Larter tells PEOPLE how T.L. (Elliott) introduced a new way for the audience to see — and maybe appreciate – Angela and Ainsley (Randolph) in ‘Landman’
NEED TO KNOW
- Ali Larter and Michelle Randolph play mother-daughter duo Angela and Ainsley on Landman and have been subject to a wealth of criticism since the show’s premiere
- Larter, 49, tells PEOPLE how Sam Elliott’s entrance in season 2 allowed the show’s creator, Taylor Sheridan, to give the audience a new way to think about Angela and Ainsley
- “I love that T.L. loves us, instead of, like Tommy, always provoking her and getting frustrated with her,” she says of Elliott’s character
Angela and Ainsley are very misunderstood characters in the Landman world.
The mother-daughter duo, played by Ali Larter and Michelle Randolph, respectively, have faced criticism over their out-there, often sexual storylines since the show premiered in 2024.
In season 2, with the introduction of T.L. (Sam Elliott), Tommy’s (Billy Bob Thornton) dad, who moves in with the family, Larter says that fans were given a new perspective on Angela and Ainsley.
“I love the scene in episode 5 where you see him in the house, and he doesn’t know what these girls are up to when Angela and Ainsley come home,” Larter, 49, tells PEOPLE.
From her point of view, creator Taylor Sheridan uses that interaction to introduce a new way to see Larter and Randolph’s characters. “He’s just sitting at the counter and he watches them — it’s like Taylor’s showing the audience how to think about Angela and Ainsley through T.L.’s eyes.”
“The way that he sees us is so amazing,” Larter continues of Elliott, 81. “Because a lot of times, people even within the show are coming after her, commenting about me, or whatever. It’s just always interesting when another character in the show sees us in a different way.”
“I love that T.L. loves us,” she says. “Instead of, like Tommy, always provoking her and getting frustrated with her.”
Larter previously told PEOPLE that she considers Sheridan, 55, a “provocateur” as she addressed the criticisms she and Randolph, 28, have dealt with.
“He loves to write characters that make people respond, that initiate a reaction, a feeling,” she said. “And I think that what’s incredible about our show, and a lot of the shows that Taylor makes, is that they’re all wildly original and authentic to themselves.”
Sheridan’s tendency to push the boundaries is what makes the show “really exciting” for the cast.
Randolph has similarly defended the show and her character amid controversy. “When I first read [the scripts], I had to digest. And then, it just became like, that’s who she was. She never surprised me in a way, once I found her,” she told PEOPLE during season 1 of how she came to understand Ainsley.
Watching the audience react to the high-schooler’s antics — in one particularly viral scene, Ainsley told her dad, Tommy, a NSFW detail about her sex life — was “interesting,” she said. “It was like, ‘Oh, okay, we’re all going to process this again together.’ “
“I think being comfortable in your sexuality is something to be celebrated. If that’s what you feel as a human [and] aligns with who you are, then be authentically yourself. And that’s what she’s doing,” Randolph continued.
“I’m so proud of the show that we made, and so I just didn’t let myself have a perspective on what the audience thought.”
Landman season 2 is now streaming on Paramount+
