Landman vs Reality: What Taylor Sheridan Nails—and Misses—About West Texas Oil Wars
Landman Season 2 roars back, but real-life landmen are stepping in to separate oilfield fact from TV spectacle—debunking the cartel opener with Tommy Norris and explaining what the job really looks like, with Julie Woodard among those setting the record straight.
Landman is back, the ratings are big, and now the people who actually do this job are politely calling B.S. on some of the wilder moments. Let’s unpack what the show gets right, where it goes full TV dramatics, and what’s coming next.
- Season 2 premiered November 16 on Paramount+ and opened huge: 9.2 million streams for the first episode (via USA Today).
- Episode 2 is titled 'Sins of the Father' and drops Sunday, November 23 at 3:00 a.m. ET / 12:00 a.m. PT (per Decider).
- Billy Bob Thornton returns as Tommy Norris. Also back: Ali Larter, Andy Garcia, and Demi Moore; Jacob Lofland and Michelle Randolph are in the mix too.
- New this season: Sam Elliott (from Taylor Sheridan’s '1883') joins as Tommy’s father, T.L.
- Streaming home: Paramount+.
Real landmen weigh in on the cartel stuff
The show opens its very first season with Tommy walking into a cartel negotiation, then waking up tied to a chair with a bag over his head. There’s a punch, and somehow a deal with M-Tex gets hammered out after that. Great TV. Does a landman actually end up face-to-face with cartel bosses? Julie Woodard, senior land manager for Expand Energy and the senior vice president of the American Association of Professional Landmen, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that while you don’t choose who ends up on the other side of a mineral or surface deal, this is not normal Tuesday stuff.
"You don’t get to pick and choose who you are going to engage with."
Her bigger point: the job isn’t just contract-signing and cowboy diplomacy. Landmen are involved across the life cycle of an energy project, long before and long after the signature.
About that gnarly finger scene
Season 1, Episode 2 sends Tommy racing to an oil rig after a blowout. He goes full hero mode to help seal a leak, smashes his pinky with a hammer, then later hacks off the tip of that finger in a hospital because he’s done waiting. It’s gruesome, and it’s very much a TV flex. Woodard says those life-or-death encounters are definitely not typical for landmen. Do they face risk? Yes — both human and environmental threats, plus real security concerns on occasion — just not at the level of a guy self-surgerying a fingertip between meetings.
Season 2: who’s in and what’s changing
Tommy is now running M-Tex, which sets up the season’s core tension: he’s got more power, and more people trying to bend that power their way. The cartel is still in the picture, and Demi Moore’s Cami Miller is angling for a deal that tips the scales in her favor. The thorny negotiations are the point — just with fewer chairs-and-bags in real life.
Casting-wise, it's a strong mix of returning faces and one very notable addition: Sam Elliott as Tommy’s dad, T.L. If you watched '1883', you know the vibe he brings — flinty, unimpressed, and great at making every silence feel like a monologue.
The numbers and the next drop
Season 2’s premiere didn’t just perform, it spiked: more than 9.2 million streams for Episode 1, per USA Today. If you’re lining up your weekend viewing, Episode 2, 'Sins of the Father', hits Paramount+ on Sunday, November 23 at 3:00 a.m. ET / 12:00 a.m. PT (Decider has the timing).
How much story is left?
Creator Christian Wallace told The Hollywood Reporter that they’ve basically stayed the course from Season 1 because fans responded to it — and that there’s plenty more story in the tank.
"Even after season two, again, I feel like we’re still just skimming the surface."
Translation: don’t be shocked if the land grabs, corporate chess, and sketchy alliances keep expanding.
Landman is streaming now on Paramount+. What do you think — loving the high drama, or wishing it stuck a little closer to the kind of tension real landmen actually see?