One Landman Actor Makes The Show's Friday Night Lights Comparisons Feel Much Weirder (It's Not Billy Bob Thornton)
Landman features a supporting character played by a beloved Friday Night Lights actor, and it makes the show comparisons significantly stranger. Billy Bob Thornton leads Landman’s cast as Tommy Norris, an oil company’s crisis management executive operating in West Texas. Given the show’s location and the fact that Thornton himself starred in the film version of Friday Night Lights, comparisons between the two have been easy to make. However, Thornton isn’t the only FNL alum to appear in Taylor Sheridan’s latest project.
Landman’s season 1 ending saw drastic changes to the power dynamics at M-Tex, the private oil company Tommy works for. With those changes in mind, season 2 seems all the more exciting, with the drama and stakes turning up a notch. Aside from the oil-related matters in Landman, the show also features a decent amount of family drama centered around Tommy’s wife, Angela (Ali Larter). The season 1 finale saw a bizarre sequence where she took a group from an old folks home to visit a strip club with one of the older women played by Louanne Stephens.
Landman Features One Friday Night Lights Actor In A Surprising Role
Grandma Saracen Is Back In Landman
Anyone who’s a fan of Friday Night Lights might have noticed that the woman, Ethel, looks rather familiar. That’s because Louanne Stephens also played Matt Saracen’s grandmother and caretaker in all five seasons of Friday Night Lightsand was one of the show’s most beloved characters. Matt’s relationship with his grandmother is a point of struggle for him, as though she’s his guardian, he’s the one taking care of her as a young teenager. Still, she manages to be a kind and supportive character throughout, showing up to root for him in many of the big games.
That makes it all the more strange to see the same actress going absolutely wild when a high school quarterback is stripping and giving her a lap dance. Regardless of the divisive reactions to scenes like this in Landman, the added layer of Matt having been a high school quarterback backs it rather weird to watch. The actress herself even took to Instagram to address the crudeness of her role, though she embraced it with some laughs in later posts, referring to her group as the "raunchy nursing home."
Landman Is Unexpectedly A Lot Like Friday Night Lights
Landman Mirrors The Tone Of Friday Night Lights
Taylor Sheridan's newest drama series may be about the oil industry, but it draws so much from Friday Night Lights aesthetically. Texas itself becomes a character in both shows, with the writing offering a mix of praise and critique on aspects of the lifestyle. Both series offer focus on the intersection of small Texas town life with things like family, community, local politics, high school drama, and more, while also offering some worthwhile commentary about contemporary American life. Landman might not be a football show, but it's the closest thing there is.
Landman
- Release Date
- November 17, 2024
- Writers
- Taylor Sheridan, Christian Wallace
Cast
Billy Bob ThorntonTommy Norris
Ali LarterAngela Norris
- Creator(s)
- Taylor Sheridan, Christian Wallace
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