Longmire is an American neo-Western crime drama television series that premiered on June 3, 2012, on the A&E network, developed by John Coveny and Hunt Baldwin. The series is based on the Walt Longmire Mysteries series of novels by Craig Johnson. It centers on Walt Longmire, a sheriff in Wyoming. He is assisted by staff, friends, and his daughter in investigating major crimes within his jurisdiction.
Longmire became the "highest-rated original drama series" on A&E; however, the network announced in August 2014 that it would not renew the series after the third season. Warner Horizon Television offered it to other networks and Netflix picked it up, starting with season four. Netflix released the sixth and final season on November 17, 2017. It is no longer available for streaming via Netflix in the United States, but is available on a number of other streaming services.
Plot Walt Longmire (Australian actor Robert Taylor) is the sheriff of fictional Absaroka County in Wyoming. Sheriff Longmire's longtime friend Henry Standing Bear (Lou Diamond Phillips), a member of the Cheyenne tribe, provides insight to and sometimes aids in dealing with tribal police. (The Indian reservation has its own police force, which has authority within the reservation boundaries, except for capital crimes.) As the series progresses, the friends deal with gambling at a casino on the reservation, competing jurisdictional authority for protecting people and prosecuting crimes, and other issues of contemporary Native American life.
Season one Walt's adult daughter Cady (Cassidy Freeman) is concerned that her father has been stuck since the death of her mother. While preparing to run for re-election, Walt has delegated most police duties to deputies Branch Connally (Bailey Chase) and "The Ferg" (Adam Bartley). Branch has also entered the election, to unseat Longmire, and he is secretly dating Cady. Victoria "Vic" Moretti (Katee Sackhoff), a transplanted Philadelphia homicide detective, arrived in Wyoming six months prior and works as one of Walt's deputies.
In random flashback scenes, Walt and Henry travel separately to Denver, Colorado, where Walt attacks someone in a meth house. Denver Police Homicide Detective Fales (Charles S. Dutton) later comes to Wyoming to talk to Walt and Cady about Cady's mother's death. Cady is shocked to learn her mother was murdered, as Walt had told her she died of cancer. Fales tells Walt they found the murder suspect buried in a shallow grave. Walt denies killing the man, but Detective Fales suspects that if Walt did not commit the murder, then Henry did.
Season two Cady goes to Denver to speak to Detective Fales, who gives her the details of her mother's murder and informs her the suspected murderer has also been killed. When Fales questions her, she says that her father confides in Henry Standing Bear, inadvertently giving Fales a new target of investigation. Henry tells Walt that he killed the murderer because Walt was unable to do so. Vic encounters Ed Gorski (Lee Tergesen), a retired cop from Philadelphia. They discuss the suicide of Gorski's former partner, whom Vic had implicated in a corruption scandal that prompted an internal-affairs investigation. Gorski blames Vic for his partner's death and begins to stalk her. Frightened by Gorski's manner, Vic asks Henry for help, and Walt visits Gorski to warn him away. Gorski is subsequently beaten severely. Hector (Jeffrey De Serrano), a Cheyenne mercenary believed to have assaulted Gorski, is protected by Walt. Henry confesses to Walt that he hired Hector to kill Miller Beck, the murderer of Walt's wife, but Hector explains that he did not kill the murderer, but only beat him and took his teeth as trophies. Fales and his team find the teeth at Henry's bar and arrest him. Walt wins the election. Cady is hospitalized after being hit by a car after hers is sabotaged. Branch investigates, leading to a confrontation with members of the local Cheyenne reservation, in which Branch is severely injured and calls Walt for help.
Season three As Branch recovers from being shot, he comes to believe he was shot by David Ridges (David Midthunder), a Cheyenne who was thought to have died by suicide and been cremated. Walt and the others do not believe him, and he begins his own investigation. In prison, Henry is abused by other Native Americans, led by former Cheyenne reservation police chief Malachi Strand (Graham Greene). Strand believes Henry contributed to his arrest through his friendship with Walt. When Malachi makes it difficult for Henry to obtain an attorney, Cady decides to represent him. Henry gets released on bail and sets out to prove his innocence.
Malachi is also released and begins working as security for Jacob Nighthorse (A Martinez), a prominent Cheyenne businessman and developer. Both Branch and Henry uncover clues that point to Nighthorse's being involved in their cases, with Ridges as a key figure. Walt believes Nighthorse might have had a part in his wife's murder. He begins to believe that Branch is obsessed by his ideas about Ridges and suspends him temporarily, putting him in the care of his father Barlow (Gerald McRaney). Walt and Henry learn that Ridges killed Miller Beck. Walt learns of Ridges' hideout location and kills him in a confrontation, in self defense. Confronted by evidence that proves that Ridges, not Henry, killed Miller Beck, Fales is forced to drop all charges against Henry, but the investigations continue. Branch questions his father, who admits to having paid Nighthorse to hire Ridges to kill Walt's wife in hopes of helping Branch become sheriff. The season ends with the sound of a gunshot.
Season four Walt, Vic, and Ferg set out to search for Branch, after finding a disturbing typewritten note on his home computer. Walt finds him dead in a river from what appears to be a self-inflicted shotgun wound. Walt finds soil in the shotgun shell, implying that the shell had been ejected after firing and replaced in the gun. Walt hence refuses to rule Branch's death a suicide, and begins thinking that Nighthorse is behind the murder. A drunken Barlow Connolly confesses to killing Branch. He commits suicide by cop trying to kill Walt. Afterward, Walt looks into hiring another deputy, Zach Heflin (Barry Sloane) to replace Branch. The department investigates the rape of a Cheyenne girl named Gabriella (Julia Jones) by a group of oil rig workers, but is unable to do anything. Henry, meanwhile, takes up Hector's role as avenger. When the rapists turn up dead, both Walt and the workers try to find the murderer, believed to be Gabriella or the new Hector. Walt begins spending time with his new love interest, Dr. Donna Monaghan (Ally Walker). Monaghan and Walt are attacked in his home, Walt is injured, and she is kidnapped.
Season five Walt conducts an intense search for the person who kidnapped Donna after the home invasion and seriously wounded him. Walt and Donna continue their relationship. Nighthorse becomes increasingly suspicious of Malachi's activities, and suspects he is skimming at the casino or otherwise earning illegal money. Mathias (Zahn McClarnon), the chief of police on the Cheyenne Reservation, figures out that Henry has taken over Hector's duties as vigilante and uses that to his advantage. Archie (the Ferg) begins a relationship with a local nurse. A heroin operation by the Irish mob is discovered in Walt's jurisdiction. Uncovering who is selling heroin on the reservation leads Walt to arrest their local enforcer Eddie Harp (Dan Donohue). Archie is held up at gunpoint delivering Eddie to the FBI, traumatizing him. Walt defends a wrongful-death suit; if he loses, he will lose everything he owns, and probably his job. Vic learns she is pregnant, but is unsure if the father is her ex-boyfriend Eamonn (Josh Cooke) or Travis (Derek Phillips), Branch's childhood best friend with whom she had a drunken one-night stand. Walt ends his relationship with Donna. A future possibility of a relationship with Vic is suggested as they acknowledge their feelings toward each other. Chance (Peter Stormare) tells Vic where to find a murder weapon so that he can get the death sentence, but Vic gets assaulted recovering it. Walt travels to Boston to confront the head of the Irish Mafia, Shane Muldoon (Dylan Walsh), and tell him to stop selling heroin or else he will divulge Muldoon's identity to the FBI. Sometime later, a photo arrives for Walt from Shane showing Eddie dead. Tucker Baggett (Brett Rice), an attorney and close friend of Barlow Connally's, tells Walt that the real reason he is prosecuting the civil suit is so that he can bankrupt him and Barlow's real estate company can take over Walt's land for a 36-hole golf course. As Henry gives a ride home to a presumably drunk woman, Malachi and his men kidnap him. He is taken to a remote area of the neighboring Crow reservation, staked to the ground, and left to die.
Season six In the first episode, Henry is still being held by kidnappers (led by Malachi) on the Crow reservation and might die if not found, but is finally freed by Walt with the help of the Crow medicine woman. Walt investigates a bank robbery with some unusual aspects. Based on the use of Jacob Nighthorse's wooden stakes in the Henry kidnapping, Walt still suspects Jacob of being behind Malachi, but due to Jacob's fear of Malachi, Henry arranges a reconciliation with Walt. As a result, Jacob agrees to present Malachi's "Red Pony" ledger to the FBI as proof that Malachi was using the Red Pony to syphon illegal profits. Walt discovers that Vic is pregnant. Walt starts his trial as does Chance, who pleads guilty and then engineers his escape. In finding Chance, Vic gets shot, and loses the baby. Another "Hector" appears, running Jacob and Henry off the road. Walt's civil trial goes badly, but the shooting of Tucker (who is also the attorney for the plaintiff) further complicates matters as Walt is immediately under suspicion. Vic attempts suicide. The death of former sheriff Lucian Connally (Peter Weller) (Walt's mentor and Barlow's brother) upsets Walt and makes him consider retirement. Jacob testifies to the collusion between Tucker Baggett and Barlow so that Walt's land can be taken and used for a golf course, revealing that despite their differences, he has a great deal of respect for Walt. As a result of emails that Jacob makes available, the civil suit is dropped. The death of Irish Mob enforcer Eddie Harp is revealed to have been staged, and he is discovered back selling heroin on the reservation. Walt remains unconvinced of Jacob's innocence, particularly after he confessed to having accepted funding from Shane Muldoon. Malachi kills Muldoon and then kidnaps Henry and Jacob to force Jacob to cede the deeds for the casino to him. Malachi and his men face a final showdown with Walt, Vic, Ferg, and the recently reinstated Zach Heflin, joined by Mathias' Cheyenne tribal police, ending with Walt killing Malachi and Henry killing Darius Burns (Joseph Daniel Havenstar), his second in command. Walt and Vic commence a relationship, as do Cady and Zach. Walt retires after convincing Cady to run for the job of sheriff. Walt leaves searching for the buried treasure that Lucian had convinced him that he had found, while Henry takes over Jacob's casino.
Episodes
Cast and characters Main Robert Taylor as Walt Longmire, the long-time sheriff of Absaroka County. His character is a throwback to the iconic heroes of classical Westerns, laconic and introspective, with a strong sense of duty and justice. As the stories build, Walt is shown to have a knack for finding the truth behind the various crimes that have been committed. His wife died a year before the series started, and he has told his daughter and friends that she died of cancer. Walt's grief leads to isolation and guilt.