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Several familiar Fort Worth locations<\/a> will be seen in \u201cLandman\u201d season 2, including a certain university.<\/p>\n The new season of the Taylor Sheridan show, which premieres Sunday, Nov. 16, on Paramount+, will see the character Ainsley Norris attend and explore TCU. Ainsley, played by actress Michelle Randolph, is the daughter of Billy Bob Thornton\u2019s Tommy Norris.<\/p>\n The \u201cLandman\u201d production team filmed at TCU<\/a> a few times this season, incorporating students and staff as extras.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear just how much TCU will factor into the new season, but Randolph said she\u2019s excited for folks to check it out.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, it\u2019s such a fun new character in our show,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u26a1 More service stories from our newsroom:<\/p>\n \u2192‘Lioness’ filing in Fort Worth this week<\/a><\/p>\n \u2192Here’s why flags are half-staff in Texas through Nov. 14<\/a><\/p>\n \u2192Traffic IS getting worse in N TX. Here’s proof.<\/a><\/p>\n \u2192How to check flight delays at DFW Airport, Love Field<\/a><\/p>\n Ahead of Sunday\u2019s premiere, Randolph and actress Ali Larter, who plays Ainsley\u2019s mother on the show, spoke to the Star-Telegram about the Norris family dynamic going into season 2.<\/p>\n The conversation came a few days after Randolph and a few of her \u201cLandman\u201d cohorts stopped by Fort Worth<\/a> for a red carpet premiere at the Modern Art Museum.<\/p>\n This interview has been edited for clarity and length.<\/p>\n Star-Telegram: Nice to see you again Michelle after the premiere in Fort Worth, that was fun.<\/p>\n Michelle Randolph: That was fun. I wasn\u2019t expecting that premiere; it was great.<\/p>\n S-T: I wanted to start with season 1. You make a show and hope it resonates with people, and the first season went onto become such a huge thing. Ali, you\u2019ve been a part of some big projects over your career. Michelle, you\u2019re starting out your career with this show. What do you both make of the show\u2019s success?<\/p>\n Ali Larter: I don\u2019t think that you ever expect success in that, especially with the way that the show was received. I have been doing this for a long time, and if you don\u2019t enjoy the process, you\u2019re really missing out on the sweet spot of this industry. Especially being an actor, you have to love the process. Even when it\u2019s challenging and painful, that\u2019s part of the whole fully grounded experience of doing it. I think for me, walking into the first season and getting to work with Billy [Bob Thornton], who is just such an extraordinary actor. Taylor [Sheridan], who\u2019s just an unbelievable screenwriter. Stephen Kay came in and did a lot of directing. Robert McLachlan, our [director of photography]. The rest of the cast, Michelle and Jacob [Lofland].<\/p>\n Getting in and really working on this show, that was just incredible. We hadn\u2019t seen it, so nobody knew how the show was going to work and come together. I think one of the things that connected with an audience was the way that Taylor weaved in all the different tones into our show. He just knows when the audience wants to feel the rush of action, or is ready to slow down and have, like a romantic moment, or when he needs comedy. I think that our show really delivers on so many of those levels.<\/p>\n MR: I feel so lucky to work on a show like this, because it\u2019s incredibly hard to break into the industry. I have so many really talented friends who aren\u2019t working right now. I mean, it\u2019s just competitive. It\u2019s difficult to break into and I got really lucky. Like, yeah, I work really hard, and I prepare a lot, and I care a lot, but I also got really lucky. To get on a show with these people, I just pinch myself.<\/p>\n S-T: When shooting here in Fort Worth, most people seem excited to have y\u2019all here.<\/p>\n AL: We do. We love filming in Fort Worth, too.<\/p>\n S-T: The first season was about the Norris family coming back together and learning how to be family again. It seems like the second season is more about the family staying together. Is that possible? Can the Norris family be a normal family?<\/p>\n AL: The first season, we had all 10 episodes. We knew that when Angela was coming in on FaceTime, it was kind of like tricking the audience of not knowing that by the end, the heartbeat of the show is the family. Then everything else is the tertiary storylines around it. We knew that, but we knew the audience didn\u2019t, so you had to kind of get through the season to understand. We also, the first season, really set up the world of oil and the danger and the cost that it is to all of the families that work within this business.<\/p>\n Then the second season, Taylor just goes deeper. I call the season like heartwarming, heartbreaking. It just goes deep. It goes there and there\u2019s extraordinarily beautiful moments between Cooper and Tommy. There\u2019s loss in the family and how you see Angela support Tommy in those times of mourning, but then also asks him to step up and be a good man in their family. How\u2019s he going to help take care of her in this pain of becoming an empty nester? There\u2019s all this joy, and you still get all the excitement in antics, but we dig deeper into a lot of these real life dynamics this season. Who knows? Like, will they make it? But it just keeps feeling like each step they take, takes them one step deeper. It doesn\u2019t pull them apart, they just keep going closer.<\/p>\n MR: To your original question, can they ever be a normal family? No, [laughs] what is the fun in watching that.<\/p>\n S-T: I\u2019m curious for you Michelle, there\u2019s a big plot point this season in Ainsley going to TCU. I also saw that you recently attended a TCU football game<\/a>. What\u2019s it been like to work on the campus and have TCU be a part of this show?<\/p>\n MR: I mean, it\u2019s such a fun new character in our show. We shot at TCU quite a bit and they have been so welcoming. I got to work with a lot of the real TCU cheerleaders. Then going to their game, they were all excited. It\u2019s not like we\u2019re in L.A., where films are always kind of around there. We\u2019re in Fort Worth, Texas. We have a lot of them as extras. I love that we\u2019re using TCU in the show and that they\u2019re so welcoming.<\/p>\n \u201cLandman\u201d season 2 premieres Sunday on Paramount+.<\/p>\nMichelle Randolph as Ainsley Norris and Ali Larter as Angela Norris in \u201cLandman\u201d episode 1, season 2, streaming on Paramount+. Emerson Miller\/Paramount+ <\/p>\n
Billy Bob Thornton as Tommy Norris and Ali Larter as Angela Norris in \u201cLandman\u201d episode 1, season 2, streaming on Paramount+. Emerson Miller\/Paramount+ <\/p>\n