What To Know
- Landman star Kayla Wallace breaks down Season 2 Episode 4.
- In it, Rebecca’s biggest fear is revealed, and she engages in an unexpected romance.
- The actress also reacts to the show’s recent renewal for Season 3.
[Warning: The following post contains spoilers for Landman Episode 4, “Dancing Rainbows.”]
The newest episode of Landman finally revealed the tragic truth of Tommy’s (Billy Bob Thornton) mother, who, it turned out, was a neglectful and abusive alcoholic, while his father, T.L. (Sam Elliott), was completely absent. As the whole Norris family headed to her funeral, there were bright spots to be found: Angela (Ali Larter) convinced Tommy to finally bring T.L. into their home so he doesn’t rot away alone in the nursing home, and Cooper (Jacob Lofland) and Ariana (Paulina Chavez) finally reconnected. Meanwhile, Cami (Demi Moore) tried to make a deal with Gallino (Andy Garcia), but he wanted to work with “hawk” Tommy instead; and Boss’ (Mustafa Speaks) crewmember narrowly survived the H2S gas exposure but may have lost his sight in the process.
One of the highlights of the episode, though, was seeing Rebecca (Kayla Wallace) finally express a vulnerability … and gain a new love interest in the process!
She had to take a work trip on a private jet and revealed she was deathly afraid of flying. The turbulent takeoff was a disaster for her, but her fellow passenger, Charlie (Guy Burnet), got her drunk enough that the even more shaky landing was a thrill for her. After that, Rebecca soon found herself waking up in his bed and, while she was clearly mortified by her situation, she was also impressed by his swanky bathroom supplies.
So what does this mean for Rebecca going forward? And what was it like to finally delve into a weak spot for the otherwise tough-as-nails M-Tex attorney? TV Insider caught up with Kayla Wallace to discuss that and more!
Rebecca is such a fun character. We never know what she’s gonna say or how she’s gonna do it, but anytime she’s put in a situation with her back against the wall, we know she’s coming out of it. So how do you prepare for those moments?
Kayla Wallace: Yeah, I mean, she’s such a fighter. So receiving these scenes and these scripts where I know she has to come out on top at the end, you really have to find the peaks and valleys and not start out at a 10 with her because she needs to come out and she has to have a little bit of struggle to make it earned at the end, and she has to pick her battles, too. She’s not gonna fight somebody on calling her… “tiger” in Episode 2. She’s not. She’s gonna pick her battles on what she really attacks them on, but she’ll gather every single piece of information as Intel to possibly use in the future.
She and Tommy, in the first season, started out on pretty terrible terms. There was a lot of a combative nature to that relationship. What do you think their relationship is at this point in the story?
Wallace: At this point, we see that she’s in-house [counsel] for the company now, so she’s fighting for him instead of fighting against… The distrust that she had in him, I think that’s started to melt away a little bit. She’s part of M-Tex now, and she’s gonna fight for him because he is M-Tex. On top of that, they’re getting to know each other a little bit more, and the company is in a really difficult position right now. So it’s that idea that when there’s a bigger problem, it brings people together, even if they’re conflicted. I think that’s happening.
Emerson Miller / Paramount+
About this week’s episode, we finally get to see a weakness in her — at least, a part of her that’s not bulletproof — and that’s her fear of flying. How fun was that for you to play into that?
Wallace: So much fun. I was so excited to start to see some of her cracks show up in the storyline. Just getting to explore a different side of her was so much fun in my prep, and then ridiculously fun to play out when we’re on this rig. They built the inside of a private plane in our studio, and then they were wiggling it around, so it felt like you’re on a roller coaster. It was a really awesome day on set. But, yeah, getting to explore those different sides of her is so much fun as an actor. It makes her more human, and it answers questions that I had about her. And we’re just gonna keep going.
We also got to see her having a little bit of fun for the first time. The first part of that is the flight landing. Can you just talk about playing drunk Rebecca in that situation? It was probably a trip.
Wallace: Oh my gosh, that day was — so we filmed everything in order. We shot those scenes in order. So by like hour five of me playing [Rebecca as] nervous and pent up and things are flying and it’s stressing her out, it was such a release just to be able to belly laugh over the ridiculousness of what’s happening. Guy is feeding watermelon juice to me. It’s spilling all over my costume. [I had] such sticky hands — it was such a ridiculous situation, and so far from anything I’ve played on set on this show that it was a blast.
I’m glad you brought up Guy because, obviously, things take a turn with him. It seems like his character wants this hookup to be more than a one-night stand. But why do you think she’s so resistant to that at first?
Wallace: Well, she’s a person who likes to be in control of everything, and then she loses control and ends up in this strange man’s bed — not a situation that she feels her best. She doesn’t know who this guy is. She remembers — it’s all that thing when you wake up after being drunk, and you’re piecing the night together. She realizes what happened and remembers what happened, but she’s got to get to work. She’s got a meeting to get to, and it’s a situation where she’s completely out of control. She let her guard down and ended up in a random bed. And you can see a little bit in that last scene, a bit of banter between them, and they’re just such opposite human beings. But it was a lot of fun, and I’m happy that I got to explore her in that situation. She’s usually suited up. She’s got her stilettos on, her hair is perfect, and all of a sudden it’s messy. Her makeup hasn’t been washed off from last night, and she’s got to get to work.
This might be a weird question, but did you have a body double? Because, obviously, there’s some skin shown.
Wallace: Yeah, no. No body double… Our crew is really wonderful and protective, and they really honor our comfortability. So no. It was a very fun scene to play. A very funny scene, too.
Yeah, definitely. So something that seems to change her mind is that she sees he has nice things in his bathroom. What do you think it is about that particular thing that just kind of gives her a little bit in her mind, it seems like, permission to maybe consider this a possibility?
Wallace: Well, I think, so far in Texas, she’s been using Softsoap, so she’s been bringing her own products from Houston, and all of a sudden, she’s in this bathroom where it’s everything that she knows. So it’s a little jarring for her. It’s like, “Who is this guy? He’s such a mystery.”
What do you think fans should expect from that storyline going forward throughout the rest of the season?
Wallace: You might get some answers on the mystery and some more conflicts within the personal side of Rebecca’s life.
We just learned that the show’s been renewed for Season 3. Can you just talk about what do you hope for the future of the show as it continues to grow? Because, I mean, this is just turning into a big juggernaut.
Wallace: Totally. I mean, we were so lucky to, first of all, start off with the cast that we did, and then Taylor Sheridan brought on just amazing newcomers last season. We’re very lucky to have the group of talent that we do. So I mean, any more of it I’m so down for. I’m so excited. It’s really a dream of a job, and it’s such an amazing, hard-working group of people, so I feel very lucky that I get to be part of it.
Landman, Sundays, Paramount+