Michelle Randolph is aware of how polarizing her Landman character, Ainsley, is.
Creator Taylor Sheridan‘s Paramount+ series premiered in November 2024 and introduced Billy Bob Thornton as a corporate fixer for an oil titan (Jon Hamm). The West Texas-set drama had life-and-death stakes but it was Thornton’s scenes with 27-year-old Randolph, who plays his 17-year-old daughter, that went viral. The most-talked about moments included her talking to her father about sex while walking around his house — which he shares with two men of similar age — in bikinis and her underwear.
“Some of the things that Ainsley has to say are shocking and there were moments where I thought, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to pull this off,'” Randolph admitted to The Hollywood Reporter one month later. “I want to find the most human version of this character that I can, and I work really hard at doing that.”
Randolph recalled putting in the work to bring Ainsley to life.
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“I worked with a dialect coach, a movement coach and an acting coach and I just studied like crazy. I had about a year almost to prep for her,” she explained about her approach to Ainsley. “It was incredibly helpful to kind of sit with that character. I worked really hard to find ways to justify her behavior and make a full human out of something that doesn’t always seem like what a 17-year-old would say, but people like that exist.”
While reflecting on her onscreen collaborations with Sheridan, Randolph said Landman “required 10 times more prep” than 1923.
“I wanted to be very careful about the way that Ainsley comes across. There’s only so much that I can control, but you also can control a lot as an actor,” she continued. “And just being around Ali [Larter] and Billy and Jacob [Lofland] and being in Texas really helped create this full person that Ainsley is. She has this free essence about her and she’s wild, and I loved every second of it.”
Keep scrolling for Randolph’s candid quotes about playing a controversial character on Landman:
Breaking Her Silence
Ryan Green/Paramount+“It’s hard to not be aware of it,” Randolph told The Hollywood Reporter about the negative response to Ainsley’s seasons. “But I disassociate and the thing is, I got the script. I read it. I had my moments, my thoughts.”
Randolph reminded viewers that she had nothing to do with what was written on the page.
“My job ended when I finished my last day on set, and then I released it. The show went out,” she continued. “I can’t tell people how to interpret my character, but at least it’s sparking conversation. And I’m really proud of the show that we made.”
Give Ainsley a Chance
Randolph urged viewers to give Ainsley the space to evolve, telling The Hollywood Reporter, “She’s 17 and she’s growing. I think she gets it more than the audience gets to see. There are moments where you realize that she can be, not manipulative, but she knows how to play her dad, and also her mom. She knows how to get what she wants. She loves her family.”
She concluded: “She is figuring out who she is and meeting different peers and going to school. She’s not just the bratty young daughter; she is a person. We get to see 5 percent of who Ainsley is. Hopefully as the show goes on, we get to see all of who she is.”
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Making It Work
Emerson Miller/Paramount+The actress admitted it was a challenge properly representing Ainsley in the first few episodes.
“When you start a show, it’s so hard because you don’t know your full character. Knowing who she is in episode 10 was really hard when episode 1 was just coming out. I was like, that’s not all she has to do!” Randolph told Deadline in January 2025. “You don’t want to meet the fully evolved version of a character. If you don’t get to see the growth, then it’s not fun to watch. So I am thankful that we got to meet Ainsley at Point A, and hopefully by the time the show’s done, however many seasons, we’ll meet her at Z.”
Developing the Character
“When I first read [the scripts], I had to digest. And then, it just became like, that’s who she was. She never surprised me in a way, once I found her,” Randolph recalled during a People interview that same month. “It was interesting watching the audience reaction to it because I had sat with it for so long. It was like, ‘Oh, OK, we’re all going to process this again together.'”
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Taking Pride in the Final Version
Lauren ìLoî Smith/Paramount+Randolph didn’t see the reason for the negativity pointed at her character.
“I think being comfortable in your sexuality is something to be celebrated. If that’s what you feel as a human [and] aligns with who you are, then be authentically yourself. And that’s what she’s doing,” Randolph told People. “Though she is 17, so I think as she gets older, she’ll put up more boundaries and understand the way the world works more. But as far as she’s concerned, right now, this is the way she’s been raised and she’s going to figure out if she thinks that’s right or wrong or she wants to change it.”
Randolph made it clear she had no regrets about working on Landman, saying, “I’m so proud of the show that we made, and so I just didn’t let myself have a perspective on what the audience thought. I think I’ve said before, [that] I disassociated [during certain scenes], but you kind of have to. I did my job when I was filming and then I closed the door and we put it out there, and I’m excited to hopefully continue the character and that’s all I can do.”
Seeing the Divided Opinions
Emerson Miller/Paramount+“I’ve had to stop letting myself get defensive over my character because when you spend so much time in someone else’s head space, you start to understand their logic,” she explained to Interview Magazine in January 2026. “For Ainsley [on Landman], I couldn’t be more different than her, but I also adore her. I like to say she’s not dumb, she just has limited life experience, and we’re seeing her in her most formative years.”
Randolph appreciated the challenge, adding, “How lucky to play a character who is continually evolving. It’s challenged me in a lot of ways — what is on the page is so different than what you see on screen. I’ve tried to add in how genuine and sincere she is so there are more redeeming qualities.”
While discussing her divisive Landman character, Randolph explained how she built out the role.
“I think her mom kept her in a bubble for a reason, and that’s not necessarily her fault. If that continues into her early 20s, then that starts to become her fault. But right now, she hasn’t had any independence,” she noted. “I didn’t realize this about myself, but two of the characters that I’ve played in Taylor’s shows — 1923 and Landman — have, on the page, been super unlikable. Maybe that’s just my perception.”
She continued: “I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, people are going to despise these characters. What can I do to make them likable and for people to be able to see them from my perspective?’ And so I worked really hard at it. That’s why I think with Ainsley, her being sweet is so important, or else she’s just this bratty teenage girl who has no redeeming qualities.”
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