Warner Bros. Discovery has announced that it’s creating a new streaming service, one that will try to win back audience share that’s been lost over time to services like Netflix and Hulu.
The move is driving new speculation about a possible comeback for the hit television and Netflix show “Longmire.”
That there may be new adventures featuring fictional Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire was a hot topic of discussion during the recent Longmire Days festival in Buffalo.
Three things are fueling these new hopes for a seventh season of “Longmire” or, failing that, a “Longmire” movie.
First there’s the remarkable staying power of the series, which has remained in Netflix’s Top 10 streaming shows right up until Paramount+ licensed the rights to stream the franchise this year from Warner Bros. Discovery.
There’s also the loyalty of its millions of fans, thousands of whom show up in Buffalo year after year after year to celebrate a series that inspires them. Even though it’s been eight years since any new episodes of the television show appeared in 2017.
Craig Johnson Says It Makes Sense
Now, there’s this new streaming service by Warner Bros., which has steadfastly refused to sell the Longmire franchise to any other networks that saw an appetite for the series and wanted to create more episodes.
It would make sense for Warner Bros. to squeeze more juice from its “Longmire” rights, New York Times bestselling author and “Longmire” creator Craig Johnson told Cowboy State Daily.
“The studios have all the content they own, all the movies they own, all the television shows,” he said. “So why wouldn’t they have their own streaming platforms to be able to promote those? They’ve already done the hard work, now it’s just the technical work to have those promoted.”
Johnson also suggested it would also make perfect sense for Warner Bros. to extend the franchise and produce more “Longmire” episodes, whether as a movie or television series, particularly given that Johnson has continued creating new material for that universe.
“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “But, of course, you know when you have a platform like that, you also need new material. You can’t just rely on what’s already been done.”
Fans Want It
The hunger for more episodes exists already in the franchise’s gung-hofans, and it’s evidenced by the thousands of loyalists who turn out each year for Longmire Days in Buffalo.
About half of the people showing up each year are new to the festival and the series itself, Johnson said, which means new people are discovering a love for “Longmire” all the time.
Netflix, meanwhile, didn’t drop “Longmire” this year out of a lack of desire to do more episodes.
In fact, Netflix saw the value of the show in the first place, rescuing it after A&E cancelled “Longmire” when efforts to buy the rights to the program so A&E could do more episodes fell apart.
Fans then watched as a replay of the same dynamic played out on a new platform. Netflix added three more highly successful seasons to the series, then tried to buy the show, hoping to do even more with it.
But Warner Bros. again refused to sell.
Call it “licensing complications” as the networks did, but it’s clear Warner Bros. doesn’t want to let go of this compelling show, which has struck a chord with so many, and continues to find new fans.
Longmire Days draws thousands of people from Texas to Canada, and from East Coast to West Coast and beyond.
Many of them were talking about the chances of new episodes or a movie throughout the festival. During the “Tale of Two Walts” presentation, there was even a direct question about what fans should do to help things along.
“Is there anything we can do as fans to approach Warner Bros. to say we want this show to come back?” one person asked. “I mean, even an email or something?”
Actor Robert Taylor, who played fictional Absaroka County Sheriff Walt Longmire in the hit television series, was unequivocal in encouraging that very approach.
“Why not?” he said. “Bombard them, because Warner Bros. is changing, as Craig said the other day, they’re building their own streaming network.
“Traditionally, they didn’t make the shows or they made the shows and licensed them for streaming. It would just make sense for them to do a few (Longmire) movies.
“Yeah, just keep bombarding them,” Taylor added as applause erupted in the room, along with a few whoops and hollers from excited fans. “Hunt down Warner Bros. streaming, figure out who’s running Warner Bros. Television and just send emails.”
Streaming Services Will Be Part Of New, Growth-Oriented Company
The new Warner Bros. streaming services will be “streaming and studios,” according to information the company has posted online, and is going to include HBO Max, DC Studios and the Warner Bros. movie empire.
The streaming service will split off into its own publicly traded company, alongside a company that will be Warner Bros. “global networks,” housing CNN, TNT Sports and Discovery — essentially, all of its cable brands.
The timeline has the split happening by mid-2026, roughly four years after Warner Bros. Discovery was created.
The streaming and studios company is meant to be growth-oriented, while the cable portion of the company is just expected to make solid, stable returns.
“By operating as two distinct and optimized companies in the future, we are empowering these iconic brands with the sharper focus and strategic flexibility hey need to compete most effectively in today’s evolving media landscape,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said.
Warner Bros. Discovery was initially created when AT&T spun off WarnerMedia and merged with Discovery Communications in a $43 billion deal.
Internet plans and streaming services have pressured the traditional television and cable industry greatly over the years, forcing many of the companies to rethink their business models.
Customers have “cut the chord” to get rid of their pricy cable subscriptions in favor of much cheaper streaming options like Netflix, Roku and Hulu.
Time, Logistics Not An Ally For ‘Longmire’ Reprisal
Louanne Stephens, who plays Walt Longmire’s office manager, Ruby, told Cowboy State Daily she’s ready to reprise her role in the “Longmire” universe, but also expressed some doubt as to whether any network could actually do another series of television episodes.
That would be next to impossible, she suggested, because all of the cast’s principles have already gone their own way, making new long-term commitments or taking other jobs that wouldn’t accommodate a lengthy project like a series.
“I mean, I’m available,” she said. “But he (Taylor) did get them to all sign off that they would do a movie. Not a series, but that they’d do a movie.”
A movie is much more likely, in both Stephens’ and Taylor’s estimation.
“Rob has been talking about that since 2017,” Stephens said. “And, at first, there was no chance. I mean, Netflix wouldn’t let it go.”
But lately, it seems there’s more traction to the idea, something Stephens said Taylor discussed with Katee Sackhoff on Sackhoff’s podcast as recently as June.
“There’s discussions going on, Katie,” Taylor said on the podcast.
“There are,” she agreed. “It feels stronger than it’s ever felt. The time is right. It feels like everyone is sort of like — and we brought this up before, and I know we tried this (before).”
But Warner Bros. passed on the idea after that sit-down, Sackhoff said, because ownership issues were just too complicated.
“So, it was really, just everyone walked away,” she said. “And I’ve brought it up in the past with my reps, and they’re like, ‘Whatever. No one wants to do it. Whatever.’ But when I brought it up this time, this is the first time where people started jumping up and going, ‘I’ll do it.’”
“Absolutely,” Taylor told Sackhoff on the podcast.
Taylor told Cowboy State Daily that he believes the chances are higher than they’ve ever been with Warner Bros. developing its own streaming service.
“It just takes the right producer at the right time to run all the numbers,” he said.
Time, however, is not an ally in this endeavor, Stephens said.
“They know I’d want to do it,” she said. “But they’ve got to hurry, before Ruby dies or something.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
