Landman is Taylor Sheridan’s latest drama to hit television, and by all accounts, this show is going to leave an impression. Instead of focusing on the Wild West conflicts he’s known for, Landman is centered entirely on the oil industry and explores the human elements, from top to bottom, that make this industry tick.
Sheridan has solidified his position as a heavy hitter on TV with shows like Yellowstone, Tulsa King and Mayor of Kingstown. With Landman, he tapped Christian Wallace, the creator and host of the hit podcast Boomtown, to bring a program about the present-day West Texas oil boom to life. The result is an entertaining and educational series built on blood and sweat, humor and heartbreak.
Sheridan has capitalized on a specific brand of programming that mixes classic American blue-collar sensibilities with a soap opera narrative. Landman continues this trend and shines a light on the oil business and the communities that keep it running. If you’re unfamiliar with oil industry terms like “the patch,” “derrick,” “roughneck” or “blowout,” get ready because Landman is about to take you to school.
CNET attended the show’s official press day to explore the inner workings of Paramount Plus’ next big show with its cast and creator. Here’s everything you need to know about Landman.
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When and where to watch Landman
Landman will premiere its first two episodes of its 10-episode first season on Sunday, Nov. 17, on Paramount Plus. The remaining episodes will drop each week on Sunday until the show’s finale hits the streamer on Jan. 12, 2025.
What is Landman about?
Landman is a contemporary drama in the oil boomtowns in West Texas. It follows a wide swatch of characters representing different layers of the complicated oil industry — from oil barons to roughnecks to landmen. It’s an upstairs/downstairs episodic story, unlike any television shows that have come out in recent memory.
What exactly is a landman, you ask? It’s a good question and one that I was keen on asking Billy Bob Thornton, who leads the series as Tommy Norris.
“A landman is the person who procures the land to drill on and deals with the consequences of that,” Thornton said. “He’s responsible for making sure this crew does their work to get this oil out of the ground and at the same time protect them. The landman’s really the go-between between the workers and actually getting the oil out of the ground and the cat who owns the oil company.”
Tommy’s day-to-day is high-stress, to say the least. But thanks to the levity brought about by the unique aspects of his home life — he’s roommates with an oil lawyer and petroleum engineer — and the familial dysfunction thrown his way by his ex-wife, misguided son and strong-willed daughter, things balance out nicely.
“I believe every movie or streaming show or TV show, whatever it is, should all have every aspect of human behavior because that’s what real life is,” Thornton added. “If you go into a drama and it’s over-earnest and there’s no humor, or you go into a comedy and it has no heart, then you’re missing the boat, I believe. And we were fortunate enough that Taylor really wrote up a series that shows the joy and the pain, the struggle and the humor, the horror and everything.”
Jon Hamm is oil tycoon Monty Miller and Demi Moore plays his wife Cami in Landman on Paramount Plus.
Who stars in Landman?
Like previous Taylor Sheridan projects, Landman features an ensemble cast of talented performers. The program also stars Jon Hamm, Demi Moore, Ali Larter, Jacob Lofland, Michelle Randolph, James Jordan, Mark Collie, Colm Feore, Kayla Wallace, Andy Garcia, Michael Peña, J.R. Villarreal, Octavio Rodriguez and Paulina Chávez.
Is Landman based on a true story?
The characters and storylines featured in Landman are fictitious but inspired by the non-fiction podcast Boomtown, created by and hosted by Christian Wallace. The Webby-nominated podcast documentary series shines a light on the Permian Basin of West Texas, where a massive oil boom occurs. The podcast tells the stories of the roughnecks working the oil fields and the billionaires chasing the money.
“I think a lot of people don’t really understand what it takes on the ground level to power this industry, and that’s a story that I’m personally passionate about telling,” Wallace said. “I think Big Oil is seen as faceless and as big corporations, but people forget that there are just hard-working men and women at the very base of it that really drive the whole thing. Being from out there and having worked out there, I care about those stories and those people. I’m just really grateful that this show shines a light on that part of the world.”
Adrian Hernandez, Michael Pena, Emilio Rivera and Anthony Fort got hands-on experience working on an oil rig in Landman on Paramount Plus.
The Landman actors got their hands dirty
An element of grit and grime makes itself known in Landman’s first few moments, and it doesn’t let up. Basically, this isn’t a program featuring actors toiling around in fake filth in front of a green screen. On the contrary, the actors didn’t hesitate to get to work on an oil rig and get their hands dirty.
“We did a roughneck camp for our actors who play rig workers,” Wallace shared. “I knew we were going to do a classroom component, and I was going to go over the overview of the industry, but then we were also going to get our guys out on an actual working oil rig.”
Throughout the entire production process, Wallace was consistently surprised with what Paramount allowed them to do on location. “I kept thinking, Okay, they’re not going to let us do this. But they just kept letting us do it. So we sent the guys up on the derrick, and we had the guys working the floor. It was as safe as possible. But I was just very, kind of surprised that they let us go as authentically into that world as they did.”
Lofland was one of the actors who worked directly in the chaos of the oil field. From his perspective, there’s no way to fake this lifestyle. They had to get “as hands-on as possible.”
James Jordan plays Dale, an oil engineer and one of Tommy’s roommates, in Landman on Paramount Plus.
“There’s no way to act like you know what you’re doing in this business without having to do it,” he continued. “We had a five-day camp, and our first day was literally just an orientation with geologists, folks from Texas Tech University and former roughnecks. We sat in a room like this and literally all day long just learned the science of it first. Then, on the subsequent four days, we were out there on the rigs.”
The oil industry is propped up by a diverse group of hard-working people, often unrecognized by the general public. As James Jordan explained, Landman is aiming to change that.
“It’s a way of life; It’s generational,” he said. “Sons learn this line of work from their fathers, who learned it from their fathers and their fathers. They have so much pride in working out there. Doing this line of work really brings them a sense of identity and pride. It’s hard work, and they pride themselves on that. I think audiences are going to see a side of West Texas they’ve never seen before.”
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