FORT WORTH, Texas — When “Landman” returns for Season 2 on Sunday, Nov. 16, fans will see new insights into Tommy Norris’ (Billy Bob Thornton) home life.

Tommy spent the first go-around reconnecting with his ex-wife Angela (Ali Larter) and daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph), in addition to helping out his son Cooper (Jacob Lofland) in the oil business.

Now, Sam Elliott is joining the show as Tommy’s estranged father T.L.

“I thought it was brilliant to now have the father come in, and you see where this cat came from,” Thornton said.

Ahead of Sunday’s Season 2 premiere on Paramount+, Thornton and Elliott spoke with the Star-Telegram about the show’s return.

This came after the duo attended the Fort Worth red carpet premiere at the Modern Art Museum last week. They also stuck around the following day for the Lone Star Film Festival Gala, where Elliott received the “Bill Paxton Achievement in Film Award.”

[The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.]

Q: Billy Bob, the show’s first season was such a phenomenon last year. What do you make of that big success?

Billy Bob Thornton: Well, Taylor [Sheridan] just writes great stories. He writes great dialogue. He picks the right actors for all the parts. For some reason, Taylor strikes a chord with people. Like Sam said many times, Taylor writes honestly, and he writes characters who are fully themselves. He writes characters that are drawn very clearly. Not everybody sounds the same, everybody’s an individual. They also say what they want to say and do what they want to do, and I think people are kind of ready for that kind of thing. You know what I mean?

Q: Sam, you have history with both Taylor and Billy Bob. When you watched the first season, is it one of those things where you call them up and say, “Hey, I’m available if you need me?”

Sam Elliott: I didn’t know anything about the fact that I was going to come in here. I started watching Season 1 after I’d spoken to Taylor, and he told me that he wanted me to join the show. [My wife] Katharine [Ross] and I had watched it prior to that, but then we watched it a second time, when I knew I was going to be coming in. I really didn’t know anything about it, until Taylor told me. I hadn’t worked since “1883” and I had some other things going on in my life.

I spoke to Taylor on the phone and he asked me what I was up to. I said I hadn’t been doing anything. I told him he spoiled me for writing “1883” and he said, “Well, I’m gonna put your ass back to work.” That was the first I heard of it, and I didn’t really know what he meant. It was months later that I found out what he was talking about when he talked about coming in and playing Billy’s dad.

Q: Billy Bob, the first season is about Tommy getting his family back together. The family is dysfunctional, but I do think they love each other. How does Sam coming in as your father, T.L., fit into the family narrative this season?

Thornton: Well, it was a great idea by Taylor, I think. Most of us, in the cast, you don’t really know where they all came from. You know me, and we know that Ali [Larter] is my ex-wife, she’s back into my life. You know the kids and who my lawyer is, and you know who James Jordan’s character [Dale] is, and all this stuff. But we didn’t really know much about Tommy’s history, other than with Jon Hamm and Demi [Moore].

I thought it was brilliant to now have the father come in, and you see where this cat came from. It creates a really interesting dynamic. Because, as you know, the home life is already weird [laughs]. Now Sam is added to the mix. It’s a father and son, who are kind of estranged, coming back together. So you add that to it, and it just amps Season 2 up another 100%.

Q: You guys make the show here in Fort Worth, but you also spend a lot of time in the small towns around the area. Springtown, Jacksboro, Benbrook, to name a few. Billy Bob, do you have any special memories from shooting in these towns?

Thornton: Well, first of all, Fort Worth is not only my favorite city in Texas, it’s my favorite city in the country. I mean that. I live out between Weatherford and Granbury, so I spend my off time out that way. But yeah, Jacksboro, Mineral Wells. I got to know Brian [Miller], who has the bar [Rickhouse Brewing] at the Crazy Water [Hotel] in Mineral Wells. He just texted me the other day, and he said, “Would you mind if we named a beer after you at the bar?” I said, “Yeah, I’d be honored.” He said, “What do you want us to call it?”

Billy Bob beer is too much. That’s too damn much [laughs]. I said, “Well, people call me BBT sometimes.” They just named a beer “BBT” in Mineral Wells at the Crazy Water Hotel in the bar, just so you know. If you ever want to go out and have one, tell Brian I said it’s on me.

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“Landman” Season 2 premieres Sunday on Paramount+.

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