‘Landman’s Best Quote Perfectly Defines Taylor Sheridan’s Neo-Western

Published Sep 24, 2026, 6:58 PM EDT

Dyah (pronounced Dee-yah) is a Senior Author at Collider, responsible for both writing and transcription duties. She joined the website in 2022 as a Resource Writer before stepping into her current role in April 2023. As a Senior Author, she writes Features and Lists covering TV, music, and movies, making her a true Jill of all trades. In addition to her writing, Dyah also serves as an interview transcriber, primarily for events such as San Diego Comic-Con, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Sundance Film Festival.

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Taylor Sheridan loves the Wild West, yet nothing may be wilder than the oil industry in Landman. Unlike more traditional cowboy-and-ranch Westerns, like Yellowstone or Dutton Ranch, Landman is the perfect mix of corporate and country, revealing the two contrasting parties that keep the oil industry running. For M-Tex crisis manager Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton), working in the oil business means long hours, scorching heat, and spending time away from his family. That's not even counting the risks of getting caught in a drilling explosion or running into territorial gangs.

But Landman is also interested in the people who make up boomtowns like Midland, Texas, showing that the people living in these rapidly growing communities aren't all that different from those in any other city. Beneath the oil rigs, corporate offices, and dangerous working conditions are people dealing with the same ambitions, relationships, and struggles that exist anywhere else. As Tommy's most famous quote in Landman explains, the oil business may be unique, but the people caught up in its boom are not.

Billy Bob Thornton's Most Important Line Perfectly Describes 'Landman'

Set in the desert boomtown of Midland, Texas, Landman follows Tommy Norris (Thornton), a petroleum landman and crisis manager for M-Tex, owned by Monty Miller (Jon Hamm). The job comes with a fancy title, but Tommy is essentially a fixer. He is the go-to guy who makes sure everyone is compliant, from working-class riggers who spend dawn till dusk in the field and police authorities and attorneys who keep the business legitimate at all costs, to even unwanted cartel members who want to take advantage of M-Tex’s resources to carry out drug operations.

Landman can get heavy with its jargon-heavy dialogue about the oil business, but the core of the series is best represented by a quote from Season 1, Episode 4: “First come the dreamers, then the bankers, then the salesmen, then the sharks, then the desperate, and then the thieves.” The line comes after liability attorney and city woman Rebecca Falcone (Kayla Wallace) scoffs at the idea of boomtowns like Midland, where ethics and political correctness are the last thing on anybody's mind. Tommy rebuts her, pointing out that Midland is no different from places like Dodge City or San Francisco — they all share the same societal hierarchy he describes.

‘Landman’ Breaks Down the Brutal Hierarchy Behind Every Oil Boom

Landman isn’t just about drilling and selling oil; it’s about how boomtowns operate from bottom to top, and how the professional overlaps with the personal. The dreamers include Cooper Norris (Jacob Lofland), who drops out of college believing he can become a self-made oil man. To make it, he has to navigate the bankers — the Millers, who control the capital behind the boom. But even they need salesmen like Tommy, who negotiates leases and manages relationships in the field. Then comes the ugly side, with sharks like the Millers and Falcone, who aggressively dig up as much profit as they can from the boom. The desperate are the workers risking their lives on the oil field, while the thieves are the cartel, whose interests lie outside oil but depend on M-Tex’s access and discretion.

Yet, Landman constantly blurs this hierarchy. Cooper rises from dreamer to potential industry player, while Monty’s heart condition suddenly threatens his position at the top. This constant blurring drives the series' momentum, proving that the oil industry, for all its power dynamics, is an aggressive playing field where anyone can strike it rich or get killed without warning. No matter how much data you have or how carefully you mitigate the risks, luck can sometimes play a bigger role in success than rational decision-making, which is fitting, considering the oil market is often treated like a high-stakes gamble.

When Will 'Landman' Season 3 Premiere?

Image via Paramount+

Landman has already proved the point of Tommy's most famous quote. Over the past two seasons, Thornton's character has gone through several changes in hierarchy and eventually finds himself as one of the key figures deciding who M-Tex works with. Given that he's seen nearly every side of the oil business, both on and off the fields, one might think he's secure enough to be protected. But as the Season 2 finale proves, Tommy's position isn't nearly as safe as it seems, and he's kicked down to the bottom of the boomtown's food chain.

Season 3 of Landman is set to follow the aftermath of Tommy's fall from grace at M-Tex and whether he's capable of rising from the ashes. Unfortunately, audiences will have to wait a while to see Tommy's redemption. Following three separate delays affecting production, the most recent came in August, when James Jordan, who plays Dale Bradley, revealed that filming had been pushed back to September. Season 3 is now expected to premiere on Paramount+ sometime in mid-to-late 2027, and the stakes will obviously be higher.

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  Tommy Norris

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  Angela Norris

In the rugged terrain of West Texas, a team of landmen work to secure oil and gas leases, acting as intermediaries between landowners and energy corporations. The narrative centers on a driven landman whose ambitions in the energy sector lead him into complex negotiations and moral quandaries. The show explores the intense competition and the far-reaching consequences of the landmen's deals, highlighting the intersection of personal ambition and the broader effects on the community and the natural world.