Billy Bob Thornton is set to return as Tommy Norris in Taylor Sheridan’s Landman season 2 and may actually play a key role in further developing his celebrated character. 

Landman is one of Taylor Sheridan’s several celebrated Western series streaming exclusively on Paramount+ and has enjoyed critical acclaim in its first season.

Thornton leads a strong cast of Landman season 1 along with Demi Moore, Ali Larter, Jacob Lofland, Michelle Randolph, and Kayla Wallace. Sam Elliott has been added to the cast of Landman season 2, which is expected to be released in Fall 2025.

In a recent interview with Awards Radar, Thornton peeled back some of the layers of working with Sheridan in crafting the gritty and charismatic character of Tommy Norris.

Sheridan is well-known for writing nearly all of his material and sticking to his script when filming his various television series.

Thornton shed light on his creative process with Sheridan on Landman, revealing that Sheridan uncharacteristically gave him a longer leash than most actors. Thornton was able to play around with certain lines of dialogue and allow for moments of improvisation during the filming of Landman season 1, setting up more spontaneous moments in season 2.

This is not your first time working with Taylor. You worked with him in 1883, but how was it working with him on this project?

Well, it was great. Taylor wrote some wonderful scripts, and his writing is pretty tight, but Taylor has actually been very loose with me.

There’s not a lot of improvisation on his stuff. As a matter of fact, I’d say Taylor and the Coen brothers, who I worked with a couple of times, they’ve had scripts that you stuck to more than anybody I’ve ever worked with. But with me, Taylor said, “Look, you’re a writer, you’re a director.

You get this stuff. We’re partners in this.” So, every now and then, I’ll throw something in there, and if he likes it, he keeps it. But his writing is so good that I rarely do anything outside of it.

What This Means For Sheridan’s Approach To Landman Season 2

Sheridan Trusts Thornton As An Actor & Fellow Creative Collaborator

As Thornton alludes to himself, Sheridan is not typically one to allow for much improvisation while filming his various series. There’s a good reason behind it, considering how much success he’s had writing all 53 episodes of Yellowstone without a traditional writer’s room, as well as Mayor of Kingstown, 1883, 1923, Lioness, and Tulsa King.

Sheridan has already amassed a writing resumé that would take years, if not decades, for other writers to achieve, giving him a rare privilege in the modern TV landscape. The fact that he’s willing to let Thornton, whose only Oscar win is for writing an adaptation of Sling Blade, work under the hood on Landman speaks volumes.

Since Sheridan hardly hands anyone the keys to his Landman vehicle, Thornton has a rare opportunity to help fine-tune Tommy Norris as not only an actor, but as a contributing, uncredited writer and director.

Thornton truly embodies Tommy throughout every frame of Landman season 1 and has done an exceptional job in bringing Sheridan’s vision of him to life, as evidenced by Thornton earning a Golden Globe nomination for his performance.

This could eventually lead to more definitive collaborations between Thornton and Sheridan on Landman, perhaps even Thornton directing an episode or earning a writing credit, which he hasn’t done since the 2012 movie Jayne Mansfield’s Car.

Our Take On Thornton’s Improv & Helping Create Tommy Norris

Sheridan Created Tommy With Thornton In Mind & Thornton Completely Nailed It

It may be a lesser-known fact that Thornton has story or screenplay credits for nine feature films and directing credits on five.

He even directed one episode of his popular Prime Video series Goliath during its four-season run, which sets him up perfectly to direct one episode of Landman in the future, especially if it runs for three or more seasons.

While Thornton applauds Sheridan’s writing and admits his improvisational contributions hardly ever come about on set, the creative respect and understanding of Tommy Norris shared between Sheridan and Thornton could inspire more creative sparks to fly.

Tommy is arguably one of the best characters that Sheridan has ever created. I’m not suggesting that Sheridan should start giving Thornton and others a test drive in crafting a full episode of Landman season 2, since the Yellowstone creator is the only one who truly knows how to create and express his visions.

That said, Sheridan wrote Tommy with Thornton specifically in mind, hinting that he may have more interest in seeing what Thornton can come up with in the thick of particular scenes.

Ultimately, I am excited to see how Sheridan and Thornton develop Tommy in his new role as CEO of M-Tex Oil following Monty’s death in Landman season 2.