Showrunner’s Update on Virgin River Season 6 Confirms Fans’ Worst Concerns
Many may not be happy now, but this twist could be just what the series needs…
With filming on Virgin River season 6 set to wrap up in May, fans are now eagerly anticipating the series finale. It’s not likely to be aired until early 2025, which leaves plenty of time for fans to discuss and debate what might happen when the show finally hits our screens.
And one recent comment from showrunner Patrick Sean Smith has got them talking.
Everett will play a ‘big part’ in season 6
Season 5, part 2 ended on a cliffhanger when Everett visited Mel to inform her that, despite his earlier protestations, he is her biological father. She took the bombshell fairly well, perhaps because she already knew it was him, and when his truck pulled up there was only one way the conversation could go.
But Virgin River is a small town with a huge appetite for drama. Fans will no doubt remember how Everett went on to say ‘Also, I’ve got something important I need to tell ya,’ before ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ cut in and the camera zoomed out.
No doubt this will be one of the first matters cleared up in season 6. Smith told Deadline Everett has a ‘big part’ in the upcoming series.
Will fans enjoy this new plotline?
Over five previous seasons, Virgin River has provided an endless supply of drama. Multiple romances, forest fire and the question of who fathered Charmaine’s twins have kept fans hooked.
Creating a fitting ending to the show was always going to be a challenge for the production team. Finality demands that stories are tied up and viewers leave satisfied with the outcomes. Almost as soon as season 5 had aired, some fans feared the revelation of Mel and Everett’s true relationship would take the show in a different direction and take up too much screen time.
In November, Smith said. ‘What I think 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 mom, and then also what it is today since it’s a small town.’
Is this direction really so bad?
While this may deviate from what fans of the show had initially anticipated, it presents Mel with a new perspective. And we don’t yet know what it was that Everett told her. Is he ill? Does Mel have a sibling or half-sibling she doesn’t yet know about? The possibilities are almost endless right now.
Fans’ fears about Everett becoming a big part of the show are understandable. At this stage in its development, they’re looking for answers to previous questions, not new stories to grapple with.
In truth, though, simply trying to find a gentle narrative on which to end the series would run the risk of it becoming twee and predictable. And the introduction of Everett as a key character in the new series doesn’t necessarily mean the writers have taken their eye off the ball when it comes to other aspects of the show.
Everett’s introduction ties Mel to Virgin River in a way we hadn’t previously seen
Back in season 1, Mel moved to Virgin River for a fresh start and to live a quiet life. That’s not quite how things have turned out for her, but even now, it feels as though she’s the outsider.
She’s adapted to small-town life, but she’s never been a true Virgin River native. This storyline could be the rounding off the series needs.
Patrick Sean Smith described how it’s partly about ‘finding another way that Mel is attached to this town in a bigger, universal, fated sort of way; that she was always meant to come to this place for many reasons.’
When you put it like that, maybe the fans’ worst fears need to be seen in a different light.
