As Taylor Sheridan continues to produce TV shows at a breakneck pace, he has appointed Billy Bob Thornton as his latest leading man for new series. Husbandman.

Set in the world of West Texas oil rigs, the Paramount+ series stars Thornton as Tommy Norris, a crisis manager at an oil company. Thornton previously had a small role in Sheridan’s series 1883which helped spawn the idea of ​​his own series.

“I went to the (1883) premiere in Las Vegas, and then we had dinner and Taylor was sitting next to me and he said, ‘Listen, I have something I’m going to write about you. It’s called Husbandmanit’s set in the oil sector, and I’m going to write it in your voice, because I think I’ve known you long enough now to write in your voice,'” Thornton recalled. The Hollywood Reporter when speaking Husbandman‘s LA premiere on Tuesday. “And when I read the first script, I thought, ‘Wow, you did that, didn’t you?’ Because I read it and thought, ‘Yes, that’s nice of me if I were a country man.’ So it was pretty amazing.”

The star said he and Sheridan had “a very easy collaboration” because they were raised in a similar way and understood each other well. He also weighed in on the creator’s string of TV successes, including Yellowstone – which began its possibly final season run on Sunday with the highest ratings yet – as well as the currently airing episode Lionesstogether with 1883, 1923, Tulsa King And Mayor of Kingstown. (Sheridan, meanwhile, made acting appearances in the premieres of both Yellowstone And Lioness.)

“People are hungry for human stories,” says Thornton. “Nowadays in theaters it’s mostly event films and superhero stuff and animations and stuff; there are a few human stories to get through. But these things are like a ten-hour movie investigating people. And I think people are hungry for that and I think that’s why they feel connected to Taylor’s stuff.

He jokingly added that after Sheridan’s reputation of turning everything he touches to gold, “Please don’t let me be the one to turn it to tin!”

Husbandman It also stars Jon Hamm, Demi Moore and Ali Larter, the latter of whom called her character “the opportunity of a lifetime” and credited Sheridan for “really reimagining the American West on television.” He has a way of writing incredibly dynamic women and he also makes space in his stories to show their flaws and their vulnerabilities.

Larter, who plays the ex-wife of Thornton’s character Angela, called the actor “an absolute GOAT” and noted: “When you read something like a television show you have to think and hope that it will go on for seasons and seasons, so what is that story that is truly authentic and true and has room to breathe and grow? So for us it wasn’t just fighting and not just sparring with each other; How do we find the love and humor in this?”

Husbandman premieres the first two episodes on Paramount+ on Sunday.