Billy Bob Thornton shares the relationship dynamics he wants to see explored in “Landman” season 3
- - Billy Bob Thornton shares the relationship dynamics he wants to see explored in “Landman” season 3
Emlyn TravisJanuary 19, 2026 at 6:00 AM
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Billy Bob Thornton, Sam Elliott, and Jacob Lofland in 'Landman'
Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Landman season 2 finale, "Tragedy and Flies."
Billy Bob Thornton may star in Landman, but he’s also a huge fan of the Taylor Sheridan co-created explosive oil drama. And, as such, he’s got a few ideas that he’d like to see play out in its already greenlit third season.
The actor behind Tommy Norris tells Entertainment Weekly that he envisions his character and Sam Elliott’s T.L. will continue to mend their fractured father-son relationship and forecasts trouble brewing for Tommy and his own son, Cooper (Jacob Lofland).
“As a fan, I'm watching and I'm thinking, ‘You know what? I bet he and [T.L.] get closer,’” Thornton hypothesizes. “I bet he and his dad repair the relationship.”
Emerson Miller/Paramount+
Lofland, Thornton, and Elliott in 'Landman'
Tommy and his dad, T.L., were reunited in season 2 following the death of his mother, Dorothy. The pair clashed from the get-go, with Tommy holding a lot of resentment toward his father for leaving him alone with his emotionally and physically abusive mother while T.L. worked on an offshore oil rig.
In later episodes, however, the pair seemed to reach a level of comfortable symbiosis, with Tommy even tapping T.L. to be a major player in his new oil company, CTT Oil Exploration and Cattle. (‘CTT,’ of course, stands for Cooper, Tommy, and Thomas, a.k.a T.L.)
Speaking of Cooper, Thornton isn’t so sure that Tommy and his son won’t start butting heads now that they’re not only working together, but also dealing with Gallino (Andy Garcia). At the end of the finale, it was confirmed that Cooper is president of CTT, with Tommy serving as Senior Vice President and T.L. heading up the oil drilling division.
“But because his son is now the guy, and he got [Gallino] in there to begin with, maybe there’ll be friction between them, yeah?” Thornton continues. “Actually, I'd like to see that as a fan.”
Cooper was indeed the one who first got Gallino — CTT’s major investor and not-so-secret cartel leader — involved in the company, even if it was unknowingly. After an excellent pitch from Tommy, Gallino upped his investment in CTT, but has already threatened harm to those Tommy holds dear if the company doesn’t hold up its end of the bargain.
Despite their squabbling, Thornton says that he’d like to see Tommy, T.L., and Cooper become a “united front” in season 3.
“Whether that's going to happen or not, who knows,” he admits. “But I guess that's just the human in me as opposed to the artist. The human in me says, ‘I hope that happens.’”
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Landman series co-creator Christian Wallace says it’s “TBD” on just how well the Norris men will gel as a team.
“I think we've seen that there are certain dynamics that definitely work, and then there are some that are a little bit more volatile,” he says. “But, sometimes, the volatility... it is part of the passion and the love that these characters have for one another. And so despite their tendencies to blow up, ultimately, they come together and achieve something worthwhile.”
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Elliott and Lofland in 'Landman'
He also notes that there’s gonna be a whole lot of responsibility on Cooper’s shoulders moving forward.
"We've seen him go through a lot in the last two seasons, and he's growing up, but he still has a lot to learn,” Wallace points out. “And so I think it's pretty cool to have T.L. and Tommy by his side through this thing, because now he gets to learn both the positives and the negatives of how they have lived life and how they're living it now.”
He adds, “I mean, they're both good models [of what to do] and good models of what not to do. And so I think that's going to be a really great thing for Cooper and his arc.”
Still, Wallace, who is a journalist and executive producer of the series, describes the season 2 finale scene in which Tommy unveils his plans for CTT as one of the most fun sequences to shoot of the entire series.
“To see T.L. and Tommy and Cooper, these three generations, all bound by this one industry, all coming at it from different places in their lives, but now they've arrived all at this moment together,” Wallace says, “as always in these shows, you know that peaceful, beautiful moment isn't necessarily going to last, but they have that moment of pride, satisfaction, of togetherness. And I hope that was really fulfilling for the audience, because it was really fulfilling to be a part of. I just love that scene.”
The Landman season 2 finale is streaming now on Paramount+.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
