For whatever reason, Netflix is taking its time before making it official that Longmire will be back on its subscriber channel for a Season 5. The show, based on the Craig Johnson novel "Walt Longmire Mysteries", lasted three seasons on A&E before the plug was pulled on the police drama set in Wyoming. It was social media and fans that helped revive the show for a fourth season, and it was decided to bring it to Netflix after Warner Brothers offered Season 4 to many networks.
So far, the response has been overwhelmingly positive, at least from its fans. On October 7th, the Longmire Posse, a big group of fans of the show, gathered together online in order to get Netflix to bring back Longmire for another season. It would appear that the producers of the show wanted another season, as they left Season 4 with some unanswered questions that probably baited for another season.
It looks like it is working, which begs the question of why Netflix hasn't just up and made the announcement already. After all, many shows on Netflix have been green-lit very soon after one season, like Marvel's Daredevil. In fact, Season 4 of Orange is the New Black was approved even before Season 3 of the show even went live.
Still actress Ally Walker, who plays Dr. Donna Sue Monahan, recently shared in an interview with Parade that she will probably return to her role for yet another season. So confidence is high for the actors for this program, but as far as Netflix is concerned, mum is still the word.
Considering all the fans who clearly want a Season 5 of this show, this begs the question of how A&E yanked it from their programming schedule in the first place. A&E has said that the show "garnered positive reviews but failed to hit the target population". Considering that the fan outcry caused Warner Brothers to want Longmire back for a Season 4, then perhaps Longmire hit the target on the first and second try.
Perhaps the lessons of Longmire is that networks should listen to the viewer and not just results. This means that shows that get a cancellation in today's era of social networking can be revived through some serious fan CPR. That, or perhaps shows are working less from a network model of television, where a new episode comes out each week, and focusing more on the subscriber like Netflix, where a new season comes out with all its episodes once a year.
Whatever the case, if there was a place where one could bet on whether or not Longmire Season 5 is a go, it would be smart to place some money on its renewal, as it is a safe bet.
