Renewing Longmire for Season 5 was a reflection of audience convictions about the series and an opportunity for the cop show to pursue new storylines. Netflix first demonstrated its faith in the series when it picked it up for Season 4. The Neo-Western crime drama was to join the company of shows that ended with unresolved cliffhangers when it was cancelled by A&E, but then the streaming service stepped in and saved the day. Based on the Walt Longmire Mystery novels from Craig Johnson, Longmire premiered on the A&E network in June 2012.
Though it became the network’s highest-rated original drama series, A&E backed out from Season 4 after Season 3 failed to match Season 2’s success. The series developed by John Coveny and Hunt Baldwin stars Australian actor Robert Taylor as Walt Longmire alongside Katee Sackhoff, Lou Diamond Phillips, Adam Bartley, Cassidy Freeman, and Bailey Chase. Netflix released the show’s sixth and final season on November 17, 2017. All of the seasons are made up of 10 episodes except for Season 2 which has 13 episodes.
Longmire’s Season 5 Renewal Solidified The Show’s Place in Netflix’s Catalogue
Longmire Season 3 ended with a cliffhanger that buoyed up anticipation for Season 4, but alas, A&E had no interest in renewal. The network announced its resolve to cancel Longmire, leaving Warner Horizon to shop for a new home for the series. While Season 3 finished with a drop in viewership and ratings, it seemed harsh to cancel the show with an unsolved mystery.
Fans heaved a sigh of relief when Netflix picked up the series for Season 4. This laid the framework for the show to be restructured for two more seasons. Longmire Season 4 was a chance for the crime drama to get a conclusive end. Or at least, Coveny and Baldwin were inclined to embrace that notion, and justifiably so. The earliest episodes of the season dwelled heavily on wrapping up the residual story from Season 3.
Midway, new storylines developed and the season finished with solid approval ratings. It holds a 100% approval rating with an average audience score of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. While the 4th season gave the show a new lease on life, Longmire Season 5 consolidated that. It afforded the showrunners window to meaningfully explore new storylines with more episodes that ultimately sustained Longmire’s status as a Netflix show.
Longmire Is One of Many Shows to Find Second Life on Netflix
Picking up Longmire was a good call for Netflix and of course an exciting development for the audience and Warner Horizon Television. It was yet another proof that Netflix’s customer-centric strategies are often as effective as its data-driven decisions regarding the profitability of shows. The company kept Longmire running for three more years for Season 4, Season 5, and Season 6. Had Season 4 flopped it would have marked a definite end for the series.
The streaming service has been in the habit of resuscitating shows. Lucifer suffered a similar fate as Longmire in May 2018 when Fox canceled the show after Season 3. Netflix stepped in and had the fantasy series run for three more seasons which concluded in September 2021. Also in May 2018, ABC abandoned Designated Survivor after two seasons; Netflix picked it up for its third and final season. The same goes for Arrested Development; it aired three seasons on Fox, was canceled in 2006, and Netflix revived it for two more seasons.Lucifer suffered a similar
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