Television series

Longmire

Name: Longmire
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Western
Released: 2012
Cast: Katee Sackhoff, Lou Diamond Phillips, Robert Taylor, Adam Bartley, Cassidy Freeman

Longmire is a slow, sun-bleached procedural set in Wyoming's high plains, where a widowed sheriff investigates crimes while quietly holding himself together. It trades flash for atmosphere — vast skies, close-knit communities, old grudges bleeding into new murders. Robert Taylor's Walt is stoic to a fault, which is either the show's charm or its limitation. Good for viewers who want mystery with room to breathe, not twists every five minutes.

TVMaze rating

8.3

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Justified2010

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But The Kentucky setting swaps Longmire's stark plains for hollows and moonshine, and the tone is glibber, less contemplative.

Yellowstone2018

Same Western landscape and family loyalty at the center, but bigger, messier, more soap opera — land disputes replace murder investigations as the engine of every episode.

But It leans into melodrama and violence Longmire mostly avoids, and its politics land louder and more divisively.

Wind River2017

A snowbound Wyoming mystery with the same unhurried, mournful pace, following a hunter drawn into investigating a death on a reservation.

But It's bleaker and more unrelenting than Longmire ever gets, with little of the show's warmth or humor to soften it.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Searchers1956

Longmire's quiet, dutiful widower-sheriff is a direct descendant of Ethan Edwards — the same taciturn Western hero carrying loss like a weapon, decades before Craig Johnson wrote him again.

John Wayne's frontier tracker chases a stolen niece across years and territory, inventing the template of the solitary, grief-driven lawman that Walt Longmire still walks in 2012.

But It's a product of its era, with attitudes toward race and violence that haven't aged well and now read as uncomfortable rather than classic.

Fargo2014

Small-town lawmen confronting violence that outstrips their imagination, told with the same patient camera and attention to landscape, though laced with dark comedy Longmire doesn't attempt.

But Each season resets story and cast, and the tone tips more absurdist than Longmire's straight-faced realism.

Hell or High Water2016

A modern Western about vanishing rural life and men doing what the law can't touch, with the same dusty small-town textures and moral shading.

But It's a two-hour film, not a slow-burn series, so you lose the sustained community you get with Longmire.

Bosch2015

A methodical, procedure-first detective story built around one dogged investigator's code, if you liked how patiently Longmire builds its cases.

But It swaps Wyoming's open horizon for Los Angeles sprawl, losing the show's defining sense of place.

True Detective2014

Atmosphere-heavy crime drama with a haunted lead investigator and landscape doing as much storytelling as plot, echoing Longmire's brooding tone.

But Its narrative structure is far more fractured and philosophical, trading Longmire's clarity for ambiguity and dread.

The Bridge2013no page yet

Border-set crime drama pairing mismatched investigators against a backdrop of vast, unforgiving terrain, sharing Longmire's interest in law at the edges of civilization.

But It's grimmer and more procedurally complex, with less of Longmire's warmth toward its recurring cast.

No Country for Old Men2007

The West as moral wasteland, an aging lawman outpaced by violence he can't quite comprehend — the tonal ancestor to everything Longmire quietly worries about.

But It's far darker and more nihilistic, offering none of the found-family comfort that makes Longmire easy to return to.

Walker, Texas Ranger1993no page yet

Same lone-ranger-of-the-modern-West DNA and unshakeable moral code, but played entirely straight-faced as action-hero fantasy instead of melancholy realism — the show's id, unleashed.

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But It's cheerfully trashy 90s network television with no interest in nuance, mood, or plausibility — the opposite of everything subtle about Longmire.