Billy Bob Thornton says Landman felt personal from the start, and the next chapter is now moving toward production. The actor appeared at Deadline’s Contenders TV panel for the Paramount+ drama alongside Sam Elliott, Andy Garcia and director-executive producer Stephen Kay, while season 3 is set to begin shooting in May.
Thornton said the family dynamic at the center of the series came naturally to him because of his own life. “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. He added that working with Elliott made the job even simpler: “Sam and I go way back, so it was easy.”
The show’s momentum has only grown since season 2 ended in January. The finale drew 15.8 million viewers in its first two days and became the most-watched original series finale ever for Paramount+, a number that helps explain why the landman season 3 update landed with such weight. Thornton said he thought the series would connect with viewers in the middle of the country, but did not expect the coasts to embrace it, much less see it turn into a global hit.
That surprise matters because Landman was built as a regional story with a strong Texas feel, yet the audience has stretched far beyond that. Thornton said the show now has fans in Uganda and Australia, a reach that underscores how quickly the drama has traveled after its December renewal announcement. Kay said the response reflects the cast’s chemistry and the show’s tone. “We love each other, and you can sort of feel it when you watch the show. There’s a whole lot of heart,” he said.
The tension now is not whether Landman has found an audience. It has. The question is how far Paramount+ can push that audience when cameras roll in May and season 3 begins taking shape.
