December 30, 2025 — Actress Ali Larter, best known for her versatile work in film and television, is bringing her talents to the new Paramount+ series Landman, a modern Western rooted in rugged landscapes, complex characters, and the moral ambiguity that has defined contemporary frontier storytelling.
In an exclusive discussion with TV Insider, Larter shared why the project drew her in, what makes Landman unique in the Taylor Sheridan canon, and how the show combines raw action with emotional depth.
Created by acclaimed writer-producer Taylor Sheridan — the creative force behind hits such as Yellowstone, Mayor of Kingstown, and 1883 — Landman continues Sheridan’s exploration of American mythology through character-driven drama and expansive settings.
Sheridan’s work has helped reshape the modern Western genre on television, merging gripping plots with deep psychological texture, and Landman looks set to expand that legacy.
What Landman Is About: A Bitter Frontier and Bad Choices
Landman follows the story of Jesse Brown (played by Ali Larter), a former oil-rig engineer who finds herself entangled in the dangerous and often brutal world of land acquisition in the American Southwest.
Following the death of her husband and the loss of her livelihood, Brown takes a job working for a powerful land acquisition firm. But she soon discovers that the work isn’t just about property deals — it’s about power, greed, and survival in a landscape where law and morality blur together.
Unlike traditional Westerns that focus on cavalry and outlaws, Landman is about modern economic frontiers — land rights, corporate interests, cultural tensions, and the human cost of expansion.
In this sense, the show is both a spiritual and narrative successor to Yellowstone, but with its own distinct focus: the tension between private ambition and community resilience.
Sheridan describes Landman as a “land-and-people story,” in which the soil itself becomes a character — demanding loyalty, exacting price, and shaping every moral choice. “At the end of the day,” Sheridan told the press, “this is about people trying to make a life in a place that doesn’t make it easy.”
Ali Larter’s Role: Finding Complexity in a Hard-Edged World
For Ali Larter, the opportunity to play Jesse Brown represented a rich opportunity to explore a protagonist whose toughness is constantly tested by shifting loyalties and moral ambiguity. Brown is not a traditional hero — she is a complex, layered character driven by necessity, haunted by loss, and unsure of where her conscience lies.
Larter explains that what attracted her to Landman was not just the genre or the setting, but the human core of Brown’s story. “Jesse is someone who’s been knocked down by life and is still trying to find her way,” Larter said. “She has to reconcile the person she once wanted to be with the person she’s becoming.”
Through Brown, Landman tackles themes including grief, powerlessness, identity, and resilience. Larter says that much of her preparation involved understanding how trauma shapes decisions, especially in a world where trust is fragile and every choice carries consequences.
“You feel that Brown has been living on the edge,” Larter said, “but she’s also trying to protect something — her self-worth, her dignity, and ultimately, her future.”
Taylor Sheridan’s Creative Vision: A New Western Landscape
Taylor Sheridan has become synonymous with a renewed wave of Western-inspired television, blending classical themes of frontier justice with distinctly modern issues. Landman joins a growing Sheridanverse alongside Yellowstone, 1883, Tulsa King, and Mayor of Kingstown, all of which explore the intersection of character, place, and power.
Sheridan’s ability to craft landscapes — both physical and emotional — is a defining feature of his work. The vast (and often unforgiving) terrain becomes a crucible in which characters are tested. In Landman, this terrain is not wide-open prairie, but sun-baked desert, shale hills, and property lines etched with sweat and hard choices.
In Sheridan’s view, the modern Western is not about cowboys and outlaws in the traditional sense, but about those who stake a claim in a world where stability is elusive and boundaries are always shifting.
This conceptual shift — from horses and saloons to land deals and economic forces — gives Landman its thriller-like tension while still feeling grounded in the Western tradition.
Supporting Cast and Characters
While Ali Larter anchors the story, Landman features a strong ensemble cast that brings emotional depth and narrative complexity to the series:
- Supporting roles include veteran character actors who portray land agents, ranch owners, corporate heavyweights, and local law enforcement — all of whom represent different slices of the frontier power dynamic.
- Recurring characters expand the world around Brown — from Native American leaders contesting land rights to former friends who became adversaries, each character adds layers to the moral questions at the series’ core.
The interplay among characters underscores Sheridan’s belief that no one in this world is purely good or purely bad — a hallmark of the nuanced storytelling that has made his creations resonate with audiences.
Production and Visual Style
Landman was filmed on location in parts of the American Southwest, where the land itself seems to occupy as much narrative space as the actors. The show’s cinematography emphasizes dramatic vistas — burnt orange cliffs, endless plains, and twilight skies that mirror the characters’ emotional storms.
Director of photography aimed for a visual impression that is at once cinematic and intimate: sweeping aerial shots intercut with close-ups that capture fleeting emotional moments. This visual strategy helps Landman balance epic scope with personal stakes, making every story beat feel significant and grounded.
The production design also leans into authenticity: weathered barns, dusty highways, and utilitarian interiors convey a lived-in world. Even seemingly small details — worn leather boots, chipped coffee mugs, and framed family photos — help build a universe that feels real and resonant.
Themes and Social Commentary
Landman isn’t just a Western in the classic sense; it’s a meditation on the price of ambition, the cost of survival, and the complexity of justice on the edge of civilization. Sheridan’s work has long engaged with institutional power and the individuals who navigate — and often suffer under — that power.
In Landman, several broad themes emerge:
- Economic exploitation vs. community resilience. The series asks whether people can thrive in a system where land is currency and profit often outweighs human cost.
- Grief and identity. Jesse Brown’s story is one of personal loss and reinvention, showing how trauma can shape purpose and complicate moral choices.
- Family and legacy. Characters grapple with inherited expectations, familial bonds, and the tension between tradition and change.
These themes resonate not just as storylines but as reflections of broader societal conversations about economic inequality, regional identity, and what it means to carve out a place in a rapidly changing world.
Where Landman Fits in Today’s TV Landscape
In recent years, Western-inspired dramas with modern twists — such as Yellowstone and 1883 — have gained enormous audiences by mixing genre tradition with contemporary relevance. Landman expands on this trend while forging its own path, focusing less on ranch empires and more on the economic forces that shape Western communities.
For viewers, the appeal of Landman may lie in its emotional stakes as much as its action. Sheridan’s storytelling has a knack for combining raw spectacle — like rugged chases and tense confrontations — with character arcs that reward long-term engagement.
Early reviews also highlight that Landman feels more grounded and personal than some of Sheridan’s larger-scale epics, offering viewers a chance to see how individual choices reverberate across families and communities.
Audience Expectations and Preview Reactions
Advance previews of Landman have generated buzz among both critics and fans of Sheridan’s previous work. Many note that the show seems to balance genre elements with modern storytelling in ways that feel fresh but familiar to fans of character-focused dramas.
Social media responses to early footage and set photos emphasize:
- Ali Larter’s performance as a highlight — many viewers are intrigued by her portrayal of a nuanced, morally conflicted lead.
- The show’s visual style — reviewers praise the cinematography and world-building that makes the frontier landscape a character in its own right.
- Sheridan’s writing — audiences familiar with Yellowstone and Mayor of Kingstown are eager to see how his voice shapes this new narrative.
These early reactions suggest that Landman could garner attention not just as a genre piece, but as a character-driven drama with broad appeal.
Insights and Future Prospects
What makes Landman particularly interesting, beyond its plot and cast, is how it reflects current trends in television storytelling:
- Character complexity. Modern audiences increasingly gravitate toward protagonists who are flawed and multidimensional — characters who demand empathy without offering easy answers.
- Social resonance. The show appears poised to speak to themes of economic disparity, personal loss, and cultural identity — issues that many viewers find relevant in 2025 and beyond.
- Genre reinvention. By blending Western motifs with contemporary narratives about land, power, and survival, Landman may appeal to both traditional genre fans and newcomers.
In a crowded media environment, Landman’s potential lies in its dual commitments: visceral storytelling and emotional truth. Sheridan’s world — and Larter’s central performance — invite viewers not just to witness conflict, but to consider what it means to make choices in a world that rarely offers clean paths.
Conclusion
Landman represents an ambitious blend of Western tradition and modern drama. With Ali Larter anchoring the series as a compelling, conflicted protagonist and Taylor Sheridan shaping the narrative with his signature depth and breath, the show aims to carve out its own place in television’s evolving landscape.
Its focus on land, power, loss, and identity — framed through personal stories and epic settings — suggests that Landman is not just another genre entry, but a mature, thoughtful exploration of what it means to belong, to fight, and to endure when the ground beneath you is always shifting.
As audiences prepare to stream the series, early buzz and critical curiosity point to Landman as a standout addition to 2026’s TV slate — a show that combines cinematic depth with character intimacy in ways that feel both timeless and urgently resonant.
Pet trainer with a passion for helping animals and owners build strong, loving bonds through positive reinforcement and expert care.
