'I'm Paying For It Now': Sam Elliott Relates To His Landman Character's Struggles With Aging

Many actors leave or are forced out of the entertainment industry as they get older, but Sam Elliott has had a career resurgence in the 2020s after over 60 years of acting. Following his performance in "A Star is Born," which earned him his first Oscar nomination, Elliott starred in the three-time Emmy-winning Western comedy, "The Ranch," and the "Yellowstone" prequel miniseries "1883."

In 2025, Elliott joined the cast of "Landman," another popular western series created by Taylor Sheridan. In the second season of the show, Sam Elliott and Billie Bob Thornton are close co-stars with Elliott playing Thornton's estranged father.

Thomas "T.L". Norris, Elliott's character, is at a point in his life where he struggles to complete some physical activities, which Elliott can relate to as a man in his 80s. "I've had a hard life. I've been an athlete all my life, and I've been a laborer all my life, and I'm paying for it now," Elliott told Variety in May 2026.

Even at 81, Sam Elliott has not said anything about retiring. In fact, he's complained more than once about the opposite, Hollywood's refusal to hire older actors. This impacted the career of the "Landman" star's real-life partner, Katharine Ross, the Oscar-nominated actress whom Elliott married in 1984. "Women are still given short shrift. I've seen it firsthand. Katharine would love to be working more," Elliott told Time in 2017. Ross has not starred in a film since 2019. 

Elliott has built a reputation as a go-to Western cowboy actor after starring in films like "Tombstone" and "Gettysburg." "Had that not happened, I probably wouldn't have had the career that I've had [...] maybe not one at all," Elliott mentioned on an NPR interview in 2017.

Although Elliott wants to continue his career, he's very particular about the roles he will take on. In January 2026, he told The National that he had been struggling to find optimistic shows and movies to act in until "Landman" came along. "In a lot of the work I get offered, I wouldn't have the opportunity to represent anything I could be proud of," Elliott said.