For Benjamin Hollingsworth, playing Dan Brady on Virgin River is the kind of job that keeps an actor wanting to act.
For many fans of the Netflix show, Brady has always been an interesting baddie. Now, as Season 5 is about to drop, Hollingsworth says his character’s character is about to get a lot more complicated.
“There’s a tension there, an inner storm that is brewing,” said Hollingsworth during a phone conversation earlier this summer from his Vancouver-area home. “It’s not just clearcut that he’s a bad guy. That’s not interesting, it’s never interesting. And it’s not clearcut that he’s a good guy. People just don’t do a 180 overnight. It’s nuanced, and I love that about it. For me, when I can get a part like that, I’ll play that for as long as they’ll let me.”
Netflix will release the fifth season of Virgin River in two parts: Part 1 on September. 7, and Part 2 on Nov. 30.
A sixth season has been green-lit, but, at press time, the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America strikes had suspended shooting. Hollingsworth did this interview with Postmedia News before the actors went on strike.
When it comes to dishing on the Netflix series’ return, Hollingsworth can’t say much except that Brady, who was exonerated for the shooting of Jack (Martin Henderson) at the end of Season 4, now has a chance for a major life reset . The question is, will he use that get-out-of-jail-free-card for good or evil?
“He still has a lot of things to figure out. And this season there is still very much an external force that is pressuring him. I can say that,” said Hollingsworth, keeping major plot plans quiet.
As for his romance with Brie (Zibby Allen), well, that is a situation that gives Hollingsworth another interesting acting avenue to venture down.
“We heard him say he loved her. That’s the first time he said that to a woman. And so it’s all uncharted territory for him, which again, is very interesting to play whenever it is a character’s first,” said Hollingsworth, a National Theater School of Canada graduate.
Shot in the Lower Mainland with Squamish as the exterior backdrop, Virgin River is a huge success. Based on the bestselling book series by Robyn Carr, Virgin River has been among Netflix’s most successful series. Its fourth season amassed 277 million hours viewed in its first 28 days. It has been in the streamer’s global top 10 in more than 70 countries over its four seasons to date.
“I think it has to do with the sense of community that is in the show,” said Hollingsworth, who grew up in small towns in Ontario. “I think what everyone can relate to is the feeling of comfort that comes from knowing there are others there to help. And I think that was really missing during the pandemic, and that was something a lot of people needed to be reminded of. Our show offers some of that comfort television, in a sense.
“I can describe our show as apple pie. It’s nothing new, but if you do it right, it tastes really good and it’s good just about any night of the week.
“You also have beautiful B.C., and a lot of people haven’t seen it before. It’s showcased so well in our show.”
While the show’s popularity is confirmed through viewing numbers, reviews and longevity, Hollingsworth has a more hands-on, groundswell’ metric to further underscore the idea that people are watching the soapy medical, small-town drama.
“Just about once or twice a day someone will say, ‘You’re Brady!,’” said Hollingsworth, who also gets recognized from his role on the CBS-TV series Code Black and USA Network’s Suits. “It’s funny because, I think sometimes that people don’t quite know immediately when they see me where they know me from.”
But once they clock him, he gets some interesting feedback. Especially from those in the business of looking out for bad guys.
“At my daughter’s daycare, I was in the waiting room with another mother, and she finally said: ‘I’ve got to apologize, the last couple of weeks I’ve been shooting you all these looks. I thought I recognized you and, I got to say, I’m a police officer and my radar went off. ‘Is this guy sketchy? What’s going on?’ Then she realized I was in Virgin River, and she said she was so embarrassed,” said Hollingsworth, who is the father of three young kids aged seven, five and two.
Another time Brady’s bad ways drew attention was when Hollingsworth was traveling, and his TV persona became a talking point among border agents.
“It’s funny, one of them was getting trained and one of them knew who I was and the other didn’t. He is asking me all the questions and then we’re done. He said: ‘By the way, I love your show and I just hope you are not anything like your character otherwise we can’t let you into the country,’” said Hollingsworth adding: “When you meet me in person, I put off a very different vibe than Brady.”
