Landman season 2 makes T L Norris the key new face in the West Texas drama and uses him to crack open Tommy Norris' past. The Paramount+ series returns one year after its debut, with Billy Bob Thornton back as Tommy, now running M Tex in the wake of Monty Miller's death, alongside returning cast members Demi Moore, Ali Larter, Michelle Randolph, Jacob Lofland and Andy Garcia.
In the Landman season 2 premiere episode Death and a Sunset, the corporate storylines run parallel to scenes in a Texas care facility where an older man times the sunset and resists staff instructions.
That man is T L Norris, played by Sam Elliott, introduced as a gruff resident whose routine is shattered when he learns that Dorothy has died in her sleep.
The episode then confirms Dorothy as Tommy's mother, revealing that this difficult patient is Tommy's estranged father and positioning their unresolved history as a core thread in Landman season 2.
Landman season 2 premiered on Paramount Plus on November 16 2025, and, like the first season, runs for 10 episodes. New chapters drop every Sunday through January 18, 2026.
Who is T.L. Norris in Landman season 2?
Within Landman season 2, new storylines, T L Norris is introduced as Tommy long long-absent father and a series regular whose presence connects directly to the central family.
He lives in a Texas assisted living facility, spends his evenings watching the sun go down and is quick to push back when staff tell him to come inside, signalling a man who clings to routine and control where he still can.
Early in the premiere, an employee named Hank tells him that Dorothy has died after an afternoon nap. As per the People report dated November 16 2025, T L tells Hank,
“I recommend you find a way to die quick,”
and later adds,
“If I do, that means I’m in hell, too.”
The lines show a character who uses gallows humor to talk about death and who is clear that whatever happened in that marriage still feels unresolved.
The episode cuts between T.L.'s grief and Tommy's life in Midland, where Tommy receives the same call while he is with Angela and admits that the person who died was his mother.
The cross-cutting confirms that Dorothy was Tommy's mom and that T.L. is the father he has not spoken to for years, turning what looked like a standalone character sketch into the emotional starting point of Landman season 2.
Recaps and transcripts highlight how sharply T L reacts to the idea of an afterlife with Dorothy and how quickly he turns his anger on the people in front of him.
It paints a picture of a man who has been “dying a little bit every day” inside for a long time, even before his wife passes. His introduction also echoes Tommy's own short temper and dark humor, hinting that the son has inherited more than just his father's name.
Later marketing and stills for Landman season 2 show T L outside the facility, sharing scenes with Angela and Ainsley and sitting at the family table, which confirms that he will move into Tommy's family orbit rather than stay confined to the care home.
He is Tommy's father, a grieving widower and the new family fault line the season plans to explore.
How Sam Elliott’s T.L. reshapes Tommy’s story in Landman season 2
T L is not written as background color. Interviews describe Sam Elliott's character as central to the more character-driven focus of Landman season 2, which shifts attention from pure oil politics to the emotional cost of that world.
As per a Gold Derby-linked report dated October 1 2025, Sam Elliott called T L “a troubled man. He’s troubled for a number of reasons. One is how much he failed his son.” That description places guilt and regret at the heart of the role.
Within the wider power struggles of Landman season 2, Tommy is now the president of M Tex, answering to Cami as the owner, while managing cartel pressure through Gallino and trying to keep his children from repeating his own mistakes in the oil field. TL's arrival drops personal history into that already fragile balance.
Their scenes promise conflict over abandonment, money, the family name, and what it means to be a Norris when the industry around them is built on risk.
Who plays T.L. in Landman season 2?
Sam Elliott plays T L in season 2, reuniting with Taylor Sheridan after they collaborated on the Yellowstone prequel 1883, where Elliott won a SAG Award for his performance.
His long history in Western and neo-Western projects makes him a natural fit for the Sheridan world, and his casting gives the series an older generation voice that matches Billy Bob Thornton's grounded style.
Stay tuned for more updates.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 26th, 29th ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS - Sam Elliot accepts the award for Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series at the 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Award, held at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles on February 26th, 2023. (Photo by Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)