Ever since CBS All Access was rebranded as Paramount+ in March 2021, the streaming service has become the go-to destination for all things Taylor Sheridan, or at least for everything except his popular Yellowstone series. Multiple prequel series about the Dutton family, crime dramas like Mayor of Kingstown and Tulsa King, and even spy thrillers like Special Ops: Lioness have all made the Academy Award nominee into one of the biggest names in TV. Soon, Sheridan will have another addition to his collection with Landman.
If this is the first you’re hearing about the upcoming Paramount+ original series about boomtowns in West Texas, don’t you worry, because we’re about to break down everything we know at this stage in the game. Let’s get up to speed…
What Is The Landman Premiere Date?
Landman has not yet announced a premiere date, and it will probably be quite some time before we see Taylor Sheridan’s vision of modern oil boomtowns in the vast open spaces of West Texas with a Paramount+ subscription.
At the time of this writing, the series is still in pre-production, with no word on when cameras will start rolling on the new show. However, considering there has been a great deal of casting news (more on that next) since the second half of 2023, we should know more sooner rather than later. Hopefully, we learn more about Tulsa King Season 2 in the near future, as well.
Billy Bob Thornton Leads The Landman Cast
When Landman finally does land on Paramount+, it will bring with it a talented cast of actors led by Academy Award winner Billy Bob Thornton. Let’s take a look at the main actors and the characters they’ll be playing in this West Texas drama series.
Billy Bob Thornton (Tommy Norris)
Billy Bob Thornton has been attached to star in Landman since February 2022, when Paramount+ announced that the critically-acclaimed actor and filmmaker would be taking on the role of Tommy Norris, a crisis manager working in the Texas oil industry. This will be the latest in a line of TV appearances for him that includes shows like Fargo, 1883, and Goliath.
Michelle Randolph (Ainsley Norris)
In May 2023, Deadline announced that Michelle Randolph, best known for portraying Elizabeth Strafford on 1923, had joined the cast as Thornton’s on-screen daughter, Ainsley Norris.
Jacob Lofland (Cooper Norris)
Jacob Lofland was also revealed as a member of the Landman cast by Deadline in May 2023. Lofland previously landed roles on The Son and Justified, and is set to appear in Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux.
Kayla Wallace (Rebecca Savage)
In January 2024, Deadline revealed that Kayla Wallace and a number of other actors had been added to the Landman supporting cast. Wallace, who got engaged to her When Calls the Heart co-star in late 2022, has appeared on shows like The Good Doctor and Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist over the years.
James Jordan (Dale Bradley)
James Jordan, who has worked with Taylor Sheridan extensively in the past, was also added to the Landman cast in January 2024. He’ll be taking on the role of a petroleum engineer by the name of Dale Bradley.
Mark Collie (Sheriff Joeberg)
Country music singer Mark Collie will show up in Landman as Sheriff Joeberg, a West Texas official watching over the boomtown.
Paulina Chávez (Ariana)
Paulina Chávez, best known for her work on Fate: The Winx Saga, will also appear on Landman and will play the role of a young mother named Ariana.
Landman Tells The Story Of The Roughnecks And Billionaires Of West Texas Boomtowns
Taylor Sheridan has a knack for developing ambitious projects that deal with practically every aspect of their respective settings, and it sounds like that trend won’t be stopping with Landman. Paramount+ has described the series as a modern-day saga about those seeking fortune in West Texas. Focusing on both the blue-collar roughnecks who work the oil fields and the billionaires fueling the operations, this upstairs/downstairs story will surely be a complex drama focusing on the interconnected nature of the industry and those in it.
The Series Is Inspired By Texas Monthly’s Boomtown Podcast
In recent years, we’ve started to see TV shows based on podcasts become increasingly popular, with famous actors like Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Hart even teaming up for a new true crime series on Peacock. Well, you can add Landman to that list, as the upcoming Paramount+ series is inspired by Texas Monthly’s Boomtown podcast.
Upon premiering in December 2019, the Christian Wallace-hosted podcast spent 11 episodes (plus two bonus installments) exploring how the oil industry brought both great fortune and tremendous pain to the one-time quiet Permian Basin in West Texas. The series also explored the short-term and long-term effects of the industry on the people, economy, politics, and climate of the boomtown.
Taylor Sheridan Has Been Working On The Project Since 2021
Taylor Sheridan is a busy man with all kinds of projects in the works at any given time, meaning shows and movies get announced years before they start gaining any traction, due to his understandably stretched bandwidth. Well, right around the time it was announced Yellowstone was getting a second spinoff series on Paramount+, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Sheridan was also developing an entirely new series, Landman.
That was February 2021, nearly three years ago at the time of this writing. While some may have assumed the show was just something that fell between the cracks, the casting announcements in May 2023 and January 2024 show that this isn’t something he is going to let fall by the wayside.
The Series Was Co-Created With Texas Monthly Writer Christian Wallace
Landman will be the product of a collaboration between Taylor Sheridan and Christian Wallace, the Texas Monthly writer behind the Boomtown podcast, and several highly decorated stories for the publication. According to Variety, Wallace, who spent many years working as a roughneck, ditch digger, and electrician before making a name for himself as a writer, will also serve as one of the show’s producers.
Expect to hear much more about Landman and Sheridan’s other upcoming projects in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, check out CinemaBlend’s updated 2024 TV schedule for all the latest on the new and returning shows coming out this year.
