Taylor Sheridan shows have been doing absolutely ridiculous numbers for years, and yet the Emmys have largely ignored the sprawling Western dramas and crime thrillers. Yellowstone became a genuine TV phenomenon, and Sheridan turned Paramount+ into his own personal empire with those spin-offs, and then the rest of his shows. Still, for all the viewership, critical attention, and cowboy melancholy, the TV Academy hasn’t exactly been throwing statues at him. However, it looks like that could finally change with Landman Season 2.
According to a new awards-season analysis from The Hollywood Reporter, Landman is heading into this year’s Emmys race looking like one of Sheridan’s strongest contenders yet. The show is starting to gain some momentum thanks to nominations from some of the popular precursor shows, per the report. So far, its tally includes an Actor Award nomination for best cast in a drama series and a Critics’ Choice nomination for star Billy Bob Thornton. Emmys nominations voting runs from June 11 through June 22, so the timing is helpful.
The series follows Thornton’s Tommy Norris as he navigates the cutthroat Texas oil business, while dealing with his hilariously dysfunctional family, gangsters, drug dealers, you name it. Thornton drives a lot of the show’s appeal in his hangdog expression, his dry wit, and his hysterical exasperation, which has translated into Landman becoming the most-watched original series in the history of Paramount+. The show has strong performances, expensive-looking production value, and cinematic scale and photography.
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz Which Taylor Sheridan Show Do You Belong In? Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn’t write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
01
Where does your power come from? In Sheridan’s world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
02
Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan’s universe is always absolute — and always costly.
03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it’s crossed.
04
Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan’s worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
05
How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they’re defending.
07
How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan’s world is never given — it’s established, maintained, and constantly tested.
08
Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
09
What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
10
When it’s over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan’s characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you’re complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
🤠 Yellowstone
🛢️ Landman
👑 Tulsa King
⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world’s indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you’re willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family’s weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what’s yours, you don’t escalate — you finish it. You’re not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone’s world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn’t make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You’re a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they’ll do to get it. You’re not naive enough to think this world is fair. You’re smart enough to be the one deciding who it’s fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you’re not above reminding people that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they’d be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they’re more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don’t need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you’re the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky’s world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You’ve made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
Why Could ‘Landman’ Finally Break Through?
Sheridan is still a polarizing figure, for a number of reasons, including assumptions about the politics of his characters and his shows, as well as how those characters are written. Paramount+ hasn’t quite figured out how to push its shows for awards the way Apple, Netflix, and HBO have. However, the performances in Landman are so strong that the series may finally be able to break through. Across all of Sheridan’s major shows, his TV universe has earned only nine Emmy nominations so far, with no above-the-line nominations and zero wins. Considering his track record, that almost seems like a mathematical error, but sometimes that’s the price you pay for populist fare rather than prestige. Whether Season 2 of Landman finally changes that is the big question, but for once, Sheridan may have a real shot at turning huge popularity into actual Emmys glory.
Alongside Thornton, Landman stars Ali Larter (Final Destination) as Angela Norris, Jacob Lofland (Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials) as Cooper Norris, Michelle Randolph (1923) as Ainsley Norris, Paulina Chávez (The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia) as Ariana Medina, Demi Moore (The Substance) as Cami Miller, Sam Elliott (1883) as T.L., and Andy Garcia (Ocean’s Eleven) as Galino. Larter goes the whole hog in her role as Angela, a nuclear bomb of a woman, while Elliott’s arrival in Season 2 added a beautiful layer of melancholy, and it would be no surprise if either earned nominations in the supporting actor categories.
Landman is streaming now on Paramount+. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
I am an editor for Vogue US , focusing on business and entrepreneurship. I love uncovering emerging trends and crafting stories that inspire and inform readers about innovative ventures and industry insights.
