Taylor Sheridan’s ‘Landman’ Is Officially Changing Its Formula for Season 3

Landman Season 2’s finale was cautiously optimistic, teasing that a new power player is about to stake its claim on the West Texas oil patch, but Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy Norris has arguably put himself and his family in a more precarious position by leaving M-Tex and going independent. His startup is scrappy compared to the industry heavyweights, and Season 3 is expected to lean on that mismatch.

Landman star James Jordan said Season 3 has ramped up development, and he’s read enough of the script to confirm a story reset. Speaking with MovieWeb, he teased that the odds are heavily stacked against Tommy’s CTT Oil Exploration and Cattle, and knowing how things previously went sideways on the field and in the boardroom with deadly onsite mishaps and brutal takeovers, it’s safe to assume the new season will again stretch Tommy past his limits:

“I’m just going to say we jump right back into it… It’s going to be a really wild season. As you know, last season, we’re going out on our own. We’re starting our own oil company from the ground up, bricks up, foundation up. And so we’ll just see how it goes for these folks. It’s going to be a roller coaster. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Billy Bob Thornton and Demi Moore in Landman

Plot details for Season 3 remain under heavy wraps, but series co-creator Christian Wallace previously hinted that last season’s happy ending would be short-lived. That does not bode well for Tommy’s family-run business, especially now that it’s in direct competition with a cartel-backed M-Tex and a ruthless, reckless Cami Miller (Demi Moore) at the helm. Tommy himself cut a deal with the same cartel to fund his startup, putting his family’s safety in immediate risk.

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Thornton and Moore are expected to return in Landman Season 3 alongside co-stars Ali Larter, Jacob Lofland, Michelle Randolph, James Jordan, Kayla Wallace, and Sam Elliott as Tommy’s father, T.L. Norris. Andy García is also expected to have a bigger presence as Danny “Gallino” Morrell, the cartel-tied puppet master who infused dirty money into CTT and M-Tex.

It would be interesting to see how the narrative shift plays out in Landman Season 3, and whether Tommy’s company could survive against cutthroat competitors. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a bit longer for the premiere, with the new season now expected to drop next year. Jordan revealed that they’re set to start filming in three weeks as of writing, and that’s expected to continue until the first quarter of 2027.

Landman is gearing up for a new war in Season 3 with Tommy facing threats from multiple fronts. After mending his fractured family, he’s now putting it all on the line in a high-stakes gamble that could either put CCT Oil on the map or end up as a cautionary tale about ambition, hubris, and downfall.

‘Landman’ Needs to Take Advantage of Its Season 2 Ending

Landman has a lot of Sheridan’s indulgences, but the show is at its best when exploring the complications of human relationships, particularly when it comes to family. Tommy is in a strange position where many of his lifelong co-workers, such as Nate, have become members of his extended family, which makes it more difficult when he gets into a dispute with someone like Cami. Season 2 had Tommy spiraling out of control because he realizes that he is going to have to sacrifice one of his obligations, but it is befitting of his character to act definitely by striking out on his own. A reset suggests that the character dynamics might change because Tommy is a new leadership position where he no longer technically has a “superior;” the stakes are higher than ever before because part of this reset includes the deal that he made with the mob boss Gallino Morrell (Andy Garcia), who is bound to be a far less forgiving financial investor than Monty. The reset of the new working environments also allows Landman to take advantage of its most interesting dynamics, as Season 2 establishes a theme of fatherhood that is seen within all three generations of Norris men. Tommy has been used to treating Cooper as more of an employee than a son in order to prepare him for the challenges of labor, but he has more than proved himself by making the instrumental discovery needed to start CTT Oil. Having father and son working closer together is something new and unexpected for Landman, especially since the moment at the end of Season 2 when Tommy expresses his pride and names Cooper as the President of CTT Oil is among the most moving incidents in the entire series. There’s also much more to be done with the relationship between Tommy and T.L., as it’s suggested that their relationship is mending following the funeral of Tommy’s mother. It should also be interesting to see the dynamic that Cooper has with his grandfather, especially since he has become an adoptive father to Ariana’s child.

‘Landman’ Has To Watch Its Pacing

The weakest parts of Season 2 of Landman were some of the subplots that didn’t go anywhere, but Season 3 has the potential to be more focused because the entire crew is facing the same consequences. While Angela (Ali Larter) does add a lot of great comedy to the series, her actions might have greater consequences if Tommy is starting his own business and having to rebuild his connections. The storyline involving Ainsley (Michelle Randolph) and her experiences at TCU show some of Sheridan’s worst tendencies for writing female characters, but the reset of Season 3 may offer more substantial roles for some of the more well-defined women on the show, such as Ariana and Rebecca. Rebecca is in a particularly interesting position, given that she had a more tumultuous relationship with Tommy before they became allies. Change is necessary within every show, and Sheridan has shown that he is playing the long game with Landman based on how Season 2 was structured to provide surprising reveals. It’s a show that has developed such a strong fanbase and successful group of characters that it can afford to take chances, which works for a series that has never belonged to just one genre. The seemingly “happy” ending of Season 2 came with a massive qualifier: it’s yet to be seen if Tommy’s plan will work. But Sheridan seems to understand that the characters are why Landman has such a massive audience. Regardless of whether Landman truly becomes a workplace drama, the series has flexibility if it ensures that its actors have the best material to work with.

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