âLandmanâ Star Kayla Wallace on Finding Rebeccaâs Weakness & That New Romance
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The following post contains spoilers for Landman Episode 4, âDancing Rainbows.â]
The newest episode of Landman finally revealed the tragic truth of Tommyâs (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 doesnât 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 âhawkâ Tommy instead; and Bossâ (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!
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 sheâs gonna say or how sheâs gonna do it, but anytime sheâs put in a situation with her back against the wall, we know sheâs coming out of it. So how do you prepare for those moments?
Kayla Wallace: Yeah, I mean, sheâs 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. Sheâs not gonna fight somebody on calling her⊠âtigerâ in Episode 2. Sheâs not. Sheâs gonna pick her battles on what she really attacks them on, but sheâll 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 sheâs in-house [counsel] for the company now, so sheâs fighting for him instead of fighting against⊠The distrust that she had in him, I think thatâs started to melt away a little bit. Sheâs part of M-Tex now, and sheâs gonna fight for him because he is M-Tex. On top of that, theyâre getting to know each other a little bit more, and the company is in a really difficult position right now. So itâs that idea that when thereâs a bigger problem, it brings people together, even if theyâre conflicted. I think thatâs happening.
Emerson Miller / Paramount+
About this weekâs episode, we finally get to see a weakness in her â at least, a part of her thatâs not bulletproof â and thatâs her fear of flying. How fun was that for you to play into that?
Wallace:Â 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 weâre 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 youâre 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 weâre 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. Â
Wallace:Â Oh my gosh, that day was â 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 itâs stressing her out, it was such a release just to be able to belly laugh over the ridiculousness of whatâs happening. Guy is feeding watermelon juice to me. Itâs spilling all over my costume. [I had] such sticky hands â it was such a ridiculous situation, and so far from anything Iâve played on set on this show that it was a blast.
Iâm 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 sheâs so resistant to that at first?
Wallace: Well, sheâs a person who likes to be in control of everything, and then she loses control and ends up in this strange manâs bed â not a situation that she feels her best. She doesnât know who this guy is. She remembers â itâs all that thing when you wake up after being drunk, and youâre piecing the night together. She realizes what happened and remembers what happened, but sheâs got to get to work. Sheâs got a meeting to get to, and itâs a situation where sheâs 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 theyâre just such opposite human beings. But it was a lot of fun, and Iâm happy that I got to explore her in that situation. Sheâs usually suited up. Sheâs got her stilettos on, her hair is perfect, and all of a sudden itâs messy. Her makeup hasnât been washed off from last night, and sheâs got to get to work.
This might be a weird question, but did you have a body double? Because, obviously, thereâs 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, sheâs been using Softsoap, so sheâs been bringing her own products from Houston, and all of a sudden, sheâs in this bathroom where itâs everything that she knows. So itâs a little jarring for her. Itâs like, âWho is this guy? Heâs such a mystery.â
What do you think fans should expect from that storyline going forward throughout the rest of the season?
Wallace:Â You might get some answers on the mystery and some more conflicts within the personal side of Rebeccaâs life.
We just learned that the showâs 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. Weâre very lucky to have the group of talent that we do. So I mean, any more of it Iâm so down for. Iâm so excited. Itâs really a dream of a job, and itâs such an amazing, hard-working group of people, so I feel very lucky that I get to be part of it.


