"I sorta hate myself for liking this" - Stephen King admits he’s torn over liking Taylor Sheridan’s 'macho' series
Taylor Sheridan's latest project, Landman, debuted on Paramount+ between November 17, 2024, and January 12, 2025. Featuring 10 episodes, the drama series centers on the trillion-dollar business of oil drilling in West Texas. The show's protagonist, Tommy Norris, is a landman working as a liaison between his company M-Tex and its workers on the ground.
Landman is co-created by Christian Wallace and Taylor Sheridan, of Yellowstone fame. It is inspired by the former's 2019 podcast Boomtown, which aired from December 2019 to April 2020.
On January 24, 2025, the world-renowned writer Stephen King made his love for the series known by posting on his Threads account:
"I sorta hate myself for liking this, the spine is all macho-macho man and like THE MAYOR OF KINGSTOWN and YELLOWSTONE, the main character is a fixer who takes no shit. We'd all like to be that guy. But Taylor Sheridan knows how to show ordinary men at work, and you gotta like that. Also, great country music needle drops."
The post received several comments from users, who called out Taylor Sheridan for his portrayal of women on the series.
Many others praised the series, especially Billy Bob Thornton's performance, calling it the highlight of Landman.
What is Taylor Sheridan's Landman about?
The series centers on Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton), a middle-aged landman working for the oil company M-Tex owned by Monty Miller. He is the fixer tasked with managing the company's various crises and keeping it out of legal troubles.
The first episode of Landman features M-Tex's airplane colliding with its competitor TTP's oil tanker, causing a massive explosion with several casualties.
Complicating matters further is the fact that the airplane was stolen by a drug cartel and stashed with millions of dollars worth of drugs.
Meanwhile Tommy's young son, Cooper, drops out of college and begins working at one of the company's oil rigs. He aspires to become a wealthy oilman like Monty Miller and starts gaining hands-on experience at an oil rig.
Unfortunately, the rig blows up on his second day at work, claiming the lives of three crew members from the Medina family - Luis, Armando, and Elvio.
Monty sends in the causation lawyer, Rebecca Falcone, to deal with the fallout from these two incidents. She intends to make Tommy the fall guy, but he is having none of it.
Cooper, who is unscathed in the explosion, falls for Elvio's young widow Ariana. Their growing closeness irks Manuel and Antonio Medina, Elvio's cousins, who attack Cooper in retaliation.
The young boy is left fighting for his life in a hospital. Upon seeing his son's state, Tommy and his friends track down the culprits and get them arrested for assault.
After getting discharged from the hospital, Cooper moves in with Ariana and helps her settle a case with M-Tex over Elvio's death.
He successfully gets her a settlement of $1 million by threatening to sue M-Tex for failing to replace their faulty equipments and leading to Elvio's death.
After quitting his job at M-Tex, Cooper decides to set off on his own. He approaches a couple of lease owners with the goal of collecting enough oil producers that can help him land a deal with a large oil corporation for profit.
Tommy's 17-year-old daughter Ainsley moves in with him in the show's first episode, and his ex-wife Angela soon follows. With time, Tommy and Angela decide to give their relationship another try. The only hurdle is Angela's second husband Victor, whom she divorces before moving in with Tommy and Ainsley.
In episode 8, Monty suffers a heart attack and makes Tommy the company's Vice President of Operations until he recuperates. Sadly, that never happens as he dies in the season 1 finale, leaving Tommy as the company's new president.
Due to the company's uncertain future, Tommy plans to sell the company and Miller family's estates and divide the proceeds between Cami's (Miller's wife) foundation and the family trust, of which he is the executor.
In the season 1 finale, the drug lord, Jimenez, kidnaps Tommy as payback for the money he lost in the plane explosion from episode 1. But before he can exact his revenge, Jimenez and his men are killed by his boss Gallino, played by Andy Garcia.
Gallino tells Tommy that he wants to get into the oil drilling business and offers to form an alliance with him, which the landman reluctantly accepts.
Cast and characters from Taylor Sheridan's series Landman
The cast list of Landman is given below:
- Billy Bob Thornton as Tommy Norris
- Ali Larter as Angela Norris
- Michelle Randolph as Ainsley Norris
- Jon Hamm as Monty Miller
- Colm Feore as Nathan
- Demi Moore as Cami Miller
- Mark Collie as Sheriff Walt Joeberg
- Alex Meraz as Jimenez
- Jacob Lofland as Cooper Norris
- Kayla Wallace as Rebecca Falcone
- Paulina Chávez as Ariana
- James Jordan as Dale Bradley
- Octavio Rodriguez as Antonio
- Mustafa Speaks as Boss
- Mitchell Slaggert as Ryder
- J.R. Villarreal as Manuel
- Rosemary Dominguez as Isabel
- Ben Browder as Colonel Ivey
- Robyn Lively as Ellie
- Dani Raen as Gracie
- Rylie Rodriguez as Monty's Daughter #2
- Charlotte White as Mabel
- Deidra Shanell as Margaret
- Grover Coulson as Bob
- Drake Rodger as Dakota Loving
- Michael Peña as Armando
- Louanne Stephens as Ethel
- Pablo Esparza as Essai
- Gail Cronauer as Beverly
- Marco Perella as Hank
- K.C. Clyde as Barney
- Audrey McGraw as Shelby
- Brook Sill as Abilene
- Matt Peters as Mel
- Alejandro Akara as Elvio Medina
- Emilio Rivera as Luis Medina
- Samara Gonzalez as Attendant
- Vincent Duvall-DePasquale as Danny Blanto
- Jack Rankin as Midland Surgeon
- Kristoffer Polaha as Clay Chandler
Viewers can watch all episodes of Taylor Sheridan's Landman on Paramount+.
