Abhiroop Das
Created by Taylor Sheridan, the second season of Paramount+’s ‘Landman‘ follows Tommy Norris as he wades through the shifting power structures at M-Tex. While Tommy and Cami initially find support in each other in the face of the challenges of keeping the oil giant afloat, the season’s progression parallels the tensions that gradually seep into their dynamic. Moreover, with Gallino occupying a subtle antagonist presence whose mysterious plans for Tommy do not shy away from bringing the Norris family, especially Cooper, into the mix, Tommy’s survival in the industry becomes a question in itself. The final straw comes in the penultimate episode of the season, when the landman is forced to reevaluate his identity and ethics, and needs the support of his family and friends more than ever. All these narrative tangents ultimately coalesce into the company CTT Oil Exploration and Cattle. SPOILERS AHEAD.
CTT Oil Exploration and Cattle is Tommy’s Second Shot at Leading an Oil Company
The season 2 finale of ‘Landman’ is built around what seems to be Tommy’s biggest gamble yet, and CTT Oil Exploration and Cattle is what comes out as the payoff. CTT, or Cooper-Tommy-Thomas, is his newest and most personal business venture, having parted ways with M-Tex after decades of serving as its best landman, and then, briefly, the company’s president. It is important to note that he was one of the founders of M-Tex, but stepped down from a bigger position due to a loss of wildcat appetite. With CTT, however, he has a chance to reinvent himself. This also marks a completely new direction for the show, as it is likely that Tommy’s company will now be pitted directly against Cami’s, with Gallino juggling the role of the intermediary as well as the mutual antagonist.
While the first half of the name of Tommy’s company is self-explanatory, the inclusion of cattle can be tricky at first. However, by diversifying his business, at least on paper, Tommy has access to tax cuts and numerous other flexibilities with the government, pertaining to land and finances. Incidentally, the foundations for CTT also come from Cooper’s deal with Sonrisa at the start of the season. While Tommy was the first to point out that this deal was in bad faith and could bring ruin in the long run, the ending proves the exact opposite. This time, he volunteers a 50-50 partnership with Gallino, ensuring him that his own expertise, coupled with his son’s Midas touch, will not only keep the company afloat but also help it blow past the competition.
CTT Oil Exploration and Cattle May be Fictional, But is Backed by Research
Given that CTT Oil Exploration and Cattle has only recently been introduced as of the season 2 finale, there are not many details associated with the company just yet. Still, it is likely that the oil company is a wholly fictional construct created by Taylor Sheridan and Christian Wallace specifically for the show. The word CTT itself is derived from the initials of three generations of the Norris family, which further gives the company a crafted identity. It should be noted that Tommy’s journey from being a landman to a company founder vaguely parallels the creation of real-life oil companies such as Expand Energy, which was founded by Aubrey McClendon, a former landman himself. Still, based on everything we know about Tommy’s business venture so far, no real company can be traced back to it as a source of inspiration.
Notably, while the addition of a cattle business to Tommy’s new company is the subject of both serious and comedic enquiry in the episode, it is not an unheard-of practice in real life. Several companies expand their businesses from oil to cattle, and have a similar naming style, such as Holt Oil and Cattle LLC in Bedias, Texas, and Fulfer Oil & Cattle LLC, based in Jal, New Mexico. While such companies might have served as a loose reference point for the show, the in-narrative existence is most likely an original creation of the writing team. Given the extreme attention to detail and authenticity ‘Landman’ is famous for, it makes sense that the creators went the extra mile to make Tommy’s brand new company simultaneously creative and realistic.
Read More: Is Landman a True Story? Is Tommy Norris Based on a Real Landman?
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