Virgin River showrunner Patrick Sean Smith wanted the newly released holiday episodes of the Netflix series to feel lighter, given the weight of season five.
Following the part one release of 10 intense and emotional episodes (on Sept. 7) — which saw a wildfire hit Virgin River, an illegal drug business showdown, a sexual assault court trial and a difficult courtroom — Smith knew he wanted the two holiday episodes that are now streaming to have a “feeling of family and warmth.”
Still, the beloved small town couldn’t escape at least some drama this holiday season, including Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge) tracking down her biological father, who also lives in Virgin River. And of course, there’s no Virgin River seasonal event — this time, the Christmas tree decorating contest — without some challenges.
But as Smith looks ahead to the already renewed next season, he admits that his “intention was never to have subsequent seasons match the intensity of season five.” Below, Smith also talks The Hollywood Reporter about the importance of displaying real struggles — including Mel’s workshop and Jack’s PTSD — accurately; balancing romance and crime; his favorite couple and what fans can expect from season six.
Audiences finally got to see Christmas in Virgin River. What was it like bringing that to life?
It was so much fun. You know, it’s such a natural extension of the show already, with it being cozy and a feeling of family and warmth. It was just fun to first imagine what it would look like visually, and not going so big that it feels over the top, but still be aspirational enough that you see a place and you’re just like, “I would like to sit on that couch next to that fire with that cup of cocoa, or that cup of mulled wine, and just be around all this drama.”
A major storyline of the holiday episodes (the final two episodes of season five) was Mel finding her birth father. What was the thought process behind making a merry scavenger hunt around Virgin River to find him?
When we were exploring the storyline, it felt like a bit of a soap trope. And I think that’s something the show does incredibly well, which has been to embrace the soapiness to keep the show interesting and twisty and high stakes, but then have the characters feel grounded and emotional in what they’re going through. So I knew that I totally wanted the holiday episodes to feel particularly lighter, given the weight of the events of season five. Erin Cardillo and Richard Keith, my number twos, wrote both episodes and it was just a fun wish fulfilling kind of way of living in a small town and going on the scavenger hunt of digging into some of the history of Virgin River, and understanding it a little bit better while learning more about this mystery man.
Of all places, why did you decide to have Mel’s father, Everett Reid (played by John Allen Nelson), also reside in Virgin River?
It felt like a great revelation to know that he was still a part of this world that she, despite it being the fifth season, is still relatively new to. She’s more acclimated than being the fish out of water who she was in the beginning. But I think it also speaks to the region. You’ll notice in Virgin River, we don’t have a main street, we don’t have a Stars Hollow square; there are people who can live off the grid. We’ve seen it through the pot camps and just how disparate everything can be. So it felt reasonable that he could still be in town, and that it was just a nice reveal at the end of the first episode to know that he was actually right in our backyard.
Mel’s workshop was another big storyline in season five part one. Knowing what she has been through, why did you decide to go that route rather than her having a successful pregnancy?
I talked with the network before I came on to the show about the plot. First, it felt like I was trying to find a way to kind of deepen Mel and Jack’s (Martin Henderson) relationship, and to have them go through something pretty profound together. The first couple of seasons had been about the romance and then both with their respective traumas. This feels like a pretty organic way, given her medical history and given how quickly and easily she became pregnant with Jack’s baby in season four, that we could ground it a little bit, bring it down to reality and have them go through something challenging together as a couple in a way that we had seen previously with Mark, that their relationship didn’t survive. He literally did not survive them going through that. And to see that Jack is a different man. That Jack can stand by her and that they can work through it together. So that’s what I loved about the penultimate episode of part one, which is seeing them hiking through the forest, which is starting its own rebirth and the way that Mel is doing it, as Jack is helping facilitate Mel getting to that place as well.
