‘Landman’ and ‘Yellowstone’ Aren’t in the Same Universe, But the Real Connection Is Even More Interesting
Taylor Sheridan has quietly built one of the most dominant empires in modern television, with a slate of gritty, character-driven dramas that have turned Paramount+ into a destination for fans of raw American storytelling. His body of work spans films like ‘Sicario’ and ‘Hell or High Water’ alongside television projects including ‘Mayor of Kingstown’, ‘Tulsa King’, and ‘Lioness’, but none have reached the cultural heights of the neo-Western saga that started it all. Now, with two of his biggest shows firing on all cylinders, the question fans can’t stop asking has become nearly inescapable.
‘Landman’ is the newer Texas-based drama co-created by Sheridan alongside Christian Wallace, set within the world of oil rigs in West Texas, where roughnecks and wildcat billionaires are fuelling a boom so big it’s reshaping the climate, the economy, and geopolitics. It stars Billy Bob Thornton as Tommy Norris, a crisis executive at an oil company, while Ali Larter, Jacob Lofland, and Michelle Randolph play members of the Norris family. The series arrived on Paramount+ to an enthusiastic reception, and almost immediately, the comparisons to ‘Yellowstone’ started rolling in.
The short answer, frustrating as it may be for fans dreaming of a Tommy Norris and John Dutton crossover, is no. Even though both shows came from the creative mind of Taylor Sheridan, they are not set in the same universe, and that has been confirmed. The bread and butter of the Sheridanverse is undoubtedly ‘Yellowstone’, with only ‘1883’ and ‘1923’ currently confirmed as part of its extended universe as Dutton family prequel spinoffs. Every other Sheridan project, including ‘Mayor of Kingstown’, ‘Tulsa King’, and ‘Landman’, exists in its own standalone space.
What makes this more than just a simple no, however, is how much the two shows mirror each other in spirit. Both series contain similar scenes that fans have flagged, including a nearly identical courtroom threat about hanging a lawyer’s degree over a toilet, appearing in both ‘Landman’ and ‘Yellowstone’ in different episodes. Billy Bob Thornton addressed the thematic overlap directly, telling ScreenRant that the two shows share a soul even without sharing a world, explaining that both are ultimately about the people and the inside workings of what is going on with them, and that Taylor has a real handle on human behavior.
There are also casting crossovers worth noting, including Michelle Randolph, who plays Elizabeth Dutton in ‘1923’ and Ainsley Norris in ‘Landman’, as well as Sam Elliott, a veteran of ‘1883’, who joined the cast of ‘Landman’ for its second season. The ‘Landman’ Season 2 finale pushed Tommy Norris even further down a ‘Yellowstone’-adjacent path, with him launching his own oil exploration company alongside his son and father, formalizing a family legacy in a way that echoes the generational ambitions of the Duttons.
The door for a crossover is not completely shut either. Since the upcoming ‘Yellowstone’ spinoff ‘6666’ is expected to take place in Texas, that geography alone has fans excited about what Sheridan might be quietly planning. With Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler also heading to Texas in the upcoming spinoff ‘The Dutton Ranch’, the overlap is becoming harder to ignore. Sheridan’s ‘Yellowstone’ franchise currently has four new spinoffs airing in 2026, including ‘The Dutton Ranch’, ‘Y: Marshals’, ‘1944’, and ‘The Madison’.
It is not a shared universe, but it might be something richer than that, a shared philosophy about land, power, family, and what America asks of the people trying to hold onto all three at once. Whether Sheridan eventually pulls these worlds together or keeps them beautifully separate, fans of both shows deserve to weigh in, so what do you think, should Tommy Norris and the Duttons ever share the same screen, or is the separation part of what makes each show so compelling on its own?
