Virgin River Season 6: What We Know So Far About The Upcoming Season
Since December 2019, the good (and bad) characters of Virgin River have brought us lots of small town romance, familial strife, emotional reveals and more dramatic twists than Mel Monroe could shake a stethoscope at. As we all hope, it does sound like the upcoming Virgin River Season 6 will be no different, and we already know quite a bit about the new installment. Let’s dig into what we know about the hit drama that you can watch with your Netflix subscription, and how it will delve into all the questions left after the surprises of Season 5 Part 2!

Warning: Spoilers for Virgin River Season 5 ahead. Proceed with caution if you haven’t caught up yet!

What Is The Virgin River Season 6 Release Date?
denny and lizzie happy on virgin river season 5

(Image credit: Netflix)
As of June 2024, there is no exact release date set for Virgin River Season 6 just yet, but Netflix revealed in early February 2024 that it won’t return until some point in 2025. As mentioned previously, the series has aired yearly for the past half-decade, so it’s unfortunate that we won’t see new episodes hit the streamer in 2024, but at least we know they’re hard at work on the show and will be back, hopefully before too much longer.

We’re also not sure right now whether or not the season will release all at once, as Seasons 1-4 did, or be split into two parts, as was the case with Season 5.

The Virgin River Season 6 Cast
mel, muriel and cameron listen to doc on virgin river season 5

(Image credit: Netflix)
Virgin River seems to be one of the few shows with a pretty large cast that has managed to see mostly everyone return from year to year, and fans can, luckily, expect that to happen again in Season 6.

Tudum revealed in late February 2024 that all of our main players will return. So, this means we can rely on seeing Alexandra Breckinridge (Mel), Martin Henderson (Jack), Annette O’Toole (Hope), Tim Matheson (Doc), Colin Lawrence (Preacher), Zibby Allen (Brie), Marco Grazzini (Mike), Benjamin Hollingsworth (Brady), Sarah Dugdale (Lizzie), Mark Ghanimé (Cameron), Kai Bradbury (Denny), and the most recent addition, Kandyse McClure, who began her run as firefighter/Preacher’s love interest, Kaia, in Season 5.

Seeing as how all of our favorites will be back, we can also probably expect to see supporting actors like Teryl Rothery (Muriel), Jenny Cooper (Mel’s sister, Joey), Gwynyth Walsh (Jo Ellen), Keith MacKechnie (Nick), and others return, as well.

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John Allen Nelson Will Be Back As Mel’s Dad
john allen nelson as mel’s dad on virgin river season 5

(Image credit: Netflix)
Tudum has, so far, confirmed one new addition to the cast, and that is actor John Allen Nelson, who debuted as Mel’s biological father, Everett Reid, in Season 5 Episode 12. That episode saw Mel and Jack track down the man her mother had an affair with after a shockingly short search led them to find out that he had been in the small town this entire time. We’ll get into more details later, but he will play an important part in the new season.

Some ‘Returning Favorites’ Have Been Promised
jimmy on the phone from prison in virgin river season 5

(Image credit: Netflix)
Showrunner Patrick Sean Smith told Tudum that some of the surprises in Virgin River Season 6 are set to be character related, as fans will “be surprised by some returning favorites from the past.” His words could refer to characters like Ricky (Grayson Gurnsey), who left town and his job at Jack’s Bar in Season 4 for basic training after enlisting in the Marines.

Smith also spoke to Deadline in November 2023 about the next season, and teased that some of the show’s villains will be back, as well. Anyone who saw the last few episodes of Season 5 will know that not only did drug-runner Calvin (David Cubitt) actually survive that boat explosion in Season 4 Episode 9, but his former right-hand man, Jimmy (Ian Tracey), who’s still in prison right now, is back on the scene in a scary way that we’ll get into more in a bit.

Virgin River Season 6 Will Begin A Few Months After The Christmas Episodes
Annette O’Toole, Kai Bradbury, Zibby Allen, and Tim Matheson in Virgin River

(Image credit: Netflix)
The length of Charmaine’s pregnancy is no longer a major factor for some fans, as the showrunner has officially set the record straight and confirmed that each season picks up, at most, a few weeks after the previous one. Season 6, however, will be a rarity, as Smith also confirmed to Tudum that the episodes will start a few months after the Christmas-themed ending of Season 5. This will put the town “deeper into springtime,” and, presumably, way closer to some welcome events.

Of course, this probably also means that poor Brady is likely to be very deep into his romance with seemingly sweet single mom, Lark (Elise Gatien), who we now know is working with Jimmy to get revenge on him. As the showrunner told Entertainment Weekly in December 2023 about the criminal:

He definitely is a nemesis to Brady. And we’re just getting a hint of what Jimmy’s up to get back at Brady. Season 6 will tell us all.

Brady’s trying so hard to stay out of trouble for real this time, and here it comes knocking on his door again! This just goes to show that a couple of bad decisions can make the rest of your life very difficult.

We Might See ‘Babies And Wedding Bells’
mel and jack hug on virgin river season 5

(Image credit: Netflix)
Smith’s chat with Tudum did hint at some story details, as he noted that “babies and wedding bells are never off the table on Virgin River.” A time jump of a few months could very well mean that the mayor’s chief of staff, expectant mom Lizzie, is showing her baby bump and preparing to welcome her little bundle of joy with Denny (who I sure hope has a job by then, seeing as how he left Stanford pre-med to stay with her).

We could also get a look at Charmaine’s twins with Calvin (I am STILL stunned by that baby-daddy reveal!), and see how she attempts to keep one of the town’s Big Bad crime lords out of their lives.

As for those wedding bells, Mel and Jack got engaged at the end of the fourth season, and the end of the fifth saw them agree to buy the Anderson farm, which was ruined by the wildfire. Smith noted to Tudum that the couple, who’ve been through a lot (including a heartbreaking miscarriage) in just a few months “will advance on their path to parenthood while also turning Lilly’s farm into their ultimate dream home,” so part of their plan might include getting married on their new property, as Mel suggested at the end of Season 5.

We’ll Get More Details About Mel’s Father
mel’s dad on virgin river season 5

(Image credit: Netflix)
Viewers (as well as Mel and her sister) were shocked to find out that the man who raised Mel was not her biological father. The finale saw this new character, Everett Reid, decide to be a part of her life after all, and left us with a big cliffhanger when he announced that he had something important to tell her.

As noted before, the new episodes will bring fans more of Everett, and when the showrunner spoke to Deadline about it in November 2023, he told the outlet:

I think [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 mom and then also what it is today, since it’s a small town. I grew up in a small town, everybody knows everybody, so everybody has an opinion of everybody. And I think that’s what we’re jumping into in Season 6 is that relationship of Everett with the town as well as Everett and Mel.

Sounds like there may be a reason why Everett has never been a major player in town, despite living there for so many years, and I can’t wait to learn more!

Filming Began In February 2024 And May Be Finished By Now
preacher and kaia hug at his house on virgin river season 5

(Image credit: Netflix)
When the surprise news came in February 2024 that a spinoff is being planned which will focus on Mel’s mother and her affair with Everett, it was also revealed by Deadline that production on the new season, which was delayed by the WGA and SAG/AFTRA strikes in 2023, had finally begun.

There was more good news at the end of May, when Martin Henderson (who will also direct an episode this season) took to Instagram and shared an update on filming, which noted that he was in the process of “shooting the last few scenes,” meaning that principal photography could have been completed within the first few days of June.

There Will Be 10 Episodes In Season 6

(Image credit: Netflix)
After action-packed fourth and fifth seasons that delivered two more episodes than Seasons 1-3 (for a total of 12) Virgin River will be returning to its tried and true episode count of 10 for the sixth installment. Smith noted to Deadline when talking about villains returning that this season will have 10 episodes, and that will probably be the case for the drama “moving forward.”

You can bet that more will be revealed about Virgin River Season 6 in the months to come, so be sure to bookmark this guide so you can stay updated on all the news!