Why ‘Longmire’ season 5 should make Barry Sloane a regular immediately
On Friday, the glorious news was made official: “Longmire” is coming back for a fifth season! That means that we can all take in a deep breath and start to cease worries that Netflix was going to do away with it.
Now that we do know with some certainty that the show is coming back for more, it also allows for some other orders of business to be taken care of. One of the biggest ones should be the prompt promotion of Barry Sloane (Zachary) to series regular. The “Revenge” and “The Whispers” alum appeared in a handful of episodes over the course of season 4, and clearly showed why he is the perfect addition to the team for a number of reasons. We’ve compiled a brief list below.
1. His skills – He’s clearly very good at his job, even though it took him some time to prove it to Walt, who was extremely wary of hiring anyone after everything that transpired with Branch. He was almost looking for reasons to discredit every candidate.
2. His friendship with The Ferg – At first, there was some hesitation here as there was with Zach and Walt, but over time the two became good buddies. This is a sort of relationship that we’re not getting anywhere else on the show these days; there are moments of it between Walt and Henry, but Henry’s actions as Hector complicated that relationship to extreme levels in season 4.
3. His past – Zach is a character heavily influenced by his actions, and has sought out and received redemption as a result of them. His demeanor at times ranges from calm to aggressive, but he has such a different, almost zen-at-times energy that separates him from Walt or Vic.
4. Sloane’s performance – He’s fantastic. It’s very difficult sometimes to come into an ensemble after a few years and deliver a performance this magnetic, but Barry did. You wanted to root for this character from the moment that he showed up; he may be flawed, but it is his intention and his dedication that makes him the sort of person you want to keep watching and rooting for.
It may be a while before we find out Sloane’s future on the show for certain, but for now, let’s go ahead and keep our fingers crossed.
If you missed our initial announcement on the show’s renewal, you can read it now by heading over here! Also, you can sign up over here to have some additional TV news and updates sent over to you via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Netflix.)