Ali Larter Says She “Deeply Respects” Taylor Sheridan For Leaving Hollywood To Forge His Own Path: “Incredibly Rare & Hard To Do In Our Industry”

Of course she wanted to be part of another Taylor Sheridan hit show.

The second season of Landman premiered back in mid-November, and the show boasting a cast of Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore, Andy Garcia, Sam Elliott, Ali Larter, Jacob Lofland, and Michelle Randolph – among others – once again had massive ratings.

Season 2’s premiere holds the title of the biggest season or series premiere ever for Paramount+. More than 9 million people viewed the first episode of the second season in the first few days it was available on the streamer. That number was more than triple what the series premiere of Landman did in 2024.

So it’s another Taylor Sheridan hit, and of course, the entire show revolves around Billy Bob Thornton’s character Tommy Norris, who is an oilman doing his best to juggle the complications of the Texas oil industry with his rather intricate and sometimes explosive family life. If it feels as though Thornton is the perfect fit for the role, that’s because he is. Taylor Sheridan handpicked him to play the Landman lead, as the show creator does with many of his shows.

And of course, one of the more dynamic parts of the show focuses on his relationship with his onscreen wife, Angela Norris, who is played by Ali Larter, and she has said in the past how badly she wanted the role and how hard she had to fight for it, and there were several reasons as to why she wanted to be part of the Taylor Sheridan universe so badly.

During an interview with Who What Wear, Larter explained that she “deeply respects” Sheridan for leaving Hollywood and forging his own path, which is very difficult to do and obviously, he’s been incredibly successful at it:

“I think that he’s just a brilliant storyteller.

There’s something that I deeply respect in him for leaving Hollywood and forging his own path and for someone who rolled the dice and was just writing and found a way and a trust and belief in himself to live a life as an artist and tell the stories the way he wanted to tell them.

That’s incredibly rare and is very hard to do in our industry when there’s always so many different people putting in their thoughts and ideas that end up diluting a vision.”

Larter herself moved out of California in 2022 to live in Idaho with her family, so she’s no stranger to the challenges of being in Hollywood, even though she’s been a very successful actress for many years.

Through his multiple hit shows, like Yellowstone, Sheridan has put a ton of positive focus on the rural lifestyle so many in the United States live every day, and he’s helped make country music a lot more popular too, and Larter adds that playing such a dynamic character like Angela, with such a dynamic cast, has really challenged her in the best ways as an actress:

“With this show and with this character, it was just very exciting for me to play a woman my age who is so bold and so provocative and so broken. He really writes scenes where there’s moments of high comedy and borderline satire, and then we have these really deep moments that are very simple.

As an actor, it just stretched me in so many ways, and it’s pushed me to the next place. I didn’t know that would happen, but I did know that working with talent of that level, you just rise. My scene partner… Working next to Billy most days and everyone—Michelle [Randolph] and Jacob [Lofland], Demi [Moore], Andy [Garcia], Sam Elliott… Working with him this season was a dream…

He’s got the crew that’s just the best of the best, and everyone there is just game on and working at the top of their game. It’s just been incredible to be in that environment as an actress.”

In terms of the wild success of the show, she attributes that to the authenticity and relatability of the characters:

“I think that it starts with incredibly dynamic characters. I think that everyone’s messy. When I say broken and flawed, he always digs that in, and he also provides sheer entertainment. It’s not just one prestige, heavy drama that’s going to maybe win a thousand awards but then be seen by a small group of people.

He has a way of connecting with audiences. I think the greatest surprise to all of us was that our little show in a small part of West Texas became this international sensation. I don’t know how else to say it. We’re humbled by it. We’re blown away by it, and I think that it comes down to the way that he writes the families and that everyone can relate to that.

I also feel that, specifically to our show, he’s never had so many tones ever. The fact that we’re going from a very serious, intense romantic scene to a scene of satire to an action sequence, he really keeps the audience engaged, and that’s his storytelling.”

I think she’s spot on, and while Angela has become a bit of a polarizing character, she certainly keeps it exciting and you really never know what to expect from her from scene to scene.

And she certainly keeps Tommy Norris in check, too… here’s some of her best moments from Season one:

The post Ali Larter Says She “Deeply Respects” Taylor Sheridan For Leaving Hollywood To Forge His Own Path: “Incredibly Rare & Hard To Do In Our Industry” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.