in season two range beyond physical confrontations:
“They’re not always physical; some of them are very emotional or very danger-provoking. There’s always something lurking that [Tommy’s] wary of around the corner. Even with his family, every decision they make he has to then deal with, too. So there are all kinds of fights in the world. Some are in your own head, even.”
Welcoming Sam Elliott as a Season Two Enigma
The cast gains a notable addition with Western legend Sam Elliott joining as a character named T.L. Elliott’s involvement was announced several months ago, and exclusive footage shows him in interaction with Tommy Norris, creating a reunion between the two actors after their previous collaborations in 1883 and Tombstone.
Thornton shares a personal connection, noting their long history:
“I can only say this: I’ve known Sam longer than anybody in the cast. Sam and I go back to somewhere in the mid-to-late-‘80s and we’ve done two things together before this and both of those things, it was only two scenes in each one. To be able to be around him longer on a more regular basis on the set, it’s just been a joy for me because I love that man. He’s been a mentor and a friend and just a hero of mine always.”
Wallace praises Elliott’s professionalism and dedication on set, noting,
“Sam is one of those actors that doesn’t like to go back to his trailer once he’s on set. He had the grips bring him an apple box with a little cushion on it, and he would just sit there right on set, because he said the actor’s place is on the set with the cast and the crew. We’d be out in 100-degree heat and Sam would just be sitting there, wouldn’t let anyone hold an umbrella for him or anything because he just wanted to be around the people working to make the show and having the conversations and just being in the moment with his character.”
Wallace also points out that Elliott’s character fits comfortably within the actor’s established Western persona, stating he plays
“a role that is not so far out of what people have seen him play”
over the years.
Deepening Storylines and Intensified Drama for Season Two
Compared to its first season, Landman season two adopts a more deliberate pace, allowing the audience to immerse more fully in character development and interpersonal relationships. Thornton explains,
“Now that the audience knows all the characters, Taylor was able to really dive into the relationships more. Last season, we had to explain what this business was all about and who the people are. This season, he was able to really focus in the first few episodes on the family dynamic and the business dynamic. But this one really ramps up as it goes on, and there’s more and more intensity.”
Christian Wallace emphasizes the universal appeal of the show’s human stories despite the specific West Texas oil industry setting.
“These stories of these characters, even though they’re in a place that may be unfamiliar and doing a job that they’ve never seen before, [I hope] that those stories still resonate with them,”
he says.
“And that they see their family in parts of it, that they find the humor, that they feel the heartbreak and that human connection. That’s what good stories do. They just connect with us.”
With its complex family, business conflicts, and larger shadows looming from cartel and industry threats, Landman season two promises to deliver gripping drama and emotional depth as it premieres on Paramount+ this November 16.
