Warning! SPOILERS For Landman Season 1

Paramount+ renewed Landman for season 2, and its addition of a new cast member will reunite two stars who teamed up in a previous Taylor Sheridan show. Monty in Landman’s season 1 finale.

Amid uncertainty over Jon Hamm’s return, Landman season 2 added an iconic Western actor who worked with Taylor Sheridan in 1883. The miniseries is the earliest-set Yellowstone prequel, which takes place along the Oregon Trail, and 1883's cast helps sell the rough, survivalist nature of the journey. While it’s a subversive story for the genre, shifting traditional expectations for a Western, 1883 has some classic Wild West moments. This includes a shootout with two iconic actors who will team up together again on Landman, building on their existing shared screen time.

Landman Season 2 Casts Sam Elliott In Billy Bob Thornton's Show

Sam Elliott Will Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore, And Ali Larter For Landman Season 2

Landman season 2 adds Sam Elliott to the cast, known as quite the Western acting legend (via Puck). Sam Elliott’s best Western movie and TV performances have the actor at the forefront, and Elliott’s performance in Taylor Sheridan’s 1883 is no exception. That said, the entire body of Elliott’s work informs his 1883 character, with his experience in the genre elevating Sheridan’s production. Elliott also has a central role in Tombstone (1993), one of the best Western movies about real cowboys and events in the American West, playing the oldest brother of Kurt Russell’s Wyatt Earp.

imagery from The Quick and the Dead and Tombstone of Sam Elliot in a cowboy hat

Sam Elliott's 10 Best Western Movies & TV Shows

Sam Elliott's best Western roles in his storied career resulted in some iconic movie and TV performances of complex and layered Western characters.

Posts

While there’s no word on what Sam Elliott’s Landman character entails, his performance will doubtlessly elevate the series as it did in 1883. Still, perhaps we can deduce something about the character. Based on his other performances and Landman season 1, Elliott seems more suited for the rusty backdrop of M-Tex’s oil fields than the manicured business spaces that Hamm occupied as M-Tex’s president. If he’s hanging around the patch, Elliott will likely appear alongside M-Tex’s fixer, Thornton's character, allowing for ample screen time between Tommy and whoever Elliott’s Landman character ends up being.

Sam Elliott And Billy Bob Thornton Already Worked Together In 1883

Billy Bob Thornton Plays Fort Worth City Marshal Jim Courtright In 1883

Landman season 2 viewers can be sure that the actors will be great on-screen together because Billy Bob Thornton and Sam Elliott shared a scene in 1883. While Thornton has a minor role in the production, playing Marshal Jim Courtright, his screen time is a memorable element of the series. In 1883 episode 2, “Behind Us, A Cliff,” the earliest of the Dutton family tree camp by Texas' Trinity River outside Fort Worth and prepare to embark on their journey. However, when Claire Dutton (Dawn Olivieri) throws a rock at some rude ers-by, they retaliate, killing multiple of their party.

Thornton’s Marshal Jim Courtright character in 1883 is based on a real person.

Sam Elliott plays Shea Brennan in 1883, one of the wagon train’s leaders. After the incident, Shea and James Dutton (Tim McGraw) go to Thornton’s Marshal Jim Courtright, who accompanies them to the White Elephant Saloon in Fort Worth to apprehend the criminals. After identifying the crew, Thornton’s character immediately starts shooting. Afterward, Thornton delivers his best 1883 line to the saloon, saying:

If you want to dance with the girls? Dance with the girls. If you want to drink at the bar? Drink at the bar. But if anybody here fancy himself a gunman... You're in the wrong town. There's only one killer in Fort Worth and that's me.

Marshal Courtright has some pretty mean gunslinging skills, blending perfectly with Shea, James, and Thomas (LaMonica Garrett), all Civil War veterans. After all the immigrant-killing criminals are dead, Shea is quietly impressed with a job well done.

Landman Season 2 Can Make Sam Elliott And Billy Bob Thornton's Dynamic Even Better Than 1883

Landman Can Give The 1883 Actors More Shared Screen Time

With his best line, Marshal Courtright proves he is one of the people out West who’s just as mean and hard as Shea Brennan, who lost both his wife and daughter to smallpox before embarking on his final Oregon Trail expedition. Courtright and Brennan work seamlessly together, with Thornton and Elliott selling the classic shootout scene. Billy Bob Thornton and Sam Elliott are so much alike on-screen in 1883 that I’m quite curious to see how Taylor Sheridan will pair them up in Landman season 2. Regardless, it will resemble the actor’s 1883 pairing, taking place against the Texas sky.

Just like the untamed land that Isabel May’s Elsa Dutton describes in her 1833 narration, Tommy Norris’ world is deadly and harrowing.

Like Tommy in Landman, Sam Elliott’s 1883 character is commanding yet comionate to those around him. It makes Elliott the perfect choice for Landman’s duality, with its contrasting callous and heartfelt themes. Just like the untamed land that Isabel May’s Elsa Dutton describes in her 1833 narration, Tommy Norris’ world is deadly and harrowing. Elliott has proven that he has the chops to navigate that setting in Taylor Sheridan’s productions and will surely be one of the best on-screen. As Landman season 2 continues to take shape, learning more about Sam Elliott’s character will be exciting.

Source: Puck