He said that the show’s transfer to Netflix beginning on the fourth season gives it more freedom to tell the story, the way the executive producers want it to.
Philips said that they were previously constrained to 42 minutes per episode which is the reason why a lot of his work went down and hit the floor. He added that with the additional 20 minutes, the showrunners can let those moments breathe and round out those characters to give “Longmire” the cinematic experience from one episode to the next.
With the additional time, the executive producers shall be able to craft the perfect story without sacrificing creativity. Philips also added that the extra time shall help viewers understand the characters even more.
The actor also pointed out that the current running time of the TV show per episode only gives them sufficient time to tell the story of Walt Longmire. With additional minutes, the TV series can also focus on minor characters, which were previously being edited or worse, totally cut out.
“Longmire” used to air on the A&E Network but after Season 3, it announced that it will no longer be renewing the show for a fourth season.
While the show was generating a good number of viewers, it was not bringing in the advertisers to be able to survive.