Michelle Randolph. Ryan Inexperienced/Paramount+
Michelle Randolph is aware of how polarizing her Landman character, Ainsley, is.
Creator Taylor Sheridan‘s Paramount+ sequence premiered in November 2024 and launched Billy Bob Thornton as a company fixer for an oil titan (Jon Hamm). The West Texas-set drama had life-and-death stakes but it surely was Thornton’s scenes with 27-year-old Randolph, who performs his 17-year-old daughter, that went viral. The most-talked about moments included her speaking to her father about intercourse whereas strolling round his home — which he shares with two males of comparable age — in bikinis and her underwear.
“A number of the issues that Ainsley has to say are stunning and there have been moments the place I believed, ‘I don’t understand how I’m going to drag this off,’” Randolph admitted to The Hollywood Reporter one month later. “I wish to discover essentially the most human model of this character that I can, and I work actually onerous at doing that.”
Randolph recalled putting in the work to convey Ainsley to life.
“I labored with a dialect coach, a motion coach and an appearing coach and I simply studied like loopy. I had a few 12 months virtually to prep for her,” she defined about her method to Ainsley. “It was extremely useful to form of sit with that character. I labored actually onerous to search out methods to justify her conduct and make a full human out of one thing that doesn’t at all times appear to be what a 17-year-old would say, however folks like that exist.”
Whereas reflecting on her onscreen collaborations with Sheridan, Randolph stated Landman “required 10 times more prep” than 1923.
“I wished to be very cautious about the way in which that Ainsley comes throughout. There’s solely a lot that I can management, however you can also management lots as an actor,” she continued. “And simply being round Ali [Larter] and Billy and Jacob [Lofland] and being in Texas actually helped create this full person who Ainsley is. She has this free essence about her and she or he’s wild, and I liked each second of it.”
Hold scrolling for Randolph’s candid quotes about enjoying a controversial character on Landman:
Breaking Her Silence
“It’s onerous to not concentrate on it,” Randolph advised The Hollywood Reporter concerning the unfavorable response to Ainsley’s seasons. “However I disassociate and the factor is, I received the script. I learn it. I had my moments, my ideas.”
Randolph reminded viewers that she had nothing to do with what was written on the web page.
“My job ended once I completed my final day on set, after which I launched it. The present went out,” she continued. “I can’t inform folks the way to interpret my character, however a minimum of it’s sparking dialog. And I’m actually happy with the present that we made.”
Give Ainsley a Probability
Randolph urged viewers to give Ainsley the space to evolve, telling The Hollywood Reporter, “She’s 17 and she or he’s rising. I feel she will get it greater than the viewers will get to see. There are moments the place you notice that she may be, not manipulative, however she is aware of the way to play her dad, and in addition her mother. She is aware of the way to get what she needs. She loves her household.”
She concluded: “She is determining who she is and assembly completely different friends and going to high school. She’s not simply the bratty younger daughter; she is an individual. We get to see 5 % of who Ainsley is. Hopefully because the present goes on, we get to see all of who she is.”
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Making It Work
The actress admitted it was a challenge properly representing Ainsley within the first few episodes.
“If you begin a present, it’s so onerous since you don’t know your full character. Figuring out who she is in episode 10 was actually onerous when episode 1 was simply popping out. I used to be like, that’s not all she has to do!” Randolph advised Deadline in January 2025. “You don’t wish to meet the absolutely advanced model of a personality. Should you don’t get to see the expansion, then it’s not enjoyable to look at. So I’m grateful that we received to fulfill Ainsley at Level A, and hopefully by the point the present’s finished, nevertheless many seasons, we’ll meet her at Z.”
Growing the Character
“Once I first learn [the scripts], I needed to digest. After which, it simply turned like, that’s who she was. She by no means shocked me in a means, as soon as I discovered her,” Randolph recalled throughout a Folks interview that very same month. “It was attention-grabbing watching the viewers response to it as a result of I had sat with it for therefore lengthy. It was like, ‘Oh, OK, we’re all going to course of this once more collectively.’”
Taking Satisfaction within the Remaining Model
Randolph didn’t see the reason for the negativity pointed at her character.
“I feel being snug in your sexuality is one thing to be celebrated. If that’s what you are feeling as a human [and] aligns with who you’re, then be authentically your self. And that’s what she’s doing,” Randolph advised Folks. “Although she is 17, so I feel as she will get older, she’ll put up extra boundaries and perceive the way in which the world works extra. However so far as she’s involved, proper now, that is the way in which she’s been raised and she or he’s going to determine if she thinks that’s proper or flawed or she needs to alter it.”
Randolph made it clear she had no regrets about engaged on Landman, saying, “I’m so happy with the present that we made, and so I simply didn’t let myself have a perspective on what the viewers thought. I feel I’ve stated earlier than, [that] I disassociated [during certain scenes], however you form of must. I did my job once I was filming after which I closed the door and we put it on the market, and I’m excited to hopefully proceed the character and that’s all I can do.”
Seeing the Divided Opinions
“I’ve needed to cease letting myself get defensive over my character as a result of while you spend a lot time in another person’s head area, you begin to perceive their logic,” she defined to Interview Journal in January 2026. “For Ainsley [on Landman], I couldn’t be extra completely different than her, however I additionally adore her. I wish to say she’s not dumb, she simply has restricted life expertise, and we’re seeing her in her most early life.”
Randolph appreciated the problem, including, “How fortunate to play a personality who’s frequently evolving. It’s challenged me in a number of methods — what’s on the web page is so completely different than what you see on display. I’ve tried so as to add in how real and honest she is so there are extra redeeming qualities.”
Whereas discussing her divisive Landman character, Randolph defined how she constructed out the position.
“I feel her mother saved her in a bubble for a motive, and that’s not essentially her fault. If that continues into her early 20s, then that begins to change into her fault. However proper now, she hasn’t had any independence,” she famous. “I didn’t notice this about myself, however two of the characters that I’ve performed in Taylor’s exhibits — 1923 and Landman — have, on the web page, been tremendous unlikable. Possibly that’s simply my notion.”
She continued: “I believed, ‘Oh, my gosh, persons are going to despise these characters. What can I do to make them likable and for folks to have the ability to see them from my perspective?’ And so I labored actually onerous at it. That’s why I feel with Ainsley, her being candy is so essential, or else she’s simply this bratty teenage lady who has no redeeming qualities.”
