Longmire Season 5 Netflix Release Date, Renewal to Crossover With Criminal Minds in 2016?

Dec 18, 2015 01:25 AM EST

Streaming giant Netflix has definitely renewed Longmire for a fifth season, much to the relief of fans. And the most intriguing part is that there just may well be crossover episodes with Criminal Minds when the American crime drama series debuts in 2016.

According to the Day Herald, crossover rumors are highly likely as both series have the same principles and a similar storyline.

The series revolves around Wyoming County Sheriff Walt Longmire, newly widowed, and returns to his job still burdened by the death of his wife. During the series, solving the mystery of his wife's murderer becomes a driving motivation for the lone sheriff. He also investigates major crimes within his jurisdiction, with the help of his friends and his daughter.

Meanwhile, Criminal Minds is set at the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) where the series' focuses on profiling the criminal or "unknown subject", rather than the actual crime itself. The series follows a group of FBI profilers who try to nab criminals through behavioral profiling.

When these two series merge, viewers should expect show-stopping action and drama. The question now is who can prove these rumors?

The only one who can confirm or deny these updates is Tony Tost, one of Longmire's writers. Currently, he is watching Longmire Season 4 so that he can make a seamless continuation towards the plot for Season 5.

Unfortunately, Tost is not at liberty to reveal the content of the upcoming season, though he was able to confirm that Longmire's team of writers has started work starting this month.

In a recent tweet dated December 7th, 2015,10:20 AM, Tony Tost announced: "Re-watching Longmire Season 4. All psyched up and waiting to head back into the writer's room to start working on the script for Season 5 tomorrow!" The tweet was posted on.

Toni Tost also put to death any rumors that Season 5 will be a darker one:

Tony Tost ‏@tonytost  Dec 15

There's no discussion behind the scenes about S5 being darker or more violent. We just want to tell a good story.

Further good news for fans is that Longmire Season 5 will have hour-long episodes instead of 42 minutes, a cap that put a lot of pressure on Season 4 episodes and prevented the storyline and the characters from fleshing out further.

Longmire will also feature additional episodes in the upcoming Season 5, Day Herald reports.