A long-awaited new series from Taylor Sheridan is staffing up and bringing a TV Fanatic favorite along for the ride.
Kayla Wallace (When Calls The Heart), James Jordan (Yellowstone), Mark Collie (Nashville), and Paulina Chávez (The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia) join Paramount+’s highly anticipated original drama series Landman as series regulars.
We can’t count on much these days in the world of entertainment, but we can count on the partnership between Paramount+ and Taylor Sheridan.
Set in the proverbial boomtowns of West Texas, Landman, co-created by Oscar nominee Sheridan and Christian Wallace, is a modern-day tale of fortune-seeking in the world of oil rigs.
Based on the notable 11-part podcast “Boomtown,” the series is an upstairs/downstairs story of roughnecks and wildcat billionaires fueling a boom so big that it’s reshaping our climate, our economy, and our geopolitics.
Sheridan has previously said he wrote Landman with Billy Bob Thorton in mind, and that’s exactly who is playing the lead, Tommy Norris, who is described as a crisis manager.
Thornton has also guest starred in another Sheridan production, 1883, as Marshal Jim Courtright.
The series will revolve around Thornton’s Norris, and we’re getting a better picture today of how the casting is rounding out with these new series regulars.
Kayla Wallace will play Rebecca Savage, an extremely capable and intimidating liability attorney sent to West Texas to clean up a mess.
James Jordan (who is a veritable member of the on-screen Sheridan family, having had roles in Yellowstone, Mayor of Kingstown, Special Ops: Lioness, and 1883 and Wind River, will play Dale Bradley.
Bradley is a petroleum engineer and a blue-collar bear of a man who manages and works with roughnecks in the oil fields. He’s also Tommy Norris’s roommate.
Mark Collie will play Sheriff Joeberg, a West Texas sheriff.
Paulina Chávez will play Ariana, a young mother whose family has suffered a misfortune.
They join others already announced, including Ali Larter, Michelle Randolph (1923’s Elizabeth Strafford turned Elizabeth Dutton), and Jacob Lofland.
Larter will be playing Tommy’s ex-wife, Angela, and Randolph will be playing his wild and strong-willed daughter, Ainsley.
Lofland will be Tommy’s son, Cooper, who is new to the demanding work of the oil and fields of West Texas.
But we can’t help but cheer for Kayla Wallace, who has been playing Fiona Miller on When Calls the Heart since 2019.
Fiona is a character much like the description of her Landman character, Rebecca. Fiona is also extremely capable and can be quite intimidating, which is unique to the times in which When Calls the Heart takes place.
If there is something that needs to be accomplished, Fiona gets the job done, and we are so excited to see how Wallace transforms into another competent woman in a male-dominated field such as the oil and gas business.
People often scoff at Hallmark products and the talent that brings them to life, but it’s not the first time a Sheridan production engaged a Hallmark star.
Jill Wagner, who has starred in multiple successful Hallmark productions over the years and is a favorite of many, starred as Bobby on Special Ops: Lioness alongside Nicole Kidman and Zoe Saldana.
It’s exciting to see actors crossing genres.
Many people call Sheridan productions soap operas in their own right, Yellowstone especially, but the man gives the people what they want with intense interpersonal drama and unexpected twists that viewers delight in watching.
With the long delay between Yellowstone Season 5’s first and second (and final) half, we’re eager for all news about what Sheridan is bringing to us next.
Landman, with Thornton, one of a generation’s most talented actors, leading a field of equally competent cast members, is high on our list of anticipated television.
So, what do you think of this casting news?
Is this finally the show that will get all of the later party-goers to add Paramount+ to their required viewing?
Hit the comments with your thoughts!
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Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.
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