The Perfect Neo-Western to Watch Before Landman S2

Expanding his resume of Western TV shows, Sam Elliott is officially starring in Landman season 2, marking his second collaboration with Taylor Sheridan. After a successful inaugural season on Paramount+ last year, Landman season 2 releases on November 16, 2025, with Elliott starring in a still-undisclosed role alongside returning Landman cast members Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore, and Ali Larter.

While Sam Elliott’s Western movies like Tombstone are among his most illustrious career credits, the actor has also explored the genre on the small screen prior to Landman. That includes Taylor Sheridan’s 2021 Yellowstone prequel series 1883, the Netflix sitcom The Ranch, Lancer, and Gunsmoke. However, his neo-Western TV project most similar to Landman arrived back in 2015, and is essential viewing before his upcoming role.

Justified Season 6 Is The Perfect Sam Elliott Western Crime Series To Watch Before Landman Season 2

Many of Sam Elliott’s most famous Westerns are focused on the Old West, whereas his TV shows Justified and Landman are neo-Western crime stories. They’re set in the modern day, with a Western setting, themes, tones, and trademarks. As such, before Elliott’s role in Landman season 2 is presented to audiences, his stint in Justified season 6 is a great warm-up viewing.

A decade before Landman, Sam Elliott starred in Justified season 6 as Avery Markham, who served as the final season’s main antagonist against Timothy Olyphant’s Raylan Givens. Elliott’s Avery Markham was a marijuana drug kingpin who planned to target landowners in Givens’ Harlan County, Kentucky. Markham had also been the former leader of the Dixie Mafia, making him one of Given’s most formidable foes in the entire series.

Taylor Sheridan’s Landman season 1 featured some of the same conflicts and foundations as Justified season 6. With a focus on landowners, connections to cartels, and a story that stands out in one of the best Western shows of all time, Sam Elliott’s Justified role is the perfect taste of what’s to come for the actor in Landman. However, Sam Elliott will hopefully still have his mustache in Landman season 2.

Justified Is One Of Sam Elliott’s Best-Ever Villain Roles

With Sam Elliott being such a cherished figure in film and TV, it isn’t often that he takes on a villain role. More frequently, he’s a voice of reason or badass protagonist in regards to his Western characters. Justified stands even further apart for that reason, having given Elliott the opportunity to shine in a more menacing, compelling antagonistic role.

Justified’s Avery Markham still remains Sam Elliott’s most intense and notorious villain role to date, with the engrossing nature of his performance even earning him a Critics’ Choice award for Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series. So far, it’s still unclear whether Sam Elliott will be a villain, hero, or something in the middle in Landman season 2, though there will hopefully be some confirmation ahead of its November premiere.