Longmire Season 5 Release Date on Netflix, Season 4 Reviews And Recap

Sep 14, 2015 04:58 PM EDT

Longmire, the modern day Western/detective drama, originally aired on A&E for three seasons before it was cancelled.  Fortunately for fans of the show, cancellation does not necessarily mean the death of a show in today's age of video content.  Like the popular show Arrested Development, the fourth season of Longmire was given new life with a Season 4 that recently appeared on Netflix starting this month.  Unlike Arrested Development, there isn't any good word for a Season 5 to appear on Netflix, but this could change.  This is what is known about rumors of Longmire Season 5 release date, as well as reviews of Season 4. 

According to Seriable, Ted Sarandos cited the show as having a "very loyal, strong base", for the pick-up [of Season 5] and figures Netflix will be able to "uniquely and efficiently aggregate" an audience or the series, stressing that "it just didn't work for [A&E] but will work great for Netflix. 

IGN reviewed Season 4 and called it "definitely Longmire's best season".  Part of that could be that the show is now broken of restrictions of boxed television and episodes can be longer than most without any commercials. 

For those unfamiliar with Longmire, it is a crime drama developed by John Coveny and Hunt Baldwin, based on Craig Johnson's mystery novels centered around Walt Longmire, a Wyoming county sheriff who returns to work after his wife's death. 

Walk Longmire (Robert Taylor) has to deal with his re-election as well as dealing with crimes that take place in Absaroka county.  He also has to deal with his adult daughter Cady (Cassidy Freeman), as well as an assortment of deputies and homicide detectives. 

Without revealing too much about the plot of the show, Season 4 ended with a subtle cliffhanger. Clearly, the shows writers could have given it a more closed ending, but obviously kept it open for a Season 5.  It could have easily been written with more closure if they didn't want a Season 5. 

This is not the first time that Longmire had ended on a non-ending.  Season 3 had a cliffhanger with a gunshot, and fans thought that was all there was going to be.  Especially as Walt unraveled the mystery surrounding his wife, which was a story behind what would have been a pretty basic procedure police drama. 

So will there be a Season 5 to Longmire?  This is really dependent on some conditions.  First of all, fans of the show back when it was on A&E need to start binge-watching Season 4, and they have probably finished by now.  If they like what they see, they will encourage others to watch Longmire from the get-go on Season 1, thanks to the power of Netflix content.  Then, before you know it, the friends of fans of Longmire are into it, and the show really begins to catch on better than its niche audience. 

In short, it is safe bet to believe that Longmire will be back for a Season 5.  The big question is has the show run its course at the end and will this Season be its last?  Wait about another year before answering that question.