Since Netflix’s popular small-town drama Virgin River premiered back in 2019, Charmaine Roberts has been…pregnant.
Five seasons and nearly four real world years later Lauren Hammersley’s Virgin River character has finally given birth, but not before accelerating all the fans who called out her ridiculously long pregnancy.
In Season 5, Part 2 of Virgin River — which hit Netflix on November 30 — Charmaine called her midwife Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge) to inform her that (at long last!) she was having contractions. In a quick, yet hilarious line delivered with spot-on comedic exhaustion, she added, “I feel like I’ve been pregnant for years.”
Girl, that’s because YOU HAVE.
While the past five seasons may have only been nine months and some changes in Virgin River time, baffled fans have returned to Netflix year after year to find Charmaine’s baby bump still intact. On Reddit exists a thread titled “How Is Charmaine Still Pregnant?” where fans debate the passage of time in Virgin River. On X (formerly known as Twitter), viewers have voiced confusion and laughed off the perplexing pregnancy timeline for years. And the show’s writers are fully aware of the absurdity.
“It was so fun to — I can’t remember how it came up, but it was like, ‘Oh, that definitely has to go in that episode,’” Virgin River Season 5 showrunner Patrick Sean Smith told Decider with a laugh when asked about Charmaine’s shoutout.
When fans binged the entirety of Season 5, Part 1 and learned Charmaine still hadn’t had her twins, many feared we may never see the day. But thankfully, Season 5, Part 2 delivered…literally. And on top of Char’s “I feel like I’ve been pregnant for years” nod, Lauren Hammersley also celebrated her character giving birth on Instagram.
After the official Virgin River Instagram account posted a photo of Char and Mel in the clinic alongside the caption, “Charmaine’s babies are finally making a grand entrance…” Hammersley commented, “Full disclosure: I have very much enjoyed being pregnant for five years. I didn’t go to the gym. Ate what I wanted. Lots of bed rest and white wine.” Iconic.
Charmaine’s delivery marks the end of an era for Virgin River — truly the only era we’ve ever known! But now that the twins are finally out in the world we can all look back and laugh about one of TV’s longest marriage. And since Calvin is the father, we can expect to see more of their complex co-parenting dynamic down the line.
“I think we’re definitely going to explore more of that, as we kind of promise in the holiday episode, and in the promise that Mel made with Charmaine, which was to be by her side in this situation where Charmaine’s not interested in having a relationship with Calvin, which complicates their co-parenting obviously,” Smith said. “So it’s definitely something we’ll explore in Season 6.”
