10 Best Landman Characters, Ranked
Landman’s best characters do not fit neatly into good-guy and bad-guy boxes. The series follows Tommy Norris, a veteran fixer for M-Tex Oil, but its West Texas world is populated by people who each want something different from the oil boom: a fortune, a family, a second chance, a safe workplace, a business that will survive, or simply a little more time before the next disaster. Some characters appear in every episode; others leave a mark with much less screen time. The ranking here gives weight to how much a character changes the story, how sharply the actor defines them, and how interesting their choices remain when the oilfield pressure follows them home.
This countdown follows the supplied order, from Dale Bradley at number ten to Tommy Norris at number one. It spans the first two seasons and includes major spoilers, including Monty Miller’s fate and the family and business changes in the Season 2 finale. Each entry explains the character’s place in the story, what makes them memorable, where their limitations affect the ranking, and which viewers may find them most compelling. A supporting character can place above a lead if they add an unusual perspective; a central character has to earn the space they occupy by shaping the show’s biggest conflicts.
One of Landman’s pleasures is the way it changes tone from scene to scene. A legal argument about a fatal accident can turn into family comedy; a dinner at home can reveal who has power at M-Tex; a father and son can start a fight and end up discussing grief. The characters are at their best when those shifts reveal something rather than simply interrupt the plot. The strongest figures on this list have a clear point of view, a relationship that tests it, and a role in the story that grows beyond a single joke or job title.
Because the series spreads its attention across executives, lawyers, field workers and the Norris family, a character’s ranking depends on more than screen time. I have weighed how much they influence the story, how distinctive their choices feel, and whether the performance gives them a life beyond the job or family label attached to them. That lets a supporting character such as Dale earn a place without pretending he has the same amount of development as Tommy. It also leaves room for a character like Monty, whose brief run still changes the company after he is gone.
Paramount’s official cast guide confirms the principal roles, and its UK page lists the show for current availability. The released seasons offer twenty episodes so far, with Season 3 renewed. We rank the characters as they appear across those two seasons, so later chapters may change the order. Spoilers start below. Let’s get into it. 👇
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10. Dale Bradley — James Jordan
Dale is an M-Tex landman and engineer who shares a company house with Tommy, Nathan and Ainsley. His work keeps him close to the crews and equipment that make the business function, so he is often one of the people Tommy can call when an operational problem becomes urgent. Dale has the experience to understand how a decision in the office affects the patch, and he brings a practical, low-drama presence to a household that rarely stays quiet. By the end of Season 2, Tommy’s new venture gives Dale a larger role in exploration.
Dale ranks tenth because the series gives him a useful place in the working world but relatively little private story of his own. James Jordan makes the character feel lived-in without needing to dominate the scene: Dale can be a capable colleague, a dry housemate and an oilfield hand who understands what a plan will mean once it reaches the crew. That grounding matters in a show where executive arguments can sometimes float above the labour they depend on. Dale gives those arguments a point of contact with the people and machinery on the ground.
Viewers who like ensemble work and the practical texture of M-Tex will appreciate him. His easy competence offers a welcome counterweight to the more combustible personalities around Tommy. He does not rank higher because the series has not yet given him a defining conflict or a major emotional arc. The finale’s new-company arrangement hints that he could become more important, especially as exploration lead, but for now his appeal is steady support rather than transformation. That is a meaningful contribution, just a smaller one than the characters above him.
Where to watch: Check current availability on Paramount+ UK.
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9. T.L. Norris — Sam Elliott
T.L. Norris is Tommy’s father, a retired oilfield worker who enters the story in Season 2 after a long estrangement from his son. The death of Tommy’s mother brings the two men back into one another’s lives, but proximity does not instantly repair their history. T.L. is older, physically frail and stubbornly independent; Tommy, in turn, is wary of the man who shaped his childhood and left him with questions neither has been keen to answer. Their relationship develops through ordinary moments—rides, meals, medical appointments and arguments—rather than a single reconciliation speech.
T.L. ranks ninth because the series is still discovering how much space to give him, but Sam Elliott brings a strong presence to every scene. His gravelly delivery can make a complaint sound like a family inheritance, and his bluntness reveals the habits Tommy may be repeating. The most interesting version of T.L. is not simply the wise elder who dispenses advice. He is funny, difficult, wounded by old grief and capable of recognising a mistake only after it has shaped his son. Those contradictions give his relationship with Tommy a lived-in quality.
Viewers who enjoy father-son drama and characters who are funny because they refuse to soften will find him rewarding. He ranks below the series’ more central figures because his arc begins later and does not drive as many of the show’s business conflicts. Still, he changes the meaning of Tommy’s toughness by letting us see where some of it came from. T.L. also broadens Landman’s picture of the oilfield across generations, showing an older worker confronting the body and family life that remain after years of hard labour.
Where to watch: Check current availability on Paramount+ UK.
8. Monty Miller — Jon Hamm
Monty Miller is the powerful head of M-Tex Oil and Tommy’s longtime friend, business partner and boss. He has enough money and authority to move quickly, but he also depends on Tommy’s understanding of the field and the people who keep the company working. Their relationship is familiar and blunt: Tommy can challenge him more directly than he could challenge a stranger, while Monty can offer support and still expect results. Monty’s health becomes a growing concern during Season 1, and his death in the season finale leaves Cami in charge of the company and Tommy with a new title and burden.
Monty places eighth because his importance is greater than his screen time. Jon Hamm plays him as a man who can move between boardroom confidence and old friendship, which gives the character warmth without erasing the power imbalance. Monty is not only a wealthy oil executive; he is one of the few people who knows how Tommy works and why M-Tex relies on him. His illness and death force the company’s hidden weaknesses into view, turning his absence into an engine for Season 2. The story’s structure makes him matter even when he is no longer on screen.
Viewers who enjoy stories about the costs of leadership will find Monty compelling, especially alongside the more abrasive Tommy. His position at number eight reflects the limited time the series gives him to develop beyond the company’s powerful owner and Tommy’s friend. The loss of Monty changes the direction of the show, but his own inner life remains partly out of reach. He ranks above Dale and T.L. because he shapes the series’ business landscape from the beginning, while staying below characters whose choices continue to drive the story across both seasons.
Where to watch: Check current availability on Paramount+ UK.
7. Ariana Medina — Paulina Chávez
Ariana Medina is a young widow raising her son Miguel after her husband Elvio dies in the oilfield explosion. She is dealing with grief, money and the expectations of her late husband’s family when she meets Cooper Norris, who is starting to fall for her. Their relationship develops alongside disputes over compensation and the pressure to accept a settlement from M-Tex. Ariana is not merely Cooper’s love interest: she has to protect her child and make decisions about the future while people around her treat her loss as a business matter or an opening for their own opinions.
Ariana ranks seventh because Paulina Chávez gives the character a solid centre as the story moves through romance, grief and corporate pressure. Ariana can be warm with Cooper and firm with the lawyers, and she holds onto her independence even when she needs help. Her refusal to accept a settlement that she sees as inadequate helps the show put a human face on the cost of a workplace tragedy. At times, the series frames her primarily through Cooper’s feelings, which narrows her point of view. Her best scenes push back against that limitation and let her speak for herself.
Viewers who enjoy slow-burn romance and characters rebuilding after loss may connect strongly with Ariana. She ranks below the top six because her story often advances through what Cooper or M-Tex does around her, rather than through a fully developed professional or personal goal of her own. Still, her choices carry consequences across both seasons, and she becomes part of the Norris family’s future without losing the memory of the family she has already lost. Her presence keeps the oil company’s decisions tied to a real household.
Where to watch: Check current availability on Paramount+ UK.
6. Rebecca Falcone — Kayla Wallace
Rebecca Falcone arrives from New York as a lawyer representing M-Tex after a fatal accident raises questions about the company’s conduct. She is sharp, ambitious and willing to challenge Tommy in the rooms where he usually controls the conversation. Their clashes are partly professional—Rebecca has to protect the company and evaluate liability, while Tommy wants to manage problems without letting lawyers slow the work—but the two gradually develop a wary respect. In Season 2, Rebecca takes on more responsibility, from the company’s risky offshore plans to helping Cooper and Ariana navigate a legal crisis.
Rebecca ranks sixth because she gives the business plot a capable counterweight to Tommy’s field experience. Kayla Wallace plays her as disciplined and direct, with enough vulnerability to make the character more than a walking deposition. Her scenes can expose how different the company looks from a lawyer’s chair compared with a truck or rig floor. Rebecca’s arc also grows as she becomes more involved in M-Tex’s future and in the people caught up in its deals. The show occasionally nudges her into a romance subplot that feels less necessary than her legal and professional conflicts, which keeps her from ranking higher.
Viewers who like competent workplace characters and adversarial chemistry will enjoy Rebecca. She is one of the clearest examples of a person who can argue with Tommy without being reduced to his foil. She ranks below the top five because the series sometimes gives her shifting motives and romance beats instead of focusing on what makes her distinctive: her appetite for evidence, leverage and legal strategy. Even so, she becomes an important part of the company’s next phase, and her Season 2 choices show that professional ambition can coexist with real loyalty.
Where to watch: Check current availability on Paramount+ UK.
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5. Cami Miller — Demi Moore
Cami Miller is Monty’s wife and, after his death, the owner of M-Tex Oil. She moves from the edge of the first season’s business story into its centre when she inherits the company and has to decide what to do with Monty’s legacy. Tommy knows how the operation works, but he also has a complicated friendship with Cami and expects a degree of trust that she is not always willing to give. She weighs the company’s debts and future prospects, then makes increasingly consequential choices about offshore drilling, Tommy’s role and the people who can be trusted to run M-Tex.
Cami ranks fifth because Demi Moore’s performance gives the character an appealing mix of uncertainty and command. Cami is not an oilfield veteran, and the series lets that matter; she is entering a world where other people know the jargon and may assume she is easy to underestimate. At the same time, she owns the company and has the right to make decisions that affect everyone. The friction between her authority and Tommy’s expectation of influence becomes one of Season 2’s central conflicts. Her risk-taking is not always persuasive, but it makes her difficult to dismiss.
Viewers who enjoy corporate power struggles and characters finding their footing after loss will appreciate Cami’s rise. She ranks below the top four because her decisions can feel reactive, and the story sometimes uses her mainly to block Tommy’s preferred plan. Yet her position forces the show to ask who is entitled to lead M-Tex: the person who understands the operation, or the person who owns it and must answer for its future. That tension gives Cami more weight than her first-season screen time suggests.
Where to watch: Check current availability on Paramount+ UK.
4. Cooper Norris — Jacob Lofland
Cooper Norris is Tommy and Angela’s son, a former petroleum engineering student who leaves college to work in the oil patch. He begins as a roughneck and soon discovers that the skills he learned in class can help him read the ground in ways other people miss. After an early disaster costs crew members their lives, Cooper has to decide whether he can stay in the work. He later strikes out on his own, leases land and finds oil, but the success brings debt, pressure from powerful interests and responsibility for Ariana and her son Miguel.
Cooper ranks fourth because his story gives the series its clearest growth arc. Jacob Lofland plays him as idealistic and impulsive without making him seem foolish; Cooper can make a smart technical call and then underestimate the contract attached to it. That mixture creates real tension. He wants to do business differently from his father, but the patch keeps teaching him that good instincts need knowledge of the rules. His romance with Ariana also gives him a reason to think beyond the next well, and the Season 2 finale turns him into a partner in Tommy’s new venture.
Viewers who like ambitious younger characters will find Cooper easy to root for, though the series does not excuse his mistakes. He ranks below the top three because he is still learning how to translate promise into steady leadership. His rise is compelling precisely because he has not finished becoming the person his father believes he can be. Among the Norris family, Cooper carries the strongest bridge between the human risks of field work and the changing future of M-Tex.
Where to watch: Check current availability on Paramount+ UK.
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3. Ainsley Norris — Michelle Randolph
Ainsley Norris is Tommy and Angela’s teenage daughter, a confident high-school student whose arrival in the oil house changes the daily life of her father, brother and their housemates. She is outspoken, socially fluent and often certain that her own reading of a situation is the correct one. That certainty creates much of the show’s domestic comedy, especially in scenes where her parents’ attempt to act like adults cannot keep pace with her direct questions. As she leaves home for college and cheerleading, Ainsley has to negotiate new friendships and the separation from Angela that both mother and daughter find harder than they expected.
Ainsley ranks third because Michelle Randolph gives her a lively comic presence and a surprisingly tender relationship with Angela. The character can be self-absorbed and sheltered, but the series also lets us see why: she has grown up with a mother who places her at the centre of the world and a father who is often away managing danger. Their bond is funny when Angela overreacts and Ainsley calls her bluff, but it becomes more affecting when Ainsley starts building a life outside the family home. Her college storyline gives the character room to face discomfort rather than simply joke about it.
Viewers who enjoy sharp family banter and the show’s domestic side may rank her even higher. Ainsley’s oilfield job is nonexistent, but she still changes the lives of the people around her and provides a different kind of pressure on Tommy. She ranks below Angela and Tommy because the story has not yet given her a major independent ambition beyond school and cheerleading. Her value lies in the way she reveals the family’s emotional habits, especially Angela’s fierce love and Tommy’s difficulty being present.
Where to watch: Check current availability on Paramount+ UK.
2. Angela Norris — Ali Larter
Angela Norris is Tommy’s ex-wife and the mother of Cooper and Ainsley. She arrives in Midland with energy, confidence and a belief that family life should be something people actively enjoy, even if her plans tend to appear with little warning. Her return draws Tommy back into an intimate relationship that neither of them handles in a quiet or uncomplicated way. Angela’s bond with Ainsley is especially close; she can be protective to a fault, but the daughter she loves is also growing up and beginning to make decisions without her. As the family moves through the second season, Angela has to let Ainsley leave home while supporting Tommy through a career upheaval.
Angela ranks second because Ali Larter makes her one of Landman’s most vivid presences. She can turn an ordinary dinner into a full production, or cut through Tommy’s gruffness with a remark that lands before he can prepare a defence. The comedy is broad, but the emotional root is clear: Angela wants the people she loves close, and she uses energy, food, sex and sheer insistence to pull them together. The Season 2 move toward college gives that exuberance a vulnerable edge, revealing how much of her identity is wrapped around being a mother.
Viewers who enjoy forceful characters and family comedy will find Angela essential to the show’s texture. She ranks just below Tommy because she transforms the household and enriches his story, but she has less influence over the main oil-company conflicts. The series can sometimes treat her as a comic interruption, yet Larter keeps a strong through-line of love and fear beneath the jokes. Angela is at her best when the show lets both sides exist at once: she can be hilarious, overbearing and genuinely frightened of losing the life she has built.
Where to watch: Check current availability on Paramount+ UK.
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1. Tommy Norris — Billy Bob Thornton
Tommy Norris is the veteran landman at M-Tex Oil, responsible for securing leases and keeping the company’s day-to-day operations from falling apart. The series opens with him negotiating with a cartel in the desert, then sends him straight into the aftermath of a deadly crash involving a stolen plane. At work he must satisfy his boss Monty, later Cami, manage legal exposure and keep crews moving through an industry where one accident can cost lives. At home he is a father to Cooper and Ainsley, Angela’s former husband and the son of T.L.—roles that test his patience in ways no contract can settle.
Tommy takes first place because he is the character who makes Landman’s different worlds feel like one story. Billy Bob Thornton plays him with an unhurried drawl and a quick temper, but the performance has more than swagger: Tommy understands the work, reads people well and knows when a problem is larger than the story someone is telling him. He is competent enough to be valuable and flawed enough to create his own trouble. The move from M-Tex executive to a new family oil venture in the Season 2 finale shows how the series can change his position without changing the central question: what kind of life is he building with the choices he makes?
Tommy ranks above Angela and Ainsley because his work decisions move the main plot, and above Cooper because he has already spent years learning what the patch demands. Yet the series’ best scenes often come when his authority fails him: with his father, his children, or the people who do not owe him loyalty. Viewers who want the show’s business drama, dark humour and family conflict in one character should start with Tommy. He is not always right, but he is the person whose decisions keep making the next episode necessary.
Where to watch: Check current availability on Paramount+ UK.
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Conclusion: the people behind the oil boom
The best Landman characters make the oil business feel personal. Monty’s illness and death alter the shape of M-Tex; Cami’s ownership turns business decisions into a test of trust; Rebecca’s legal work asks who will answer for the company’s risks. Around them, Cooper and Ariana build a future while carrying the cost of a workplace tragedy, and Dale represents the people whose work keeps the operation running. T.L. lets us see the history Tommy carries, while Angela and Ainsley remind him that family life does not wait for the next crisis to be solved.
Tommy takes the top spot because he ties these stories together, but the show is at its richest when the characters challenge his certainty. Angela’s humour hides real fear, Cooper’s ambition outruns his experience, and Cami has to make choices in a company she did not build. Those differences keep Landman from being only a workplace drama or only a family comedy. If you have a different favourite—or think one of the supporting characters deserves a higher place—share your ranking with us.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the best character in Landman?
This ranking puts Tommy Norris, played by Billy Bob Thornton, in first place. He connects the oilfield work, the M-Tex business conflicts and the Norris family story. Viewers may choose another favourite depending on whether they value comedy, emotional growth, business strategy or a supporting character’s distinctive energy.
Who plays Tommy Norris in Landman?
Billy Bob Thornton plays Tommy Norris, an experienced landman who works for M-Tex Oil. He negotiates mineral leases, manages oilfield problems and becomes involved in the company’s leadership. His relationship with his children, ex-wife Angela and father T.L. forms a major part of the series.
Who is T.L. Norris in Landman?
T.L. Norris, played by Sam Elliott, is Tommy’s father. He appears in Season 2 after a long estrangement from Tommy. The pair’s tense conversations and shared history add a generational angle to the show’s oilfield story.
What happens to Monty Miller in Landman?
Monty Miller, played by Jon Hamm, is M-Tex’s president and Tommy’s longtime friend and boss. He dies at the end of Season 1 after heart problems, leaving his wife Cami to take over the company and Tommy with greater responsibility.
Is Cami Miller the owner of M-Tex Oil?
Yes. After her husband Monty dies, Cami inherits control of M-Tex. Season 2 follows her attempts to manage the company’s finances and make decisions about its future, often in conflict with Tommy’s preferred approach.
Who is Cooper Norris in Landman?
Cooper, played by Jacob Lofland, is Tommy and Angela’s son. A former petroleum engineering student, he leaves college for oilfield work, then begins leasing land and drilling on his own. His relationship with Ariana and his ambitions in the patch become important storylines.
Who is Ariana Medina in Landman?
Ariana, played by Paulina Chávez, is a widow and mother to Miguel. She becomes close to Cooper while navigating grief and financial pressure after her husband Elvio’s death in an oilfield explosion.
Who is Rebecca Falcone in Landman?
Rebecca, played by Kayla Wallace, is a lawyer hired to represent M-Tex. She frequently clashes with Tommy over legal risk and company decisions, and becomes more involved in the business as the story progresses.
Who plays Ainsley and Angela Norris?
Michelle Randolph plays Ainsley Norris, Tommy and Angela’s daughter. Ali Larter plays Angela, Tommy’s ex-wife and the mother of Ainsley and Cooper. Their close relationship and Angela’s larger-than-life personality provide much of the show’s family comedy.
Where can I watch Landman in the UK?
The official Paramount+ UK page lists Landman. Check the current show listing for availability and subscription details, which can change.
More Places to Find Great Movies and TV Shows
For official character and cast details, see Paramount+’s Landman cast guide and Paramount Global Content. Paramount Press Express confirms Jon Hamm’s role as Monty Miller in its casting announcement. For the latest character developments, read TVLine’s Season 2 finale interview with Ali Larter.
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