Billy Bob Thornton's Tommy Norris Is Being Set Up To Fail In Landman Season 3

Published Nov 7, 2026, 9:00 PM EST

Ben Sherlock is a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the massively underrated YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema. Before working at Screen Rant, Ben wrote for Game Rant, Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop. He's also an indie filmmaker, a standup comedian, and an alumnus of the School of Rock.

When Tommy Norris announced his new company in Landman’s season 2 finale, it seemed like an exciting fresh start. CTT Oil Exploration and Cattle will explore the oil fields that Cooper was looking into, and possibly even expand into ranching for an unexpected Sheridan-verse crossover with Yellowstone (imagine Tommy negotiating with the Duttons!), in direct competition with Cami Miller and his old colleagues at M-Tex.

Cami squeezed Tommy out of his own job, so he went over her head, cut his own corporate puppet-strings, secured funding from Gallino, and launched a brand-new venture to compete with M-Tex. This tantalizingly set up Demi Moore as the new big bad for Landman season 3, because she surely won’t take too kindly to the news that Tommy is now her competitor, but it also brought Landman’s ensemble together for a genre shift into a workplace show.

Tommy has named all his friends and family as his staff and board of directors, so CTT will be a fully independent, family-run business. Tommy’s son is his president, his best friend is his treasurer, and his soon-to-be daughter-in-law will have an undefined administrative role in the office. The last two seasons of Landman have kept the cast scattered in different locations, but season 3 will have most of the main characters working together under the same roof, working toward the same goal.

It’ll be fun to have Landman finally feel like a true ensemble show, focusing more on underutilized character pairings like Tommy and Ariana. But it won’t all be roses, because CTT is being set up to fail.

Tommy Might Be Right Back Where He Started In Landman Season 3

There are a couple of different ways that Taylor Sheridan could go with Tommy’s new company in Landman season 3. His final interaction with the coyote in Landman’s season 2 finale seemed to reaffirm his commitment to the fight, but it’ll be an uphill battle. At M-Tex, Tommy was just a middleman between the suits with the money and the drillers sourcing the actual oil. But at CTT, he’ll be in charge of everything, from the nitty-gritty of the day-to-day operations to the grander vision of the bigger picture, and it’s all in the hands of his inexperienced, boneheaded son.

If CTT turns out to be the huge success that Tommy dreams it’ll be in Landman season 3, then he could get the ultimate revenge against Cami. Without Tommy under her employ, and without those professional relationships, Cami might fail miserably, which would allow Tommy to buy M-Tex for cents on the dollar. Absorbing M-Tex’s resources would be a great practical move for CTT, but it would also be the perfect poetic justice against Tommy’s old business rival.

But it could go the other way; Tommy could be setting himself up for failure. He left M-Tex because he was tired of taking orders from his corporate overlords, and he started his own company to free himself from their corporate shackles. But he’s funding his new company through Gallino, so he’ll still have a corporate overlord to answer to.

Tommy's New Company Probably Won't Succeed, But That's Not The Point

Emerson Miller/Paramount+

When Tommy announced he was starting a family-run company in Landman’s season 2 finale, it felt like a direct reaction to T.L.’s advice about overcoming his fear of failure and embracing the people who really matter: his family. Tommy’s new company likely won’t turn a profit, but it’s not about the money; it’s about keeping his loved ones closer, and bonding with them over what he loves.

But, as lovely as that sounds, Tommy is courting disaster in Landman season 3. If CTT isn’t the smash hit that Tommy hopes it’ll be, then he could end up in massive debt with the cartel, and I’m sure their bite will be just as bad as their bark.

Landman