A Win for Sustainability: In Reimagined ‘Landman’ Season 3, Wind Power Magnates Clash Violently Over Strong Gust

After a major ratings hit from a campaign that called attention to the show’s glorification of the environmentally harmful oil industry, Taylor Sheridan has shifted gears for the third season of Landman. Billy Bob Thornton returns as Tommy Norris, the former M-Tex Oil president who has now repented for his environmentally harmful ways and turned over a new leaf. A promotional trailer for the new season gives viewers a sneak peek into the new energy boom fueling violence and cutthroat operations in West Texas: renewable wind power.

In the opening shot of the trailer, Norris and two other men stand incredibly still with their eyes closed in the middle of a field, until Norris mutters “I feel a breeze coming.” At once, all three men sprint for the source of the breeze, which is entirely indeterminate given how wind works. As the three men take off in opposite directions, Norris pulls a revolver from his belt and shoots the other two. “Wind is the air that we breathe,” he remarks before letting out a long exhale that he mistakes for wind, sending him running.

Despite the new premise, Landman will retain many of its core elements. Viewers who enjoyed the large-scale oil rig accidents from earlier seasons will be excited to see powerful gusts knock workers to the ground and wind turbine blades send workers rotating into the sky. M-Tex Oil’s relationship with the cartel will remain prominent, as the cartel smuggles valuable bags of wind up from Mexico. Norris also becomes entangled in a high-stakes legal battle with a group of retired birdwatchers who are concerned about several seagulls beheaded by a turbine in a brutal scene from the first episode.

It’s clear that Taylor Sheridan and the entire production team are a bit out of their element in this season. Early reviews have criticized the season as “low effort” and “not even trying to depict how wind energy actually works.” In particular, viewers have pointed out the inaccuracy of S3E4, which centers on a “wind drought” that leaves all of Texas without power until everyone bands together to blow really hard on a turbine. There’s also the “air shortage” plotline, which involves Norris embroiled in scandal when an entire town suffocates to death after his turbines “stole all of the air.” We at The Hollywood Reporter agree, and hope this signals to production executives not to entertain the whims of tree-hugging liberals at the expense of awesome television.

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