Longmire fans are a vocal bunch. When the show was unexpectedly cancelled by A&E last year, they began to rise up and call bullshit on the poor decision. With campaigns from fans and actors from the show, and the hard work of production company Warner Horizon, Longmire managed to live on at Netflix, which recently aired the fourth season. Now, it seems there’s more good news for the show, as it's been renewed for Season 5.
While it’s hard to tell exactly what the ratings were like for the series' second chance at life on Netflix, the numbers must have been good enough for Netflix to keep Longmire going for another season. Take a look at the very apropos tweet from the streaming service.
The tweeters at Netflix are right; Walt Longmire has never been one to back down from trouble of any kind. From bringing his wife’s killer to justice and reining in all manner of dirty dealings and downright illegal shenanigans from local ruffians, big corporations and political schemers, this Wyoming county sheriff knows how to handle his business. The crime drama, based on a series on novels by Craig Johnson, has put Longmire, his deputies, friends and family through a fittingly intense ringer during the past four seasons.
Dedicated Longmire fans can rejoice a little bit longer knowing that their favorite old-time Western-tinged mysteries set against the backdrop of big sky country will go on to live another year. Starting a serious “Bring back our show!” crusade takes a lot of time and can be heartbreaking when it doesn’t pan out. I bet they’re all glad not to have to go through that again. At least, not yet.
Netflix, for its part, has done a bang up job recently of taking shows fans thought were dead and raising them from the grave like grateful, non flesh-eating zombies. They’ve especially excelled in continuing shows that no one could have predicted would ever get another shot. Shows like Arrested Development got the treatment in 2013 after seven years off the air, and The Killing was renewed for a final season soon after it was cancelled (for the second time) by AMC. The streaming network has also gotten continuation fever lately, with a new season of Gilmore Girls (off the air for eight years) in the works, and a Full House (off the air for a whopping 20 years) show called Fuller House currently being produced.
There’s no telling how far this Netflix trend will go on or how many fans they’ll please with their capacity to bring shows like Longmire back. All I can pray for now is that my beloved Manimal might soon make a return to TV.
