Based on the popular romance books by Robyn Carr, Virgin River centers on the life of Mel Monroe (Alexandra Breckenridge). Mel moves Virgin River from Los Angeles for a fresh start. As she settles in, she finds herself in a romance with retired Marine Jack Sheridan (Martin Henderson), who also owns the town’s bar. Since their first meet-cute, so much has happened with the couple and other town residents.
Virgin River has become one of Netflix’s most highly rated shows and star Sarah Dugdale thinks it has an “unlimited shelf life.”
‘Virgin River’ has an ‘unlimited shelf life,’ says Sarah Dugdale
So far, there is no end in sight for Virgin River, and it could have a long life on Netflix.
“As long as the storylines keep getting juicier, it’s a show that has an unlimited shelf life because it’s such a slice of life,” Sarah Dugdale, who portrays Lizzie, told Express. “It’s nice to have something where it’s like, the stakes are always high, but you are never in such a situation where you are getting too stressed. It’s a nice show to watch when you want some drama but not something that’s just insane. That’s why the show can go for as long as the actors and writers don’t get bored.”
‘Virgin River’ Season 5 will be very different
The fifth season of Virgin River is currently filming in Vancouver through the holiday season. In addition to 12 episodes, this season is expected to be very different from past seasons. “I think it’s bigger and better than any of the seasons we’ve done yet,” actor Benjamin Hollingsworth told TV Line. “We’re doing some really ambitious stuff that you’ve never seen on Virgin River before. There’s a really big episode for Brady that’s gonna be a lot of fun for me to play. I imagine there’s gonna be some friction between Mike and Brady as it seems like Brie and Mike have become closer and closer. I would expect there’s going to be some sort of possible reconciliation between Jack and Brady now that he’s exonerated, but you’ll have to wait and see.”
‘Virgin River’ could go well past season 5
Considering the ratings and the number of characters, Virgin River could go well past season 5, provided the cast wants to remain on the series. It almost has a Grey’s Anatomy effect. Furthermore, Carr’s Virgin River series has at least 21 books with various characters and storylines to draw from.
“We see with Season 4 that the fandom is very strong and growing in many places as well,” Netflix drama head Jinny Howe told Deadline. “It feels like, based on what we’re seeing with Season 4 and the anticipation for Season 5, that there is a lot more storytelling to offer us. It will be exciting to see which characters continue to break out and audiences crave more of; we’re paying very close attention, understanding that this is a really rich universe of characters and that people can’t seem to get enough, myself included. So I think as long as that continues to be the case — which we’re very hopeful for — you can rest assured that there will be more Virgin River.”
