Billy Bob Thornton was ‘about to pass out’ after key Landman finale scene

Landman star Billy Bob Thornton seemed believably exhausted following Tommy’s vicious torture session. As it turns out, Thornton was closer to Tommy’s state than fans might expect.

Landman Season 1 ended with a bang, introducing a dangerous new player in Andy Garcia’s Gallino, who interrupts a particularly intense moment for Tommy, leaving the character more than a little worse for wear.

In a new interview, Thornton reveals that he didn’t have difficulty portraying Tommy’s endangered mental and physical state… he was much closer to the character’s exhaustion levels than viewers could know.

Billy Bob Thornton felt pretty beaten up in real life

In the season finale, Tommy is tortured by members of the cartel before Andy Garcia’s character intervenes. Dale picks Tommy up and asks him about the endangered Landman’s mental state. It wasn’t that hard for Thornton to seem freshly injured. “It was right after the Andy Garcia thing, and I’m pretty beaten up,” he says (via Deadline).

Paramount

“We shot that in the middle of the night and I was just completely knackered,” the star explains. “I mean, I was about to pass out, so there wasn’t a lot of acting required.” It was a believable moment, with the star’s exhaustion cementing a harrowing finale that sets up a major new character with massive implications for the series’ world.

“And by the time I got in that truck, I mean, I think Tommy was thinking about how he was glad to be out of there,” Thornton says, “but boy are we in for something now because the big man’s here,” referencing Gallino.

The Landman finale has made major changes in the relationship between the cartel and M-Tex Oil. Garcia’s introduction in the finale has renewed speculation over whether or not the series will be renewed for Season 2 (which has not yet been confirmed).