Just as Virgin River fans can finally get excited about season 6 going into production, there’s further good news on the horizon for the Netflix series, as a brand new prequel series has now been announced.
While the main Virgin River series has focused on Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge) and Jack (Martin Henderson), the yet-to-be-named spin-off series will center on the love story between Mel’s parents.
Fans of the series will know that in the most recent holiday episodes, which aired late last year, Mel was surprised to learn that her roots in the idyllic Northern California town actually run a lot deeper than she first imagined. The episode reveals that her biological father is actually a man named Everett.
Well, it looks as surprised though fans will be getting an inside look into Mel’s late mother, Sarah, and Everett’s love story in the prequel.
According to Deadline, casting is currently underway for young actors to play Sarah and Everett in season 6 flashback scenes, but the actors will also then be helming a series of their own which is “being written in the development stage” by Virgin River showrunner Patrick Sean Smith.
Smith previously told EW last year that Everett “will definitely play a good sized part in Mel’s storyline” in season 6, so we’re sure that flashbacks to his past with Sarah will help us fill in the blanks in season 6.
Smith also previously teased some further season 6 details, saying: “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 mother and then also what it is today.”
He added that the new season will explore the “relationship of Everett with the town as well as Everett and Mel”.
While John Allen Nelson plays Everett in Virgin River, we’ll just have to wait and see who will be cast as the younger version of the character. Another bit of good news for fans is also the fact that season 6 is officially in production, with an Instagram picture shared by the official series account showing Breckenridge and Henderson on set.
Production on the sixth season was initially impacted by last year’s strikes, but has now kicked off in Vancouver once again, expecting to be released in 2025.
