TVLine's Performer Of The Week: Sam Elliott

THE PERFORMER | Sam Elliott

THE SHOW | "Landman"

THE EPISODE | "Handsome Touched Me" (January 4, 2026)

THE PERFORMANCE | Every time we think we've got T.L. pinned, Sam Elliott shows us a new facet of the "Landman" patriarch, and we're captivated anew. Such was the case in Sunday's episode, during which Elliott briefly lifted some of his character's emotional armor and offered a peek at a yearning softness beneath.

If you watched, you'll recall that T.L. was in a bad place, physically and mentally, at the top of the hour: He'd landed in the pool, and his chronic injuries had rendered him incapable of getting out by himself. When Tommy found him, submerged to his shoulders in the shallow end, the older man was at a real low. Elliot made the character's frustration unmistakable, oscillating between bemoaning the state of his body and tearfully predicting his eventual decline and death.

"This skinsuit is wore out," Elliott said on the edge of a sob, more down than we'd ever seen his character. (And given that's really saying something, given what's already transpired this season.) T.L.'s spirit was as broken as his body, if not more so, and his portrayer gave us a stunning sense of that combined pain.

When we met T.L., he was a hardened and angry person just waiting for death. Elliott played him as a wounded animal, lashing out at anyone who drew near. Over the season, in infinitesimal increments, Elliott has slowly sloughed T.L.'s callused emotional exterior — a belly laugh here, a slow dance with Angela there — but he's also made it clear that doing so makes the character highly uncomfortable.

With all of that in mind, the pinnacle of Elliott's performance in the scene came after T.L. finally got vertical. Tommy and his dad had been physically close out of necessity, as Tommy lifted the older man out of the water; when Tommy pulled away after, Elliott threw an arm around co-star Billy Bob Thornton and held on as though he were still in peril. Elliott had no lines, but the look he had T.L. give his son was replete with everything that the character wanted to say — and may be able to someday — but just couldn't bring himself to utter in the moment. On the whole, magnificent work from a master of the craft.

Which performance(s) knocked your socks off this week? Tell us in the comments!