Jesse Plemons was 'as shocked as everyone' about Landry killing a guy on “Friday Night Lights”
- - Jesse Plemons was 'as shocked as everyone' about Landry killing a guy on “Friday Night Lights”
Shania RussellDecember 30, 2025 at 4:26 PM
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Jesse Plemons on 'Friday Night Lights'
Friday Night Lights stunned millions when it turned the adorably awkward Landry Clarke into a killer — including the actor who portrayed him.
Looking back on the infamous season 2 storyline, Jesse Plemons told host Gerrad Hall on a recent episode of Entertainment Weekly's The Awardist podcast that he was "pretty shocked" to learn that Landry would be kicking off their sophomore season with a body count. The actor explained that while he wasn't warned in advance, he knew that something big was coming.
"They didn't tell me that something bad was gonna happen or I was going to be killed off or something, so I wasn't worried about that," Plemons recalls. "But it was kind of a double-edged sword because on the one hand, I was as shocked as everyone to read that script where the comedic relief kills for love in high school. But at the same time, I don't think I could allow myself to question it too much, because it was happening."
The controversial plotline saw a sweet gas station exchange between Landry and Adrianne Palicki's Tyra Collette take a turn for the worse when the latter is approached outside by her stalker, Mike Caldwell. When he attempts to sexually assault her, Landry comes to Tyra's defense and bashes his head with a pipe. The situation escalates further when they attempt to transport Mike to the hospital, only for him to die en route. Panicked, they dump his body into the river.
Bill Records/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Adrianne Palicki as Tyra Collette and Jesse Plemons as Landry Clarke in 'Friday Night Lights'
Praising Friday Night Lights for the "level of realism" that it so often achieved, Plemons shared that his major concern was finding a way to make a "really extreme storyline that does not seem too rooted in something realistic" mesh with the rest of the show.
"'How am I going to not sink the show with this and try and keep it as real as everything else?,'" he recalls wondering.
As for what the actor remembers from actually shooting the scene, Plemons shared that they tested a few murder weapons before deciding on which object Landry would use to deliver the fatal blow.
"I did end up killing him multiple times with the bottles and then we reshot it with a pipe or something," Plemons said, adding, "It's a weird, weird, weird thing we do."
In the end, the ridiculous plotline wasn't the most popular with FNL viewers. Tyra and Landry end up spending several episodes worried that they'll be caught before he turns himself in and miraculously dodges any real consequences. By season 3, the show dropped the storyline entirely.
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Since his breakthrough role on Friday Night Lights, Plemons has made waves with roles in Breaking Bad, Fargo, The Power of the Dog, Killers of the Flower Moon and more. He most recently starred opposite Emma Stone in Yorgos Lanthimos' buzzy conspiracy drama, Bugonia. Looking back on the iconic coming-of-age series, Plemons made it clear that he still holds the show in the highest esteem.
"It was definitely huge in terms of that was my first series regular and it was the most I had worked," he shared. "But I think what it did more than anything was just kind of inspire me creatively because it was such an unusual scenario for a network television show and we were given so much freedom and encouraged to really make the parts our own."
He added, "It just made me fall in love with acting in a different way, just being given that kind of… that freedom and that responsibility."
Listen to the full Awardist conversation with Plemons above.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
