How to Get Cast on ‘Landman’

Based on Wallace’s 12-episode “Boomtown” podcast, which examined the 21st-century oil boom in Texas’ Permian Basin, “Landman” focuses on the fictional Norris family as they navigate the oil rigging industry. From the beginning, the family’s patriarch, Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton), finds himself at the mercy of a powerful cartel, as he’s taken hostage and must negotiate his release. With pressure looming, and a deadly rig accident that almost kills his son, Cooper (Jacob Lofland), there’s no shortage of tension for this landman and his family.

“Landman” Seasons 1 and 2 were overflowing with A-list talent, including:

• Billy Bob Thornton as Tommy Norris
• Ali Larter as Angela Norris
• Jacob Lofland as Cooper Norris
• Michelle Randolph as Ainsley Norris
• Paulina Chávez as Ariana Medina
• Kayla Wallace as Rebecca Falcone
• Mark Collie as Sheriff Walt Joeberg
• James Jordan as Dale Bradley
• Jon Hamm as Monty Miller
• Demi Moore as Cami Miller
• Andy Garcia as Danny “Gallino” Morrell
• Stefania Spampinato as Bella Morrell
• Sam Elliott as Thomas “T. L.” Norris
• Michael Peña as Armando Medina
• Colm Feore as Nathan
• Mustafa Speaks as Theodore “Boss” Ramone
• Caleb Martin as Ben “BR” Reynolds
• Dougie Hall as Russ “King” Fisher
• K.C. Clyde as Barney
• Mitchell Slaggert as Ryder Sampson
• Guy Burnet as Charlie Newsom
• Alex Meraz as Jimenez
• Maxwell Caulfield as Governor of Texas
• Francesca Xuereb as Cheyenne
• J.R. Villarreal as Manuel
• Octavio Rodriguez as Antonio
• Ben Browder as Colonel Ivey
• Robyn Lively as Ellie

Many of the series’ core cast has already confirmed their Season 3 return, including the entire Norris clan. Stay tuned for updates!

John Papsidera (“The Dark Knight,” “Oppenheimer”) serves as the primary CD on “Landman.” The Emmy Award–winning casting director has become Sheridan’s go-to, as they have partnered to cast “Yellowstone,” “1883,” “1923,” and “Lioness.” (If you couldn’t tell, he’s also Christopher Nolan’s top CD.)

Having trained as an actor himself, Papsidera brings a unique perspective to the process. “I don’t know how people [who] haven’t trained or studied acting compare or look at work, but certainly you look at moment-to-moment work; you look at creativity. It’s informed me a lot about…what separates people. I think confidence is one of the biggest things. It’s infectious if an actor walks in with confidence and belief in themselves—and not cockiness and not hubris, but belief in what they’re bringing into the room. It’s contagious to directors and producers,” he told us. 

“I also think choices make a huge difference,” he added, “and you’ll just find actors along the way [who] enable themselves…to find moments that are uniquely theirs. You’ll see a lot of people come in and the readings are fine, but they’re not individualized. They read the words on the page, and it sounds right; but it’s the person [who] comes in and makes a choice that is incredibly specific to them that then you remember those things and go, I didn’t think of it being played that way, or I didn’t know that that was what it could be. And those are truly gifted people [who] take their craft into a different realm than just anybody [who] can read lines.”

While Sheridan wrote the character of Tommy Norris with Thornton in mind, Wallace was privy to the remainder of the casting process. “I got to be there for every major character that we cast,” he told us. “We had a lot of great actors audition for those roles. I don’t have a ton of experience with that process, but as someone who’s loved film and TV for my entire life, it was thrilling to see. [You think,] Oh, well, that’s not the version of the character in my head. But you play it out with all these different actors. In the end, you go with your gut.”

For Michelle Randolph, getting cast as Tommy’s daughter, Ainsley, came on the heels of her “1923” role. Sheridan personally encouraged Randolph to audition for “Landman,” but that left the actor with only 12 hours to record 18 pages of dialogue for her self-tape. “I dropped every single thing. I turned my phone off. I locked myself in a room. I didn’t sleep. It was helpful. It’s nice when you have undivided attention for something because it’s easy when you have time to get distracted,” she told L’Officiel. 

“Right when ‘1923’ was coming out, I had heard about ‘Landman’ and I in no way thought that I would be able to work on that show, because I was meant to be filming ‘1923’ Season 2,” she explained to Town & Country. “I felt like it was my job to lose because I knew I was right for it, and I knew Taylor wanted me for it. I put a lot of pressure on myself to just really deliver in that tape. Oddly, my performance hasn’t strayed too far from what I initially found her as. There have been a lot of changes with my accent and little things, but the bones of it were there from the beginning,” Randolph added.

Paulina Chávez had a history of playing teenagers despite being 20 years old at the time of her “Landman” audition, so she was certain she’d never get the role of Ariana, a single, widowed mother. “Having only played 16-year-olds and done comedies, to be able to explore this very grown-up role was exciting,” she told us. “I never expected to hear back from them because of how young I was.”

Still, she submitted a self-tape—and didn’t hear back for a month. “Then I got a call from my agent, and I was completely shocked. They flew me to Wyoming, and there were 10 other girls testing, and we all looked completely different,” Chávez noted. “We were reading with Taylor [Sheridan], which was so nerve-racking. Our casting director was like, ‘Don’t be waiting by the phone, because Taylor takes a long time to make decisions.’ Two days later, they flew me back for a chemistry read with Jacob, and then I got a call from Taylor: ‘I’m gonna trust you with this role.’ ”

Even Ali Larter, an industry veteran with a lengthy résumé, had to audition three times and screen test against 10 other actors for her leading role as Angela Norris—something that brought back “sheer terror” for the star when asked on “CBS Mornings.” “The auditioning process is incredibly difficult, and especially when you feel like you’re right for a role,” Larter explained. “I connected with this the first time I got the pages of it, and it stretched out over three months. And then, when you go in a room, you know, there’s 20 people there, and we delivered—I had to do 19 pages, a long monologue, that I got the night before… I think that the process almost burned me out.

“And I was so raw at that point that I almost didn’t care,” she added. “I was ready to go. I was like, ‘If you don’t want this, then I don’t want you.’ ” Luckily for Larter and fans alike, the CDs and Sheridan ultimately wanted her just as much as she wanted the role.

For more insight into how to ace an audition for one of Sheridan’s hit TV series, check out these guides:

• How to Get Cast on “Yellowstone”
• How to Get Cast on “Yellowstone” Prequel Series “1923”
• How to Get Cast on Paramount’s “Dutton Ranch”
• How to Get Cast on “Y: Marshals”
• How to Get Cast in a Taylor Sheridan Production

Amid Season 2’s massive success, “Landman” Season 3 got the greenlight from Paramount+ in December 2025. Although the last two seasons each began filming in February and March, co-creator Christian Wallace told the Hollywood Reporter production on Season 3 won’t begin until May, which could prove problematic thanks to Texas’ notorious summer heat. “When we get back into production this year, it’s going to be pretty full on, and just getting hotter. That’s the big struggle from a production standpoint for us being on set every day,” he noted. “We have so many exteriors, and that’s a good thing because this show thrives in the dust and the heat and the reality of that gritty, hot world. But it is hard on the crew and cast, and on everybody. Twelve-hour days in 100-plus degree weather is no joke.” (But those temps will surely pale in comparison to the heat of these storylines!)

Currently, there are no public casting calls available for “Landman,” but the team at Legacy Casting often posts calls looking for extras for several of Sheridan’s series, such as “Landman,” “Lioness,” and “The Dutton Ranch.” We recommend following Legacy Casting on Instagram since the team frequently posts directly to its page. 

In the meantime, check out our guide on how to audition for background work so you’re prepared for the next round of notices. And don’t forget to bookmark our main casting page, which regularly updates with the latest listings. (Our guide on how to audition for Paramount+ might help, too!)

Be kind to yourself. Randolph clearly made an impression on Sheridan, as he cast her in two series, but that doesn’t mean impostor syndrome instantly left her body when she landed her big break on “1923.” In fact, she told us it’s worse—but she also noted that this has taught her to be kind to herself. “I have even [worse] impostor syndrome,” Randolph told us. “But I’ve developed confidence, too, because I’ve worked with some of the most incredible actors and people in the industry, and I’ve been able to seek advice from them. That feeling of being an impostor never goes away—but knowing that someone at the peak of their career can also feel that way, I’m nicer to myself than I ever was before.”

Exercise your talent. Moore told us she “went to the university of ‘fake it till you make it,’ ” as she worried someone else’s perception of her skills might dictate her chances at success. But she explained it’s important for young actors to get outside their heads and exercise their acting muscles. “I was almost afraid to be in an acting class,” she noted. “There was some weird psychology—I’m talking about when I was really, really young—where I thought that if I went to an audition, there could be a variety of reasons why it didn’t work out. That way, I could prepare myself for rejection. Maybe they wanted somebody blond; maybe they wanted somebody taller. But in a class, I somehow made up this thing that if the teacher said, ‘Oh, my God. You’re awful, and you shouldn’t be doing this,’ I would never have a chance.

“I’ve come to realize that was just an absolute misunderstanding that I created,” Moore added. “I really do encourage [young actors] to go explore. Especially if your path is more in television or film, we usually only get the opportunity to work on our craft when we’re actually hired for a job.”

Take risks. Auditioning for “Landman” was a risk that Chávez was willing to take for herself and her career—something she strongly advises other actors to do, too. After all, rejection comes with the job, so actors may as well approach the process with personality and authenticity. “Be risky, especially in the audition process. You audition so many times, and you get 100 nos before you get one yes, and so just do crazy stuff in your tapes. You really have to have fun with it,” Chávez explained. “For me, auditions have always been so difficult, and now I have the ‘I don’t care’ mindset in my self-tapes. I do my work, I submit it, and I let it go. I think that’s the easiest way to cope with so much rejection.”

Make smart choices. For Papsidera, the most memorable actors are those who come into their audition prepared. “I’m not one for a lot of rules. I’m not a big ‘don’t’ guy. It’s more about being present, making smart choices, being prepared,” he said. “Those are things that impress me, and that make a difference and separate actors from one another. If an actor makes a smart choice or an unpredictable choice in some way, the person who really thinks about the material and tries to come at it creatively rather than just saying lines is nine times out of 10 the person that you’re going to think made a great choice. It’s going to stick out from the rest of the crowd. 

“It seems simplistic and rudimentary,” he continued, “but it would shock you how many people don’t think it through. It doesn’t mean a random choice, and it doesn’t mean being outrageous. It’s about smart choices. It’s about interpreting the material and character in a certain way that nobody else thought of. Fear gets in the way of making smart choices, being present, and allowing the camera and the process to happen. It’s less about doing sometimes and more about being.”