Taylor Sheridan’s ‘Landman’, fresh off a record-shattering season 1 on Paramount+, is stumbling into a worrisome snag for season 2.

They say, “The devil is in the details”, but sometimes, the devil is in the delivery. That’s what we muttered under our breath the moment we heard Billy Bob Thornton speak about the uncertain state of Taylor Sheridan’s Landman Season 2.

We’re not in the clear here. After a record-breaking, oil-slicked rise to acclaim, Landman is now stuck in a disconcerting limbo. Thornton, the silver-tongued titan playing Tommy Norris, just admitted he hasn’t seen the full script.

What, half the season? Really? For a creator like Sheridan, this smells of déjà vu. How?

Haven’t we seen this rodeo during Yellowstone’s foggy fifth season? Are we repeating the same mistake, rewriting without a compass, letting improvisation walk in where structure once stood proud? Or is this just another trick up Sheridan’s hat? Either way, we’ve got thoughts. Let’s drill deeper.

Taylor Sheridan’s magic is a one-man symphony…until it isn’t

Taylor Sheridan’s Landman | Credit: Paramount+
Taylor Sheridan, in his heyday, was the guy who’d pen entire seasons in isolation like a modern-day Thoreau with a cowboy hat. Wyoming solitude, no writers’ room static, just pure narrative adrenaline. Remember when he bragged to Deadline that 1883 was fully locked before a single slate clapped?

I’ve just sat down and written all the episodes before we started filming. That way everybody knows what we’re doing, all the way through.

That’s the Sheridan signature: full control, zero leaks, one pen to rule them all. So when Billy Bob Thornton shared that they’ve only read half the scripts for Landman Season 2, our inner alarm didn’t just ring; it started yodeling.

Let us translate what Thornton said in a language Hollywood rarely dares to speak. In a chat with Gold Derby, the actor tried to cushion the blow, talking about how the characters are gelling, bonding, blooming… call it what you will.

Last year, we had every episode when we started. We do not this year. We’ve only seen about half of it. I can tell you this much. I’m loving this season. The relationships are really growing and gelling — not only as actors, but with the characters.

But if there’s no blueprint, no final act in sight, then what exactly are we all emotionally investing in? That seems like it is hoping the train builds its own tracks as it goes.

The Yellowstone parallel: A case study in creative drift

Cole Hauser’s Rip and Kelly Reilly’s Beth in ‘Yellowstone‘ season 5B | Credit: Paramount+

It’s hard not to feel the echo of Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 in this. That series became a cautionary tale: actors receiving redacted scripts and twists hidden even from the cast (see THR). Taylor Sheridan wanted secrecy; what he delivered felt more like confusion.

Now, with Landman, are we truly seeing artistic evolution or creative exhaustion? Let’s not forget, Sheridan has shows spawning faster than oil rigs in West Texas: Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King, Special Ops: Lioness—each demanding a chunk of his mental real estate. He’s spreading himself thinner than a drizzle of rain on a rusted pickup hood.

We actually want to believe that Sheridan and co-creator Christian Wallace are playing a smart, strategic game here. Maybe they’re holding narrative cards close to their chest to dodge leaks, just like they did with Yellowstone.

But we know that television isn’t a guessing game. It’s a symphony, and if the conductor doesn’t have the sheet music, the violins will sound like a mess. If Billy Bob Thornton doesn’t know where his character is headed, how are we supposed to follow him?

Demi Moore in Landman | Credit: Paramount+
We adore Thornton. And when he told Gold Derby that he’s “loving” this season, we want to trust him. He believes the chemistry is building, that the relationships are richer. But chemistry without structure is like cooking gumbo without a roux; it might smell good, but it’ll fall apart in the bowl.

Landman is a great show. Scratch that! Landman is an important show. It’s gritty, timely, and surprisingly poetic for a tale about fossil fuel and egos.

But Sheridan needs to remember that lightning doesn’t strike the same derrick twice. Yellowstone proved that even kings of the prairie can fumble when they overreach.

Ergo, time will tell if Landman Season 2 can drill deep or just drift off into the dust.