‘Landman’ Star Ali Larter on Why She Loves Playing ‘Emotionally Complex’ Angela and How Taylor Sheridan Is a ‘Provocateur’ For Creating the Role

According To The variety SPOILER ALERT: This post contains light spoilers from Season 2, Episode 8 of “Landman,” “Handsome Touched Me,” which premiered Sunday, Jan. 4, on Paramount+. In a series full of scene stealers, Ali Larter more than holds her own on “Landman.” Playing Angela, the larger-than-life ex-wife and current fiancée of titular landman Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton), she is often on her own sidequests alongside her mini-me daughter, Ainsley (Michelle Randolph). This season, those missions have included spending a ton of money, shopping for mansions, planning themed dinners and, in this latest episode, winning a fortune at the casino while teaching old folks from the retirement home how to win at roulette. In an interview with Variety at the beginning of the season, Larter said she finds joy in playing Angela and details how show co-creator and writer Taylor Sheridan pens such a unique character — even if not all of the series’ fans embrace her. “I think it’s incredible that Taylor’s writing for a woman in her late ’40s who’s still very alive in her body, who still wants to be intimate with her husband,” Larter said. “Is that why it’s so confusing to some people? I think that Taylor is a provocateur, and we’d like to put a mirror up to certain things, so I think that’s part of it.” Larter also said that she meets many fans who, beyond enjoying Angela, find her to be an aspirational character. “I love playing a woman that’s this alive,” she said. “[Angela and Tommy] kind of feel like they’re in high school again. They’re rekindling this love story, and for me to play a woman who just doesn’t care about all the judgment of others is so freeing. I have so many women come up to me who always want to have that … they want to find that little bit of Angela in them, because we’re always asked to live within the societal norms. There’s something so delicious about playing a character who does it by her rules, who just lives her life as she wants to live it, who loves hard and free. I think it’s exciting at this point in my career and at my age to get to play someone who’s this emotionally complex and bold.” Larter also tracks the frustration of some fans with the early episodes of the first season, when they didn’t know that Tommy’s family would be as integral to the show as his business acumen. “I’ll explain it to you,” she said. “People only saw the first two episodes, and Taylor loves to throw you a hook. Nobody knew when they saw the first two episodes that our show was really about the family. So you see this beautiful arc in the first season. He knows what he’s doing and has a vision and an idea for seasons of this show. I think that when you only see one or two episodes, it’s really hard to understand the kind of work that we put in for the entire season.”