Is Ainsley Headed for Major Trouble in the ‘Landman’ Finale?

The season finale for Landman is just days away, and fans are feverishly speculating about what happens on Paramount’s massive new streaming hit.

What Will Happens on the Landman Season Finale?

We really don’t know yet, since the Landman season finale is not to air until Sunday (Jan. 12). But we have come up with a few predictions — and one of the biggest involves Ainsley Norris (Michelle Randolph), who is the daughter of the series protagonist, Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton).

Ainsley’s mother is Tommy’s ex-wife, Angela (Ali Larter), and her brother is Cooper Norris (Jacob Lofland), who is trying to learn the oil business from the ground up.

Ainsley and Angela’s hilarious antics have played a major role in Landman, and nothing has been more entertaining than a subplot in which they take it upon themselves to entertain the elderly patients at an assisted care facility. In Episode 9, they came up with the unusual idea to take the patients on a “field trip” to a strip club — and that decision might point toward what happens to Ainsley in the season finale.

Will the Cartel Strike Back at Tommy Norris on Landman?

Tommy Norris’ job is to secure the land rights for a major West Texas oil company and manage the people, which includes having to have contact with some of the higher-ups in a Mexican drug cartel that keeps “borrowing” the oil company’s trucks and planes to transport product.

Tommy brought in some military presence in Episode 9 to safeguard the area where the cartel has been most active, and after that caused the loss of several cartel members’ lives and a significant amount of product, one of the cartel members threatened him directly, implying that he could get to anyone around him to teach him a lesson.

Out of all of the people closest to Tommy, Ainsley is by far the most vulnerable, as she is just 17 and still very trusting and naive. Add to that a scene in which the cartel man appears to be phoning from a club — possibly the same strip club where Ainsley and Angela are planning their field trip? — and it’s not hard to predict that somehow, Ainsley will get taken by the cartel, setting up the Season 1 finale of Landman as a giant cliffhanger that will have fans on the edge of their seats.

Will Monty Die on Landman?

Another prediction is that we’re going to be seeing less of oil magnate Monty Miller (Jon Hamm), since he has suffered his fifth heart attack and was in the hospital as Episode 9 wrapped up. As he lay in his hospital bed, we also saw Monty appear to suffer another heart attack, and it’s unclear whether he was alive or dead as the episode came to an end.

Landman creator Taylor Sheridan has a long history of killing off characters after spending a lot of time getting audiences to invest in them emotionally (remember how Elsa died at the end of 1883?). So we can’t put it past him to simply kill off the character of Monty, which would likely place his wife, Cami (Demi Moore) in charge of his company and beef up Moore’s unusually small role significantly.

But even if Monty does not die, it seems likely that he will be impaired in the long term, which means Cami will still step up. That would open up all kinds of possibilities for more dramatic tension between Cami and Tommy, as well as Cami and Angela.

How Will Landman Finish Season 1?

In addition to our other predictions, it’s not hard to see that Tommy will probably receive more threats, get beaten up and/or kidnapped by the cartel in retaliation for their loss, and experience more conflict with a number of characters, including Angela, Monty, the cartel, lawyer Rebecca Savage and more. It really wouldn’t be Landman without that, would it?

We’ll also probably see some sort of growth in the relationship between Cooper and widowed young mother Ariana (Paulina Chavez), who have developed feelings for one another since the death of her husband, as well as more hilariously awkward interactions between Tommy’s live-in work colleagues and his wife and daughter.

Will Landman Have a Season 2?

That seems very likely, although it’s not been officially announced. The first season has set new ratings records, and although Paramount has yet to confirm another season, it wouldn’t make good business sense not to move forward.

According to Moore, filming for Landman Season 2 will commence in the early part of 2025. She let that news slip during an interview at the Cannes Film Festival in May of 2024, Deadline reports, but there’s been no confirmation yet.

When Is the Landman Season 1 Finale?

The finale for Landman Season 1 is set to air via Paramount+ on Sunday (Jan. 12).

Sterling Whitaker is a Senior Writer and Senior Editor for Taste of Country. He focuses on celebrity real estate, as well as coverage of Yellowstone and related shows like 1883 and 1923. He’s interviewed cast members including Cole Hauser, Kelly Reilly, Sam Elliott and Harrison Ford, and Whitaker is also known for his in-depth interviews with country legends including Don Henley, Rodney Crowell, Trace Adkins, Ronnie Milsap, Ricky Skaggs and more.