Billy Bob Thornton likens Landman role to worn-in pants
billy bob thornton said Tommy Norris in Landman felt like slipping into “a nice pair of worn-in pants.” He made the remark while discussing the role at Deadline’s Contenders TV panel, where the series was already being discussed as a breakout with a third season set to start filming in May.
Thornton also said the fit made sense because he is a father and has had a tricky relationship with his own father. “It’s easy to play father-son relationships when you’re a father, and when you had a father that you had a very tricky relationship with,” he said, and he added, “I was just kind of putting on a nice pair of worn-in pants.”
Sam Elliott and the cast
Thornton said, “Sam and I go way back, so it was easy,” and he appeared on the panel with Sam Elliott, Andy Garcia, and director and executive producer Stephen Kay. The group has helped turn Landman into a show with enough momentum that its Season 2 finale drew 15.8 million viewers in its first two days and became the most-watched original series finale ever for Paramount+.
That kind of turnout gives the series a different kind of gravity inside the streaming business. A finale that large turns a character drama into a franchise asset, and it explains why the show’s renewal has moved from being a vote of confidence to a scheduling issue.
Uganda, Australia, everywhere
Thornton said the show was expected to appeal to viewers in the middle of the country. “We thought it was going to appeal to the middle of the country, that was the hope for it,” he said. “We didn’t think the coasts would go for it — we certainly didn’t think it would become this huge international hit.”
He said, “We had no idea; we’re humbled by that and very proud of it,” and added, “We have fans in Uganda, Australia and everywhere else.” Thornton tied that reach to the characters, saying, “I think a lot of it, and this is just my feeling, it’s because the characters are all unabashedly who they are, and they’re just honest about everything.”
May for Season 3
Thornton said Taylor Sheridan’s shows carry “emotion and humor and drama and absurdity and danger, all those different things,” and added, “I think the variety on it appeals to people.” With Season 3 announced in December and shooting set to begin in May, the series now has a clear production runway built on a finale that pulled 15.8 million viewers in its first two days. The worn-in-pants line was funny, but the bigger signal is simpler: Thornton sounds like an actor talking about a role that still fits because the show keeps finding a wider audience.
