“Landman”: Hollywood Meets the Oil Industry—and the Growth Dilemma

Paramount+’s new TV series, Landman, offers a window into the rugged world of the oil industry in West Texas. Billy Bob Thornton plays Tommy Norris, a “fixer” for an oil company, who roams the high-stakes territory of “The Patch.” Norris navigates shady deals and dangerous gambles, most of them highly cinematic (if occasionally thinly written). Packed with tension and drama, this depiction of a modern-day Wild West also provides an opportunity to contemplate the oil industry’s staggering scale and its role in perpetuating the myth of infinite economic growth.

Landman is the creation of Taylor Sheridan, one of the biggest writers in the business, who also developed Yellowstone and 1883. The fictional drama captures the grit and intensity of the oil industry. However, some elements are pure Hollywood. Workers use tools that throw off sparks near flammable materials and cartels land planes on rural roads to unload drugs (though a co-creator says that’s based on true events).  Yet, beneath the dramatization lies an undeniable truth: The oil and gas industry is vast, powerful, and deeply entrenched in the global economy.

A Colossal Industry in Small Communities

“The more they grow, the more we grow,” says Thornton’s character at one point

—“they” being the few sectors of the global economy bigger than oil. This one line sums up the relationship between oil and, well, pretty much everything else.  Some facts about the oil and gas industry:

• With over $4.3 trillion in annual revenue, it ranks as the 7th largest industry globally.
• It generates about $3 billion in daily profit, far surpassing many other industries.
• Even larger industries, such as transportation and chemicals, depend heavily on oil and gas.
• Oil and gas are the core of modern industrial agriculture.
• They are in everything from clothes to cosmetics, not just in the tanks of our cars.

For those living in oil-producing regions, like my home state of New Mexico, Landman hits close to home. In 2023, two counties in New Mexico accounted for 17% of onshore oil production in the contiguous United States—a staggering figure for a state with a small population and small economy. I am both proud of and troubled by this. It feels good to say that my state is small but mighty; it is important on the world stage for producing such a useful commodity. Climate change can seem like a luxury concern when education, health, infrastructure, and other industries can be decimated by changes in the price of oil.

It’s not as if New Mexico’s environment isn’t subject to climate risks. Droughts have wiped out civilization here before. The locals who don’t prioritize climate mitigation aren’t ignorant; they are just dealing with more immediate problems. Lea County in the southeastern part of the state was the first U.S. county to produce more than 1 million barrels per day. Oil and gas tax revenue and royalties fund anywhere between a quarter and 40% of New Mexico’s state budget. Yet despite full state government coffers in 2023 and 2024, the wealth seems to flow elsewhere. It enriches financial hubs and leaves oil-producing communities behind.

Clean or Just an Alternative? 

A scene in Landman offers a powerful critique of the renewable energy industry. It demonstrates the potential for stimulating popular discussion ab

out the sticky materiality of production, even in the age of ethereal AI and cloud computing. Norris’s daughter, observing windmills dotting the oilfield landscape, asks, “You use clean energy to power the oil wells?” He responds, “It’s alternative energy, and there’s nothing clean about it.”</p>

This exchange encapsulates a troubling reality: renewable energy is increasingly used to power fossil fuel extraction. Wind turbines, solar panels, and other “green” technologies rely on intensive resource extraction and manufacturing processes. If these systems ultimately serve to prolong the fossil fuel economy, can we truly call them clean?

Bridging Culture and Degrowth

<em>Landman’s focus, the oil industry, is a microcosm of the broader growth economy. Fossil fuels drive the expansion of countless industries, which then demand more energy, creating a feedback loop of resource extraction and consumption. The characters in Landman view growth as inevitable—even desirable—but this perspective ignores the limits of our planet.

Perpetual growth is not only physically impossible but also morally questionable. The environmental and social costs of fossil fuel extraction and consumption, from pollution to resource inequity, are mounting. Yet mainstream economic thought continues to promote growth as the ultimate goal, failing to address its inherent contradictions.

Landman highlights these contradictions within the oil economy. By engaging with stories like this, we can bring the principles of steady-state economics into public discourse. Academic theories like the trophic theory of money gain resonance when contextualized within cultural narratives, offering a way to connect economic concepts with everyday experiences.

What Changes are Possible?

“We don’t do this ‘cause we like it. We do this ‘cause we run outta options.”

With this line, Landman—perhaps inadvertently—hits at the crux of the problem. The oil industry’s scale is just as staggering as the show depicts. This should prompt critical reflection, not blind acceptance. If we need planet-heating fossil fuels to support our growing population and consumption, shouldn’t we consider changing the baseline? The time has come to challenge the growth paradigm that fuels industries like oil and gas. We must advocate for a steady state economy—one that prioritizes ecological balance, social equity, and long-term well-being over endless expansion.</p>

The problem isn’t just the oil industry; it’s a systemic failure to prioritize ethics in economic decision-making. Leading universities churn out graduates skilled in maximizing profits but unprepared to grapple with the moral implications of their work. Without a grounding in ethics, decision-makers perpetuate systems that prioritize short-term gains over long-term sustainability.

By addressing these issues head-on—by breaking up monopolies and “Big Econ”—we can move toward a future where economies serve people and the planet. Landman may dramatize the oilfields, but its underlying questions about growth and sustainability are plenty real.