‘Landman’: Mustafa Speaks Reveals Boss’ True Feelings About Tommy & the ‘Roughneck’ Camp Taylor Sheridan Sent Cast to Before Filming

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for Landman Episode 6, “Beware the Second Beating.”]

Revenge may be a dish best-served cold, but Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton) chooses to bring the heat when it comes to his handing out of comeuppance on the latest episode of Landman. After he sees how badly Cooper (Jacob Lofland) has been beaten by Manuel and his minions, Tommy decides to step in and exact some justice with Boss’ crew himself. 

He, Boss, and a few other enforcers head out to the oil crew camp and take Manuel and Antonio to task, with Boss taking the latter into the back room for an old-school interrogation. So how does Boss really feel about having to resort to violence? And what else are we going to learn about this somewhat mysterious member of the crew? TV Insider caught up with actor Mustafa Speaks to find out that and more!

So your character is a little bit of a mystery so far. What kind of backstory have you developed for him? We only get to see that little bit of his home life. 

Mustafa Speaks: I think you’re gonna have to stick around and see a little bit more of his backstory, but I’ll give you a little piece. As you’ll learn throughout the season and even through some of Tommy’s monologues, most of these guys come from unfavorable backgrounds. They’re either felons or something else. So Boss’ background as a felon has really shaped who he is today and is shaping who he wants to be in the future. 

He refused to let his crew go on the field with the cartel threatening them. What does it mean that he feels comfortable standing up to Tommy like that?

That means that they have a history; this just informs their relationship. Tommy and Boss go back because they’ve been working together for a long time, and they’ve experienced a lot of different things. Everything that goes on in the oil field — and this is something that Taylor Sheridan did so great at writing, the relationship that was there — so it was easy for Tommy and I, or Billy Bob and I, to develop what that history was and bring it on screen. 

Boss mentions that he would have handled the Manuel thing before Tommy takes that opportunity away from him. How would he have done it differently? 

I don’t think it would have been much different. Probably a little quicker and a little more brutal because of who he is, but not much differently. He and Tommy think very similarly. 

So you think he does have a violent tendency now, and he’s willing to go to that extreme? 

He doesn’t have a violent tendency, but it’s in him. Especially not now because he’s a changed man. He’s a father, he’s a husband. He is responsible for a lot of lives on a very dangerous rig. So today he doesn’t want to be that guy anymore, but he has that proclivity to do that, which you see.

Emerson Miller/Paramount+

Do you think he feels trapped in this career, based on what you said about his background, or does he actually enjoy this type of work? 

Boss thoroughly loves what he does. Boss is not the type of guy to do something that he doesn’t enjoy. He’s not the type of guy to be trapped or backed into a corner. If he does something, he’s gonna thoroughly enjoy it, and he sees the relationships, he sees the family environment that this world provides, and it also is a great living financially. So he is thoroughly happy with where he is. 

Do you think he really didn’t see it coming, the skirmish between Manuel and Cooper? 

He didn’t expect that Manuel was gonna attack Cooper like that, correct. He thought it was all handled after he handled it in Episode 3. He thought everything was working well. We’re working together on the rig. We’re having conversations in the truck. He didn’t see that there was still any tension between them, and if so, nothing anywhere near the level that it got.

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Why do you think that Tommy trusted Boss with his son being on his crew in the first place? 

I believe Tommy understood and understands the nurturing aspect and the protective aspect and the efficiency aspect of Boss and his crew. He knows that crew. Boss runs a tight ship no matter what. So not only is Cooper going to get the expertise in the professional field, but he’s also going to get the mentoring as a man that he needs because of Boss’s integrity and ability to be there. 

You teased a little bit about the backstory ahead for the rest of the season. What else can you tease for Episode 7 and beyond?

You could really just sit on the edge of your seat because there could be so many twists and turns, but particularly for Boss. Just look and see how he’s doing his best to balance his past life and his present life and what that looks like for his future life. Who is he gonna be, and who does he have to be in order to stay where he is? So that internal struggle that he’s going to be dealing with compared in relation to Tommy and Cooper. 

If it is renewed, what are your hopes for Season 2? 

Oh, well, that’s a slippery slope for me, for an actor to project into the future like that. But I would love just to see more of what that relationship is between Tommy and Boss — what that history was, what that relationship is between Cooper and Boss, and how he now loves on and protects and continues to mentor Cooper to be the man that he needs to be, not only just a worker, but the man that he needs to be. I’d love to be a part of that. 

Just in general, can you talk a little bit about how the cast relationship is on this one? The dialogue is so speedy and so loaded. Can you talk about bringing that together?

Absolutely. It was really important for us to develop a chemistry together and have knowledge about everything. So what Taylor does and has done for this show is create a roughneck camp, a man camp where we all get together for a little less than two weeks and understand the business. We had classes, and we got to work with actual rig workers to understand. But the main thing we did aside from education was build that camaraderie. So all of the rig workers — Manuel, Antonio, and Cooper — we all worked together and built that chemistry before even having the cameras roll. 

The Taylor Sheridan universe continues to expand, and there are so many dramas, especially on this streaming service. And there’s a lot of crossover actors who do multiple series. Are there any that you’re like, “I wanna be a part of that next?”

Lioness. Yeah, I love Lioness. I loved Lioness before. I really enjoy that world. That’s just my jam, and I love the story elements that he incorporates. 

Landman, Sundays, Paramount+