‘Landman’: Jacob Lofland on Cooper’s ‘Awkward’ Proposal & ‘Twists’ Ahead

[Warning: The following post contains spoilers for Landman Season 2 Episode 5, “The Pirate Dinner.”]

Cooper Norris (Jacob Lofland) has been on a roller coaster ride throughout this season of Landman. Things started on a very high note for him when all of the oil wells he was drilling produced big time; soon after, though, things took a sharp turn downward when Ariana (Paulina Chávez) broke up with him, saying she didn’t want to live out his dream before taking a job at a roughneck bar.

On Sunday’s (December 14) new episode, the situation completely reversed itself. After Ariana admitted that she wanted him to fight for her the whole time — in a conversation that has earned some ire for the character from the internet — Ariana told Cooper that she wanted to take things to the next level, but he’d have to ask her father’s permission before proposing. That sent Cooper on an eight-hour journey to Corpus Christi, where he learned from her dad that it was just a test of his seriousness, and he passed. That was the good news; the bad news was that Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton) informed Cooper that his deal with Gallino (Andy Garcia) was indeed too good to be true, and he’d have to sell his leases to M-Tex and come work for him if he hoped to have anything to show for his efforts.

With that, Cooper and Ariana are kinda engaged, and he’s back in his father’s fold after enjoying a tiny respite of independence. So how does Cooper really feel about all of these big changes? And what’s next for the character? TV Insider caught up with Jacob Lofland to find out!

Last time I talked to you, Ariana and Cooper had broken up, and I was worried about them, but I had hoped that they would get back together. How do you feel about how people have responded to the breakup and their reunion? There’s been some chatter online about her giving mixed signals with the talk about, “Oh, well, you should have come after me,” and things like that.

Jacob Lofland: I mean, I think that’s just young love at the end of it. No one’s going to do it perfect, so everyone’s opinion is their own. But in the lives of these characters, she’s doing what she thinks is right for her and her baby at that moment, and probably in testing Cooper a little to see if he’ll bite and try to fight a little harder. And I think that’s what Cooper has to learn through this, too, is there’s certain aspects where you just let it go and do what you say, and then there’s others that you have to prove that this is what you want and fight for it in the relationship. So it’s a new thing for, especially, Cooper. Ariana’s been married and had this life already, so she kind of knows what to expect. Cooper has no idea what he’s doing. This is probably the most serious relationship he’s ever been in, 100%. So he’s definitely still putting it together and finding the pieces of the puzzle.

Emerson Miller / Paramount+

Are you worried at all that some of the chaos of his own parental situation is gonna rub off on them? 

Oh, I think that after the meal [with the family], I think they’re both worried about that a little bit. [Laughs.]

Going on to the proposal, that’s one of the most unique proposals I’ve ever seen on TV. Can you just talk about crafting that one with Paulina and making it just so odd but romantic at the same time?

Yeah, it was an awkward situation that we made feel very comfortable. And it was really funny. I’ve said this 1000 times, but if it was anyone but Paulina, I don’t know if we can do this the same way. I mean, we have a great relationship, and we’d make light of it and have a good time and never put too much stress on the scene itself, and we always find something magical in it just playing around and keeping it light, and that winds up translating into this comfort that you see on screen.

We haven’t gotten to see Cooper’s reaction yet to her working at the bar. How do you think he’s gonna feel about that? 

Yeah, there’s some more to come in that. He’s not sure about it. He knows that place is pretty rough. I mean, he’s been around it quite a while, too, and frequents it every now and then, but he’s very uneasy about it just because of the clientele and how rowdy it can get, I think.

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How do you think he’s gonna feel about how she handles herself with those other men who are kind of rude to her? 

Oh, I think he’s very proud of it, 100%.

So Cooper gets put to the test in, in a way you kind of alluded to earlier, which is she makes him go talk to the father. Can you just talk about that scene and what it means for him that she did that, but that also that he did that?

Well, I think that was, like you said, a good test and seeing how dedicated he was to what he was saying. I think driving eight hours to Corpus proved it, and in the meeting, [her father says,] “Elvio only had to cross the street. You drove across the state.” So I think it shows dedication not only to Cooper and Ariana, but also to her father, and he knows now, even though he makes light of it and a bit of a joke, he’s still, I think, very proud that someone’s willing to do that for his daughter.

Yeah, you said it was a joke, but I wonder if you think the threat that he made was real. 

One hundred percent real. Yeah, I’ve been in, when I was younger, I was probably in a couple of situations — never asking for their hand in marriage, but definitely sitting with my girlfriend’s dad a couple of times — and you’ll get that threat. They’ll carry a gun out to go shoot and be like, “Don’t forget.” Yeah, that’s real.

Is he scared of that threat at all, or does he know he just wouldn’t need to be? 

Well, I think it lands the way it should, but Cooper’s definitely not the person to do that. As he says, “You don’t look like the type,” but yeah, he’s very aware of it. And I don’t think he’s ever going to do anything to hurt that relationship or hurt her intentionally at all. He’s got a pretty good heart.

Yeah, he does. Speaking of that, Cooper has always been very gracious about the ghost of Elvio in a way. If they get married, do you think he’d maybe want to get past that, just having those constant mentions? 

Maybe. But there’s this whole thing kind of started over trauma bonding anyway. So it plays such a huge role in his life as well as Ariana’s that even if there was something like that, I don’t know if it’s ever actually going to go away. It’s something he experienced firsthand. She had to experience on her own and just never get to say bye. So I think that’s always going to weigh in the air a little bit.

Cooper mentioned that he wants to have children. We’ve learned this season some of the kind of tragic backstory of the father-son relationship that not only T.L. [Sam Elliott] had with Tommy, but that Cooper has with Tommy. So does he worry about that kind of bleeding into his own fatherhood experience? 

I mean, for sure, and that’s the conversation that, I believe it was Episode 2, where he and Tommy are in the truck and have the really beautiful moment of talking to that. So I do think like there’s been some distance between them, but Tommy did a great job of instilling the morals and the principles that you need to have to be a man and to raise that family, and that was a great word of advice that he gave. But I do think that Cooper will figure it out. I think he’s got a pretty good idea because he had some pretty good teachers, even though the previous teacher might not have been as good. There’s lots of lessons to be learned even in mistakes.

Emerson Miller / Paramount+

Cooper’s always kept himself a little bit distant from the house. But now that his father is buying the leases, he’s going to be back in that M-Tex world. What can you tease about that? 

Well, there’s a lot of business to come between Tommy and Cooper, and just being around the family in general. I think that it’s definitely going to get a little closer. And this season really is devoted to the family. It’s really getting into who these guys are, their relationships between each other. Hopefully, at some point, we figure out why Cooper and Aynsley hate each other, other than just brother and sister scuffles. But yeah, it’s been a lot of fun this season really getting into these characters and getting a little more in-depth. As you said, Cooper’s always been a little more sectioned off from the family, and now it’s starting to come back in and tighten up a little bit. So it’s a fun experience.

I’m gonna return to that in one second, but my question about the business angle of it is, does it break his heart a little bit that he’s gonna have to do this after he tried to go it alone?

One hundred percent. His heart just sank whenever Tommy tells him that they’re buying out and he’s not getting anything. He’s like, “But I was on top of the world 20 minutes ago, and now I have nothing.” So yeah, it’s a gut-wrenching thing, but it’s also part of this business. You can be on top one second and at the bottom the next. So it’s just kind of how it goes, and it’s also my dad used to work in this business. That’s one thing he said. He said, “You never step on fingers when you’re going up the ladder because tomorrow that man might be your boss.” So those are the lessons that I think is kind of being shown throughout the series.

Wise words. Do you think he’s more upset about losing the money or losing his independence? 

The independence. I mean, I think they both, in the same breath, I think one does the other. There’s a huge thing like money does give that independence, especially in this world, and a man having his own company or own business that’s successful, it’s really hard to have the confidence if you don’t have the funds to be confident.

Going back to the family, you mentioned we might get more of Cooper and Aynsley. Are we ever gonna find out more about Cooper and his mom? Because I feel like that’s another point of distance that’s a little bit unexplained as of yet. 

Yeah, I think so too. And my understanding — and again, it hasn’t been explained in the script… is Cooper’s definitely more like Tommy, not as lavish, and, I don’t even know the word, as his mom, just kind of not. To him, that’s a lot. And I think he just kind of likes to stay distant, and his sister follows in the same footsteps. So I think it’s more of just the two personalities, not really clashing, but just, he’s already got enough to deal with, and he knows that that just adds more.

What can you tease about the rest of the season? I know you mentioned the family element, but what else is to come from Cooper in the coming episodes?

Oh, there’s plenty more. There’s plenty more twists and turns. We’re nowhere near done yet. Some of the craziest stuff is gonna happen in the next two to three weeks. It’s going to be really interesting. I can’t tease much, but trust me, there’s some twists and turns that you don’t see coming.

Landman, Sundays, Paramount+