Sam Elliott Dealt With A Number Of Health Challenges While Working On Yellowstone's 1883

Sam Elliott portrayed the grief-stricken wagon master Shea Brennan in the "Yellowstone" prequel, "1883." The show debuted in December 2021, and since then, Elliott has tried not to chew more than he can swallow, refusing roles because of the physical toll Taylor Sheridan's "1883" exacted on him during filming. "That show beat the s— out of me," he told Deadline in November 2025. Knowing the extent of the damage, we can't help but agree — and marvel that he's still in the industry at all. "I had a fall," he added. "I've got two torn tendons in my hip that aren't going to heal up." Elliott also claims that he has a hearing impairment, a result of the constant gunfire. "I can't hear anything anymore. We were using these full loads, all the way through the show." 

We knew the "Yellowstone" prequel was inspired by a true story, but Sheridan's commitment to authenticity evidently runs deeper than that. Despite all of this, Sheridan insisted that Elliott return to the fold, refusing to take the actor's tentative retirement for an answer. Fans appreciate this because Elliott has been a genuine draw to the cast of "Landman." Elliott's new character in "Landman" proves that despite "1883" nearly convincing him to walk away from the business for good, there's no riding into the sunset for this particular mustachioed son of the saddle.

Sam Elliott has spent more than six decades teaching Hollywood and the world what a movie cowboy is supposed to look like. The man has the look, certainly has the voice, and his acting history reads more like a syllabus for the genre than anything else — whether we're talking about his debut in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" or roles that would follow, like "The Sacketts" and "Tombstone." 

Billy Bob Thornton and the beloved Western veteran share a great respect for one another in real life, but "respect" might undersell it on the former's end. "I've loved this man since before I ever met him," Thornton told Deadline in the same 2025 interview, before going on to praise Sam Elliot's acting chops. "There's not a thing about it that's not real." Lately, Elliott has been increasingly dealing with the effects of time, what cowboys refer to as being "stove up" — the body finally sending its receipt for a lifetime of hard use. In fact, "stove up" is precisely the description Elliott's "Landman" co-star, Thornton, once used to describe him on set for a particular scene. TL Norris, Elliott's character in "Landman," was shown in the trailer and promo material for season 2 as frail and wheelchair-bound.

According to Elliott himself, however, that wasn't so much a performance choice as it was a confession. The sequences you see in the show are "very true to where I am at this point in my life physically. Not mentally, but physically," he told Variety in a May 2026 interview.