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How will Ainsley\u2019s role change this season?<\/p>\nHold onto your oil rigs: \u201cLandman\u201d is back for a second season!<\/p>\n
The first season of the Taylor Sheridan drama, which he created with \u201cBoomtown\u201d host Christian Wallace, introduced the world to Tommy Norris, the titular landman played by Billy Bob Thornton. Tommy works for oil company M-Tex, keeping drilling operations moving along \u2014 despite constant danger in the oil fields, trouble from the cartels and legal woes. Along the way, we get to know his family \u2014\u00a0ex-wife Angela (Ali Larter), son Cooper (Jacob Lofland) and daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph)\u00a0\u2014 and the economics of the oil biz, from the treacherous West Texas fields to the cutthroat boardrooms. Family matters will take center stage in this second season, as we finally meet Tommy\u2019s father T.L., played by Sam Elliott.<\/p>\n
More from Variety<\/p>\n
Variety spoke with several members of the cast before the Nov. 16 Season 2 premiere on Paramount+ to answer burning questions about the show\u2019s biggest changes, relationship shifts and that viral moment from Season 1 that shocked the internet.<\/p>\n
What challenges will Tommy face in Season 2?<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to see who he really is at the end of the day,\u201d Thornton says. \u201cHe\u2019s so busy in Season 1 that there wasn\u2019t much time to take a breath. There are some very human moments in the first season, but this has more. You\u2019re going to see how he deals with family, business, his own mortality, just everything: All the thoughts that go through all humans, and things that you have to go through. First season, Taylor had to set the show up and explain the oil business to the audience. He had to introduce all the characters. Now, you can settle back and really get to know everybody, the family relationships as well as business relationships and the dangerous relationships, all of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
What will Angela\u2019s journey look like this season?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first season of our show set up oil and the danger and cost to all the families,\u201d Larter says. \u201cThe second season, Taylor wrote it about the family. What you realize is that we\u2019re the heartbeat of the show and everything goes around that. With Angela, you go from these dinner scenes, which is how she shows her love and she puts pressure on it. She does it the best she can because she wants everyone to feel it so hard. Then there\u2019s the antics: Tommy is always is going to do something that sets her off. But where we\u2019re going is that we sit on the floor together and the question is, \u2018Who are we if we don\u2019t do this? Do we have a real chance at this working?\u2019 Taylor also wrote some really beautiful scenes of connection between Tommy and Angela.\u201d<\/p>\n
How will Ainsley\u2019s role change this season?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe meet her when she\u2019s 17 and we are seeing her in her most formative years,\u201d Randolph says. \u201cWe are watching her figure out who she is. She has come to the realization that her parents aren\u2019t always perfect. They don\u2019t always know everything. We get to see Ainsley figure out her own identity, her independence, navigate attention, figure out how she wants to be seen in the world. I find that extremely fulfilling as an actress, because I get to grow with her, and I\u2019m not playing a fully-formed person yet. So I get to throw in these little hints of realizations in these scenes. I look through the scripts to try to find those moments as much as possible, so that I can foreshadow her growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is the cast already talking about next season, even though it hasn\u2019t even been confirmed yet?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking past Season 2 already,\u201d Elliott says. \u201cWe\u2019re here talking about Season 2, but it\u2019s all been done. I\u2019m thinking about what\u2019s to come, and I\u2019m excited about what\u2019s to come. The audience is excited about what\u2019s to come right now. I\u2019m excited about what\u2019s to come next season that we haven\u2019t even done yet. Just having the opportunity to work with all of these cast members, it\u2019s that and the fact that we\u2019ve got this incredible crew \u2014\u00a0a lot of them are people I worked with before on \u20181883.\u2019 I love going back to Texas and working. There are just so many positive elements to this thing, and it makes it a joy to go to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s Billy Bob Thornton\u2019s all-time favorite Tommy moment?<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many of them, it\u2019s hard to remember,\u201d Thornton says. \u201cBut I think one of my favorite moments is when Ainsley, we\u2019re at the football game and she\u2019s got the boyfriend there. I\u2019m, of course, a father to a 21-year-old daughter in college right now. So when I hear her say some of these things to me, you don\u2019t have to act much. You just react to it. [Editor\u2019s note: This scene is from the pilot, when Ainsley tells her father about her sex life with her boyfriend, noting that, \u201cAs long as he never comes in me, he can come anywhere on me.\u201d Needless to say, this moment went viral.] Plus, Michelle\u2019s as sweet as pie. When we hear that come out of her mouth sometimes\u2026 But one way or the other, she\u2019s telling me what she will or will not let the boyfriend do, which I don\u2019t want to hear anything about any of it. And I think maybe my best quote was a stare, and all I can think of to say is, \u2018I\u2019m going to go get a Dr. Pepper \u2014\u00a0you want anything?\u2019 Because I can\u2019t even let myself think right then, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
How did Michelle Randolph survive shooting that now-viral scene?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe filmed so out of order because we had all 10 episodes, so that was midway through the season,\u201d Randolph says. \u201cThat day was freezing cold. There was a whole storm. We had 10 minutes to get that shot, and there was a whole group of people behind us in the bleachers. All I could think is these people are hearing this dialogue, and none of them know what this show is about. So I was just honestly kind of mortified as myself, saying these lines out loud to these people. Billy had it easy because all he had to do was walk away, I\u2019d say.\u201d<\/p>\n
Does Sam Elliott do anything to take care of his signature voice?<\/p>\n
No! \u201cIt\u2019s all natural,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Watch the \u201cLandman\u201d Season 2 trailer below.<\/p>\n
\u201cLandman\u201d airs on Sundays on Paramount+.\u00a0This interview has been edited and condensed.<\/p>\n
Best of Variety<\/p>\n
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hold onto your oil rigs: \u201cLandman\u201d is back for a second season! The first season of the Taylor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[84611,38682,84610,38684,84612,146,85,46,38686,38687,38688,38689,84609,411],"class_list":{"0":"post-135937","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-ainsley","9":"tag-ali-larter","10":"tag-angela-norris","11":"tag-billy-bob-thornton","12":"tag-christian-wallace","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-il","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-landman","17":"tag-michelle-randolph","18":"tag-sam-elliott","19":"tag-taylor-sheridan","20":"tag-tommy-norris","21":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}