Jon Hamm always wanted to work with Taylor Sheridan, and even though his time on Landman was relatively short-lived, he’s grateful he got the opportunity.
The oil drama was the Paramount+ hit that no one saw coming when it debuted in late 2024. I say “no one saw it coming,” but I guess if it had Taylor Sheridan’s name attached to it, people at least had an inkling that the series was going to be successful. Just look at Sheridan’s track record… he doesn’t miss.
Besides the show pulling people in with its unique storyline, many flocked to Paramount+ because of the star-studded cast featured in the the first season. Right off the bat, the show boasted the likes of Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore, Ali Larter and Jon Hamm.
If you are a fan of the show, then you know that Hamm played Monty Miller – a Texas oil tycoon that had a lot of history with Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy Norris – during Season 1. Last year, Hamm spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about how he was always a fan of Thornton and Taylor Sheridan… so when the opportunity arose to work with both, he jumped on it:
“Those are guys whose careers I’ve been really paying attention to. They’re just working at the top of their game… I knew the show was going to be good. I didn’t know it was really going to spark in the culture the way it has, and that part of it is even better.”
Yeah… that spark continued into Season 2 (and will likely sustain through Season 3 as well).
And I’ll speak for everyone when I say that Hamm was absolutely stellar in his Landman role. The only real issue was that Monty Miller didn’t make it past Season 1. Jon Hamm’s character dies from heart failure in the first season’s finale. In the grand scheme of things, it made sense for the story to move on from Monty, and it also made sense for the actor behind the character to let the curtain close on Miller.
As he explained in that same interview:
“My other commitments don’t really allow me to be a series regular on another show. But I’m very happy that they asked me to do this.”
All Landman fans are also very happy that Jon Hamm got to be a part of the show.
In case you didn’t know, he was actually handpicked for the role. Hamm was happy to share the details of his hiring when he sat down on The Rich Eisen Show. The respected actor described it as the best audition process he’s ever been a part of:
“He has this massive ranch down in West Texas in Weatherford – just west of Fort Worth. You go down there and he goes, ‘This is what I’m thinking, this is what I want to do. What do you think?’ And you go, ‘Great, yeah, I want to do that.’ That’s it. It’s the greatest audition process ever.
You don’t have to sit in a room and wait somewhere in Studio City and look at nine guys that look like you. He just goes, ‘I want you, come down here, let’s talk about it and then we’ll do the show.’”
And it sounds like that kind of audition process worked perfectly into Hamm’s very busy schedule.
I selfishly wish the Mad Men actor wasn’t so slammed with so many other opportunities… just so we could gotten to see more out of Monty Miller.
