The popular romantic drama Virgin River has just scored a Season 8 renewal, per Deadline. The series premiered in 2019 and has turned into a massive hit, treating fans to new seasons every year. The show has yet to return with Season 7, but Netflix has faith in the series, which has set a new record: the longest-running scripted series on the streaming platform.
The series is based on Robyn Carr’s Virgin River novels, and follows Melinda “Mel” Monroe, who moves to a remote town in Northern Carolina after answering an ad to work as a midwife and nurse practitioner. As she believed the small town would be the perfect place to start fresh, she discovered that life in a small town is not what she expected.
Virgin River Season 7 wrapped production not long ago, with filming ending on June 22. Netflix didn’t waste any time in granting the series an early renewal for Season 8, which will also consist of 10 episodes.
Virgin River Season 8 will also mark a new record for Netflix, as it surpasses other scripted shows in becoming the longest-running project. It has surpassed the comedy Grace and Frankie and the drama Orange Is the New Black, both of which ran for seven seasons. It also neared the Spanish teenage drama Elite, which consists of only 64 episodes, compared to Virgin River‘s future 84 episodes once Season 8 airs. Grace and Frankie‘s episode count might surpass Virgin River, as the comedy series had 94 episodes during its seven-season run, but they were half-hour episodes, compared to Virgin River‘s hour-long episodes.
Since it premiered, Virgin River has pulled strong viewership numbers. The rom-com drama is about the best comfort shows the streamer has to offer, and it comes with an overall 81% approval score from the critics over its first six seasons. The audience was less impressed, giving it an overall 66%. Since Netflix introduced the weekly updates, Virgin River has appeared in the Global Top 10 30 times in its TV lists for English-language projects. It gathered over 140 million views, and Season 6 debuted at the top of the charts and stayed on the list for four weeks.
When Will Virgin River Premiere?
So far, Netflix has released new seasons of Virgin River every year, with several months in between. However, it looks like 2025 will mark an exception to the rule, as Virgin River Season 7 doesn’t have a release date yet.
Production on the upcoming season started in early March and concluded in June. Netflix didn’t include Virgin River on its 2025 slate earlier this year, and it’s likely it will have an early 2026 release date, or December 2025 at the earliest. However, Virgin River‘s Season 8 renewal makes sure that production on the next season might start quicker and revert to the one-season-a-year pattern.
