Longmire has been a series that has far exceeded most people's expectations, kicking off on A&E to strong viewership before getting unexpectedly cancelled and then resurrected. No one saw Netflix picking up the series, which skews to slightly older viewership, but pick the show up the series did. The show has had a decent run on the subscription streaming service, but today Netflix revealed the drama is cancelled. The good news? The network has only cancelled the show following Season 6.
Since Season 5 was just released a little over a month ago, it will be some time before the final set of episodes are released. Netflix says 10 episodes will be produced for Season 6, and those episodes will hit the schedule "sometime" during 2017, presumably next fall.
It was just a couple of days ago when the Longmire cast and crew said they were waiting on Netflix to let them know whether or not the show would be renewed. Longmire first hit Netflix for its fourth season and the streaming service promptly renewed the drama for a fifth season, as well. That last set of episodes just hit the schedule in September, but as Netflix is often prompt to renew dramas, it's easy to see why fans might have been worried about the status of the drama.
The answer is that there is good news and bad news. While it's good that we will be getting one more set of episodes of the drama, it still stinks that Netflix has decided to discontinue Longmire. The subscription streaming service is still in its infancy in terms of creating original programs and rarely gets around to cancelling them, although it does happen. We'll have to wait and see if Longmire is the start of a larger trend.
It should be noted that Longmire is a lot different than a lot of the other originals Netflix has produced. The drama is not younger-skewing like a lot of Netflix's originals. It's also not a show that translates super well to a lot of different cultures, as it's a sort-of cowboy procedural with an overarching plot thread. It follows a Wyoming Sheriff named Walt Longmire who is dealing with the death of his wife all while trying to keep the peace in his area. Because it is a bit more niche than the average original, episodes will be available in the Canada, Australia, the US and New Zealand.
If you do enjoy the show, the nice thing about Netflix is that episodes pretty much live on the streaming service in perpetuity. So, if you ever want to watch a favorite episode or even binge the whole series again, it should be right at your fingertips whenever you want it. For now, you can find out what Netflix has announced so far for 2017 with our Netflix premiere schedule.
It's unfortunate that Longmire was cancelled. However, if you are looking to add the series to your dvd or blu-ray collection, you can check that out here.
