Landman Fans Need To Check Out Billy Bob Thornton's Underrated Law Drama On Prime Video

The newest entry in the Taylor Sheridan-verse is "Landman," which first premiered on Paramount+ in November 2024 and recently kicked off its second season. Billy Bob Thornton stars as Tommy Norris, holder of the titular job — someone who manages contracts, negotiates agreements, and performs other such duties on behalf of oil companies. Everyone knows it isn't Thornton's first big TV role, as he has also appeared on record-smashing "Yellowstone" prequel series "1883" as well as the first season of FX's "Fargo." But what is sometimes forgotten is that Thornton previously led another law-based streaming service original series.

Between 2016 and 2021, Thornton starred in all four seasons of "Goliath," an Amazon Prime original series where he played a lawyer who has a breakdown after a client he got acquitted goes on a killing spree. The show aired at a time when Amazon had yet to be a major player in the streaming world — back when pretty much no company but Netflix was, really — so it was largely overlooked. Still, it had the ratings to get four seasons, fairly rare for an Amazon series, and it won Thornton a Golden Globe. 

For the better part of four decades, the name David E. Kelley has been synonymous with hit TV shows that take place in and around courtrooms and law offices. Though he didn't create it, he was one of the key creative figures behind "L.A. Law," which is where he got his start. From there, he created "The Practice," "Ally McBeal," "Boston Legal," "The Law Firm," and "Harry's Law" — all for traditional network television. "Goliath," which he co-created with frequent collaborator Jonathan Shapiro, marked Kelley's first foray in the streaming world.

Kelley and Shapiro wrote all eight episodes of Season 1 of "Goliath," but reported creative differences led to them stepping back on all but their basic executive producer duties beginning in Season 2. Even so, critical praise remained fairly consistent throughout all for seasons of the show, and the series is worth a binge for anyone who missed out on it initially — which is a lot of people — particularly for fans of "Landman" and Thornton's work in general.