The small fictitious town of Virgin River has given us more heartbreaks, beautiful moments, and shocking twists than any other place in the world.
In the same town, Mel and Jack’s story continues yet again as they dabble with new information in their hands, the questions of which will lead to the main plot of Season 6 as well as the backdrop of a prequel series in the making.
Spoilers
To brush up on your memories of what happened in the previous season, Mel discovered that Everett is her biological father, while intentionally trying to find him alongside her fiancee Jack. But when they realize the man that she had been on the lookout for decades was right under their noses in Virgin River all along, Mel was heartbroken.
During the Christmas special in Part 2 of Season 5, Everett says he has to tell Mel something very important, but then the credits roll in. Is it another hidden secret? Does Mel have an evil sibling who is out to get her? Is it about her deceased mother? Only Season 6 will tell.
Showrunner Patrick Sean Smith has given us a wide view into the future of the show in Season 6 as well as exciting updates on the trajectory of the successful Netflix drama series. Let us look at the updates on Virgin River Season 6 that we know so far.
What is the release date for Virgin River Season 6?
There is no official release date confirmed for Virgin River Season 6 yet, but according to Netflix’s 2024 roster of 90+ new and returning shows the show was excluded. This means we can hope for an early 2025 release date, especially when Martin Henderson (who plays Jack) took to Instagram to share an update at the end of May 2024 that he was in the process of shooting one of his final takes for the season. Henderson will mark his directorial debut by directing one of the episodes of the season.
How many episodes will Virgin River Season 6 have?
Although both Season 4 and 5 had 13 episodes (two more than the original), Season 6 is confirmed to have its usual 10-episode count. Smith revealed to Deadline that it will be a 10-episode season and that will be the case moving forward with the future seasons as well. Additionally, What’s On Netflix also confirmed all the 10 titles of the episodes from Season 6, although not in the correct order:
- Brothers & Sisters
- Ghosts
- Going Overboard
- Hope Springs Eternal
- I Climbed a Mountain and I Turned Around
- Love Story
- Prelude to a Kiss
- The Big Day
- The Broken Places
- The Jury’s Out
Who will reprise their roles in Virgin River Season 6?
There have not been many cast shakeups over the five-year run Virgin River had, and Tudum confirmed in February 2024 that all the regular cast members will be reprising their roles for Season 6. Here is a roundup of all the members you will see next season:
- Alexandra Breckinridge (Mel)
- Martin Henderson (Jack)
- Annette O’Toole (Hope)
- Tim Matheson (Doc)
- Colin Lawrence (Preacher)
- Zibby Allen (Brie)
- Marco Grazzini (Mike)
- Benjamin Hollingsworth (Brady)
- Sarah Dugdale (Lizzie)
- Mark Ghanimé (Cameron)
- Kai Bradbury (Denny)
- Kandyse McClure (Kaia)
- Teryl Rothery (Muriel)
- Jenny Cooper (Mel’s sister, Joey)
- Gwynyth Walsh (Jo Ellen)
- Keith MacKechnie (Nick)
John Allen Nelson will reprise his role as Mel’s father (as the older version of Everett) in Season 6. He will play a pivotal role in the next season.
Smith has also teased Tudum saying that Season 6 will surprise fans “with some returning favorites from the past.” This may be the villains who escaped their fates in the earlier seasons of the show, as confirmed by Deadline via the showrunner. We know that the town’s most notorious villain so far Calvin (David Cubitt), the drug lord, survived the boat explosion in Season 4 of the series, so his return seems reasonable. Additionally, his former partner-in-crime Jimmy (Ian Tracey), who is currently in jail, might also make a return to stir up trouble.
Who are the new additions to Season 6?
Two new additions to the cast of Virgin River Season 6 have been confirmed by Deadline. They are the younger versions of Mel’s biological parents Sarah and Everett, who will lend their talents for a throwback episode set in the 1970s when the couple first met in the same town. These events will manifest into a backdoor pilot episode for a brand new prequel series, currently in the making by Netflix.
Jessica Rothe joins the cast as Sarah, Mel’s mother, who is described as “a witty, free spirit from the big city with an ardent passion for activism, and trying to avoid the conventional/traditional life of a young woman in the ’70s. Always up for an adventure, she can’t help chasing an instant spark with a handsome musician, Everett (Kerr), who might just be her star-crossed soulmate.”
Her younger version is completed by Callum Kerr, who will play Mel’s father Everett, who is described as “a singer-songwriter with a poet’s soul. One day he’ll pursue his dreams of the stage, but for now, he’s skimming through life in a VW Van, until a chance meeting with a beautiful hitchhiker, Sarah, may just show him there’s more to life than he ever thought possible.”
We can expect to go through several emotional rollercoasters as we keep cutting back to the 70s and witness Mel’s parents as they fall in love and take over the town.
What to expect in Season 6 of Virgin River?
As Smith puts it, “babies and wedding bells are never off the table on Virgin River.”
Everett will take center stage this season because, in the finale episode of Season 5, he told Mel that he had something important to tell her but we never got to it. Season 6 might premiere with that topic in mind and roll into the rest of the storylines.
“What we’re exploring more in season 6 is who Everett Reid is, what his backstory is, what his connection to Virgin River was when he met her mom, and then also what it is today,” Smith teased.
Season 6 will begin a few months after the Christmas special episodes, so we can expect a time jump into the later spring months, directly propelling us into the cusp of Jack and Mel’s springtime wedding. Smith also teased, “Mel and Jack will advance on their path to parenthood while also turning Lilly’s farm into their ultimate dream home,” which they argued over in the last season.
Other than Mel and Jack finally taking center stage next season, here are some other storylines Season 6 might venture into revealed by Smith in his interview with Glamour Magazine.
- We will see a resolution for Preacher in season 6 and will peak into his strained relationship with Kaia. However, his main concern is Preacher after the events of last season.
- Cameron and Muriel’s relationship will take the next step forward.
- Ava will return
- Lizzie and Denny might have their baby, with the latter securing a proper job to take care of the family.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Is there a new season of Virgin River in 2024?
We don’t expect to see Season 6 in 2024 since as per Deadline the show is included in the list of shows not returning in 2024. Hence, a 2025 release seems more likely.
Will there be a season 7 of Virgin River?
As of now, Netflix has only renewed Virgin River through Season 6 and there’s no official word whether Season 7 would happen or not.