We're not sure how we lasted this long without a new season of Virgin River, but here we are! It's been about a year since season 4 dropped, which might as well be a century ago at this point. Okay, okay—we might be overdoing it, but it's only because we miss our friends! Did we say friends? We meant the characters who make up the beautiful town of Virgin River. But even more so, we're dying to know the answers to the questions the Virgin River season 4 finale left us with!
To the show's credit, we did uncover something we've all been wanting to know: Jack is the father of Mel's baby. Everybody who watches the show could be heard letting out the biggest sigh of relief once that was cleared up. While many of the storylines are coming full circle, we still have some outstanding questions: Who is the father of Charmaine’s twins? Is Vince dead? Is Preacher going to take the fall for Wes’s death? And what does this mean for Preacher and Julia? (or Preacher and Paige for that matter!)
Well, the wait is finally over! Netflix revealed a fall premiere date and even shared a few first-look photos of the upcoming season. Here's everything we know about Virgin River season 5.
Is there a season 5 of Virgin River?
Yes! Back in January 2022, we were told that filming of season 5 was going to happen later than expected. And after lots of hearsay, Annette O'Toole (aka, Hope) confirmed with us in an exclusive interview that filming finally began in July of last year. Then in November, Virgin River confirmed they had wrapped up filming by posting a cute behind-the-scenes compilation video to their official Instagram page. "That’s a WRAP on Season 5! 😉," the video was captioned.
When will season 5 of Virgin River premiere?
It's official: Virgin River Season 5 will premiere on September 7, 2023. Though, that's not all: Virgin River will also be releasing two holiday episodes that premiere on November 30! (Consider this news an early Christmas gift!)
What will season 5 of Virgin River be about?
Buckle up, because this is pretty intense.
With Netflix's statement also came a bunch of photos, giving us a sneak peek at what's to come! You know what they say: a photo is worth a thousand words, and there are 13 new ones we can feast our eyes on.
We'll be honest: These photos are... concerning! While there are a few pictures of people smiling (emphasis on few), most of the photos show some very somber looks on the faces of Jack, Mel, Preacher, Doc... you get the point. Plus, there appears to be wildfires that shake up the entire town, intense court hearings, baby drama, and more. All of the photos can be found on Netflix's press site.
If that sounds like a lot, just wait 'til you hear this: In separate interviews, Martin Henderson (Jack), Alexandra Breckenridge (Mel), and Annette O'Toole (Hope) have spilled some details on what we can expect going forward.
After filming the beginning of the fifth season, Henderson gave Glamour a few hints about Jack's season 5 storyline. "The baby stuff gets really interesting. Obviously, I’m speaking without having read any of those actual scripts, but we’ve got some really nice…a lot of stuff gets wrapped up and then there’s a whole bunch of new beginnings, new story lines," he said. "I can’t give too much away. I know someone might move away. Someone might leave."
Meanwhile, Breckenridge told New Beauty that she thought season 5 included some of "best episodes we’ve ever done."
"I never say that either!" Breckenridge wanted to make clear. "I think that there’s a high sense of drama that starts to come up this season that it’s going to leave people on the edge of their seats. At least, I hope. I’m excited to get into that."
As for what we can expect, Breckenridge said that she thinks “this season has started out well, and we’re getting into a few episodes soon that are pretty heavy. They're really intense..."
In an interview with Screenrant, O'Toole said, "I'm hoping that there's going to be more of [Hope] doing her mayoral duties than we've seen her do. Politics on a local level like that is really interesting and we haven't really seen that side of her...And there will be another big event, which I can't say what it is, but that does seem to be a theme of every season where we do have one big thing where everybody comes together, and it's very exciting."
Josiah Soto is the assistant editor of news and social for The Pioneer Woman. He helps manage the website’s social channels, in addition to writing high-performing news and entertainment content daily.
