Billy Bob Thornton Reveals Surprising Fact About Finale

The stars of Landman can finally talk about Landman in a way that won’t spoil anything, and they aren’t holding back.

Billy Bob Thornton recently opened up about two memorable scenes from the Paramount+ show’s final two episodes.

• Season 1 of Landman wrapped Sunday (Jan. 12), but all 10 episodes are available for streaming.
• Season 2 is not confirmed, even if it sounds like all the show’s main characters are hopeful.
• Jon Hamm, Demi Moore, Ali Larter and Michelle Randolph star alongside Thornton, who plays an oil company landman named Tommy Norris.

The Dutton Rules podcast team broke down the finale during an episode that will drop on Tuesday (Jan. 14). Consider this a spoiler alert if you’ve not yet seen Ep. 10 of Landman.

Related: Am I a Prude, or Did This Landman Episode Go Too Far?

What Happens to Tommy on Landman?

During the finale, Thornton’s Tommy Norris takes the news that his friend and boss Monty Miller (Hamm) might be dying in stride, if only because there’s work to be done. After being elevated to president of the company, he gets lawyer Rebecca (Kayla Wallace) to renegotiate a “farm out” deal that stands to make the oil company billions, or drive them into bankruptcy.

Then, he gets kidnapped by the drug cartel.

Tommy is strapped to a chair with a sack on his head as the cartel’s henchman Jimenez drives a nail into his thigh, cracks his wrist with a hammer and pours gasoline on him. That was actually Thornton beneath the bag, not some stuntman.

“In those kinds of scenes, you just have to put yourself in that place, like that’s actually happening,” he tells the Hollywood Reporter. “And that night, it felt that way. Plus, I was exhausted. By the time we did the outside scene, I could barely stand up. So, there’s no acting going on there. I would lean on the wall between every take.”

Tommy is saved when a new character played by Andy Garcia kills Jimenez. Once freed, he reaches an uneasy peace with Gallino that promises to continue into Season 2, if there is a Season 2.

Thornton tells THR he doesn’t know if a second season will be ordered. The show finished up in a way that could wrap the series if necessary — there were no big cliffhangers, even if there were a few unresolved plot lines (i.e. Cooper and Ariana).

The last thing viewers see is Tommy staring down a coyote that has trotted up to his property. A week prior, his neighbor killed a coyote, but this time she’s not around. Instead, Tommy — looking battered, but not beaten — tells the animal to run, because they kill coyotes around here.

“‘Am I the coyote, am I looking myself in the eye? Am I this lone wolf out here, just running across these plains trying to keep from getting killed? Or is the coyote the cartel?'” Thornton admits to asking.

“I think it’s a very symbolic moment of Tommy trying to figure out who he is here. And I think he’s kind of staring himself, and possibly death, in the eye.”

As for Monty? It’s not obvious, but he dies as well, which means Thornton’s character has gone from landman to oilman.