Landman Season 2 Shatters Paramount+ Records: Billy Bob Thornton’s Oil Drama Strikes Gold With 9.2 Million Views

The oil keeps flowing and so do the viewers. Landman Season 2 premiere has shattered all expectations, achieving over 9.2 million streaming views for its premiere episode in the first two days since its exclusive debut on Paramount+ on November 16, 2025. The explosive viewership represents a staggering 262% increase from the first season premiere in 2024, making it the most watched premiere for any original series in Paramount+ history.

Created by Taylor Sheridan and Christian Wallace, the West Texas oil drama starring Billy Bob Thornton as crisis manager Tommy Norris has become an unprecedented success for the streaming platform. The streamer also saw an uptick in Season 1 sampling with a 320% increase in views since the second season debuted on Sunday, demonstrating that new viewers are diving into the series from the beginning.

Breaking Down the Record-Setting Numbers

Paramount defines “streaming views” using the industry standard formula of total minutes viewed divided by the episode’s runtime. With the Season 2 premiere clocking in at 49 minutes, the 9.2 million views translate to approximately 450.8 million minutes of total viewing worldwide—a staggering figure that underscores the show’s massive global appeal.

On social media, Landman dominated premiere night as the number one streaming show on November 16, 2025, with 255,600 total interactions—a 489% increase versus the Season 1 opener. The social buzz reflects not just curiosity but genuine engagement with the show’s complex characters and high-stakes drama.

Billy Bob Thornton’s Journey as Tommy Norris

Billy Bob Thornton leads the cast as Tommy Norris, a combination petroleum landman and operations vice president at M-Tex Oil who now serves as president. The character represents Thornton’s most dynamic television role in years, offering him the chance to blend drama, dark humor, and moral complexity in ways that recall his acclaimed work in Fargo and Goliath.

Thornton vividly remembers how Tommy Norris came into his life. After appearing in a cameo on Sheridan’s 1883, the creator told him over dinner: “I’m writing this series. I’m going to write it in your voice.” True to his word, Sheridan crafted a character that fits Thornton like a custom-tailored Western shirt.

“Tommy’s very similar to some characters that I’ve done,” Thornton explained. “I would say it’s only the world in which he operates that’s different. The solitary part of Tommy is very similar to the character I played in The Man Who Wasn’t There; I think he has his Bad Santa moments; and if Tommy Norris were a lawyer, he would’ve been kind of like Billy McBride in Goliath.”

The actor’s performance has earned widespread acclaim, including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Drama Series. His ability to deliver Sheridan’s sharp, no-nonsense dialogue with dry humor and worn-out charm has become the show’s signature appeal.

Season 2 Plot: Secrets Rise With the Oil

The official logline for Season 2 states: “As oil rises from the earth, so do secrets – and Tommy Norris’s breaking point may be closer than he realizes. Facing mounting pressure from M-Tex Oil, Cami Miller (Moore), and the shadow of his kin, survival in West Texas isn’t noble – it’s brutal. And sooner or later something’s got to break.”

Season 2 picks up after the dramatic Season 1 finale, which saw Tommy take over as head of M-Tex Oil following Monty Miller’s sudden death from heart failure. Struggling with the magnitude of pursuing the risky oil deal that Monty had set up, Tommy was ultimately convinced by Monty’s widow Cami (Demi Moore) to follow the vision and see it through.

The season opener, “Death and a Sunset,” finds Tommy adjusting to his new role at M-Tex as Cami presses her advantage and cartel pressure looms in the background. The corporate power struggle intensifies while the cartel threat—represented by Andy Garcia’s character Gallino—becomes increasingly dangerous for Tommy and his operation.

Expanded Cast Brings Fresh Dynamics

While Billy Bob Thornton remains the anchor, Season 2 introduces significant additions to the ensemble. Sam Elliott joins as T.L. Norris, Tommy’s father, marking a reunion for the two actors who previously worked together. Despite being only 11 years apart in age, Elliott’s portrayal in a wheelchair while Thornton’s Tommy remains physically active makes the father-son dynamic believable.

Elliott hadn’t worked since 1883 aired its one season in 2021 when Sheridan reached out via text. “I think I was totally spoiled by 1883, in terms of the gift that it was on the page,” Elliott told The Hollywood Reporter. A text conversation evolved into a two-year contract to join Landman as T.L., bringing emotional depth to Tommy’s backstory.

The Boomtown Connection: From Podcast to Phenomenon

Landman is based on Christian Wallace’s acclaimed podcast Boomtown, an 11-part documentary series from Imperative Entertainment and Texas Monthly that explores the West Texas oil boom in the Permian Basin. Wallace, who grew up in Andrews, Texas, and worked as a roughneck in the oil fields, brought authenticity and insider knowledge to the project.

The podcast debuted on December 10, 2019, examining how the oil boom reshaped West Texas communities, exploring everything from the deadly traffic on U.S. Route 285 (known as “Death Highway”) to the human costs of the energy industry in what is currently the top producing oilfield in the world.

Wallace serves as co-creator and executive producer of Landman alongside Sheridan, ensuring the series maintains authenticity while delivering compelling drama. “Taylor was the first to give me an opportunity to translate my own work for the screen,” Wallace noted, grateful that Sheridan understood the material well enough to capture both the industry’s complexity and the humanity of the people who work in it.

Season 1’s Historic Performance Set the Stage

The Season 2 success builds on an already remarkable Season 1 performance. The debut season ultimately reached 35 million global streaming viewers, including 14.9 million in its first four weeks—numbers that outpaced debut seasons of other Sheridan titles like Yellowstone, 1923, Tulsa King, and Special Ops: Lioness.

Landman ranked as a Top 10 SVOD original series across all streaming platforms for Q4 2024, finishing the year as the third-most-watched streaming original series with 9.90 billion minutes viewed according to Luminate—and that figure didn’t even include the final two episodes. The show’s first season averaged 15.8 million viewers in Nielsen’s 35-day, cross-platform ratings.

By early 2025, Landman had delivered both the most-watched premiere and most-watched finale in Paramount+ history, cementing its status as the platform’s most-watched original series of all time.

Taylor Sheridan’s Continued Dominance

The success of Landman reinforces Taylor Sheridan’s position as the most powerful showrunner in television. MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios, which produce Landman, are now responsible for all five of the Top 5 original shows on Paramount+: Landman (1), 1923 (2), Tulsa King (3), Lioness (4), and 1883 (5)—all created by Sheridan.

This marked only the second time since Nielsen began tracking streaming platforms in Q3 2017 that a service had three of the top 10 series outside of Netflix. Paramount+’s dominance in Q4 2024 helped position it as the number two streaming service in the U.S. for original hours watched.

Sheridan’s ability to tap into the cultural zeitgeist, exploring neo-Western themes of rugged individualism, ambition, and working-class struggles set against contemporary debates around energy, climate, and geopolitics, has proven remarkably resonant with audiences even when critics remain divided.

Critical Reception vs Audience Response

Interestingly, the massive viewership growth comes despite a mixed audience reception. On Rotten Tomatoes, Season 2 holds a 76% critics score based on 9 reviews, but the audience score has dropped to around 40% from Season 1’s 64%, driven heavily by viewer frustration with certain character dynamics and domestic drama storylines.

However, as one analyst noted: “Yes, the audience score is hovering just under that symbolic 50% line. But the show is not fading. It is expanding.” The disconnect between audience ratings and actual viewership demonstrates that controversy and discussion—even negative—can drive engagement.

Critics who praise the series focus on Thornton’s performance, the corporate power struggles, the cartel tension, and the authentic portrayal of the oil industry. Those who criticize it tend to focus on the domestic drama and certain character choices, particularly involving Tommy’s ex-wife Angela and daughter Ainsley.

Production and Release Schedule

Season 2 production began in early 2025, allowing for a relatively fast turnaround compared to many streaming series that face multi-year gaps. New episodes are available to stream every Sunday exclusively on Paramount+, with the season scheduled to run through January 18, 2026.

The series is produced by Paramount Television Studios, 101 Studios, and Sheridan’s Bosque Ranch Productions. Executive producers include Taylor Sheridan, David C. Glasser, David Hutkin, Ron Burkle, Bob Yari, Christian Wallace, Billy Bob Thornton, Geyer Kosinski, Michael Friedman, and Stephen Kay. Dan Friedkin and Jason Hoch for Imperative Entertainment, and J.K. Nickell and Megan Creydt for Texas Monthly also executive produce.

Why Landman Resonates With Audiences

Several factors explain Landman’s explosive popularity despite polarizing reviews. The show offers subjects audiences have never seen before on television—the modern oil industry with all its complexity, danger, and moral ambiguity. Additionally, viewers appreciate characters who “say whatever the hell they want to” in an era where such unfiltered honesty feels increasingly rare.

Thornton believes people connect with Tommy because he represents freedom. “Sometimes it’s freeing when, in a world where it’s hard to just kind of be human sometimes, to watch these people just unabashedly just do whatever the hell they feel like,” he explained.

Co-star Ali Larter added: “Billy and the story of the everyman connected with an audience in a way that things haven’t for a very long time.” The show has received particularly strong support from individuals in Texas, many of whom see themselves or versions of themselves portrayed in the series.

The combination of authentic industry detail, compelling performances, moral complexity, dark humor, and high-stakes drama has created appointment viewing that transcends critical opinion. For Paramount+, Landman represents not just a hit show but a cultural phenomenon that validates the platform’s investment in Sheridan’s vision.

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