Even Taylor Sheridan’s Worst Haters Cannot Question His One Respectable Quality After ‘Landman’ Co-creator’s Revelation

Taylor Sheridan has been the target of criticism since the first season of Landman began airing. None of that criticism has been unreasonable considering the perspective of the fans who have watched Sheridan’s brilliant Western show, Yellowstone. The expectations were obviously high and he seems to have missed the mark by a few inches.

That said, Sheridan is a renowned scribe and filmmaker with years of hands-on experience in the industry. So, it is a given that any project he brings to the audience will not be completely unacceptable or too far away from reality.

If Yellowstone tried to portray the life of a family on a ranch, Landman shows how corruption is also present in the oil industry of Texas. Overall, Sheridan tries to keep it as authentic as he can and also makes sure to give credit where it’s due.

Taylor Sheridan made sure that Landman is as authentic as it possibly could be

Taylor Sheridan started his career as an actor in Hollywood. When that did not work out, instead of giving up, he began to channel his energy and enthusiasm for creating new stories behind the cameras by writing new movies and shows. His work as a screenwriter on award-winning movies like Sicario and Hell or High Water proved his ability.

In 2018, Sheridan’s first TV show Yellowstone premiered and turned out to be a huge hit. Since then, he has worked on several other TV shows, but the next one that earned that kind of attention was Landman, and it would be safe to say that it has been a wild ride as Sheridan has been criticized for quite a few things in this show. Regardless, his dedication to authenticity has to be praised.

In a recent interview with Deadline, co-creator Christian Wallace, on whose podcast this series is based, was asked how accurate are the things shown in the series. He said:

A lot of it is very accurate. Some of it we had to kind of squeeze together to make it make sense for our characters. And it’s funny, it depends on who you ask. My uncle who works in the oil field for the last 30 years will nitpick every little thing. But I think for the most part, it’s safe to say you get a decent sense of what it’s like working in oil and gas out there.

One major criticism of the show is that it doesn’t accurately reflect what actually happens in the oil fields. However, it’s important to note that this is a work of fiction, so some deviations from real-world events are to be expected.

Taylor Sheridan gave Christian Wallace the role he deserved in the production of Landman

It is no secret that Sheridan does not mind going to any lengths to make sure that his projects are authentic. A big instance of this is the fact that he had the actors of Yellowstone attend Cowboy Camp so that they could learn how to do certain things as characters who live on a ranch (via Yellowstone on YouTube).

It is also this need to remain authentic that seems to have driven him to have Boomtown podcast host Christian Wallace in the writers’ room and also get him involved in the overall development. On being asked, what his role was on the show, Wallace said:

Taylor and I were the writer’s room. We spent about two years talking about the show, the characters, the storyline before any scripts were written. Taylor asked me to write a spec script based on the stuff we’d been talking about. I went and did that and he told me, ‘okay, you’re going to be the co-creator of the show.’ 

Sheridan could have easily just taken everything from the podcast, consulted Wallace about it, and made the show on his own. Instead, he decided to have Wallace actively involved which shows that he actually respects people for their contributions.

Landman is available for streaming on Paramount+.