Virgin River – Picture: Netflix
Virgin River season 4 is officially a go at Netflix after the streaming service has given the show a two-season order (renewed through to season 5). Here’s an updated everything we know so far about season 4 of Virgin River including the two new faces you’ll see going forward and what we can expect going into the fourth season.
Editor’s note: This preview was first published in July 2021 but has been updated monthly to reflect new developments with the most recent update being in October 2021.
Quick recap before we dive into the future of the series. Virgin River is a drama series adapting the Robyn Carr series of novels. It focuses on Mel, a young midwife and nurse practitioner who moves out of the big city to a small rustic town in Northern California.
Throughout the show’s three seasons we’ve seen Mel introduced to a myriad of different people throughout the town laying down her roots and seen plenty of drama throughout.
Season 1 was first released on Netflix all the way back in December 2019 with subsequent releases in November 2020 and most recently season 3 in July 2021.
Has Netflix Renewed Virgin River for Season 4?
Official renewal status: Officially renewed (Last updated: 07/26/2021)
On September 20th, Netflix confirmed to USAToday that season 4 was going ahead and not only that, the show would return for a season 5 at Netflix too. Multi-season orders are rare at Netflix but is a testament to the series popularity.
ICYMI: Virgin River has been renewed for a fourth and fifth season! pic.twitter.com/asZhZDT6O4
— What’s on Netflix (@whatonnetflix) October 20, 2021
Of course, we’ve been reporting about season 4 of Virgin River existing long before the official renewal came.
Earlier in 2021, we reported that several production listings listed the show to be coming back for a fourth season. Better yet, we later got word that filming on season 4 was due to begin at the end of July 2021.
The show films entirely in Vancouver, Canada.
RadioTimes Lauren Morris conducted an interview with Tim Matheson who plays Vernon Doc. This interview took place soon after the season 3 premiere who confirmed our reports saying that filming was due to begin “any day now”.
Thanks to a post from Watershed Grill on Instagram, we also knew that filming was taking place there between August 17th and 18th, 2021 (and multiple times afterward).
The Watershed Grill serves as the filming location for Jack’s bar in Virgin River.
Additional filming took place at The Watershed Grill between August 30th and September 2nd.
Filming for Watershed Grill – Picture: Instagram
Filming is currently penciled to finish on November 30th, 2021.
A swift renewal shouldn’t come as a huge surprise for followers of the show. Both seasons 2 and 3 before were renewed ahead of their season debuts on Netflix. This was especially the case for season 3 which was filmed during the release of season 2.
Top 10 data also continues to support that Virgin River is a big hit for Netflix although the streaming service has never released official numbers.
Since the top 10s were introduced, the show has featured in the top 10s for 75 days in total. For season 3, the show was #1 in the United States for just over two weeks and eventually dropped out of the top 10s over a month later.
Nielsen’s top 10s also ranked the series the number 1 watched series between July 12th and July 18th with 2,109 million minutes watched during that week beating out Manifest (on Netflix) and Loki (on Disney+).
Virgin River – Picture: Netflix
Reacting to the news of a dual renewal, Martin Henderson said:
“Yep. This is happening. Such a relief to finally share this news with all of you who’ve been patiently waiting. Virgin River Season 4 and 5 are in the works thanks to all of you passionate fans….thank you!! so much more drama to come…”
Colin Lawrence posted on Instagram saying:
“So excited to share with you that our little show has been picked up for two seasons!!!! Thank you all for being the best fans ever!!!!!”
Best of all, Colin announced that season 4 would be even longer than previous seasons. The episode count for season 4 has been expanded to 12 episodes from 10.
New cast members for Virgin River Season 4
In late October 2021, Netflix announced two new characters that would feature in season 4 of Virgin River.
Mark Ghanimé, known for his stint on Helix, will play Dr. Cameron Hayek. He’s Virgin River’s brand new physician who is “armed with eye-catching good looks, a razor-sharp intellect, and a smile that could light up the world, Cameron makes an immediate splash in town – especially with the ladies of Virgin River.”
Also starring is Kai Bradbury who will play Denny Cutler who is Doc’s long-lost grandson. Denny comes bearing a secret despite best intentions to rekindle a relationship with his grandfather.
Mark Ghanimé (left) and Kai Bradbury (right)
When will season 4 of Virgin River be on Netflix?
With filming taking place so early, the means that we shouldn’t have to wait a ridiculous length of time for the new season.
With that said, don’t go expecting a 2021 release for season 4.
Instead, we’re currently predicting that Virgin River season 4 should return in 2022 with it most likely being in Q2-Q3 2022 (anywhere between April and July 2022).
VIRGIN RIVER (L to R) KEITH MACKECHNIE as NICK, TIM MATHESON as DOC MULLINS, and TREVOR LERNER as BERT in episode 301 of VIRGIN RIVER Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021
What to expect from Virgin River season 4
Mel’s big story going into season 4 is that she’s pregnant although the actual father has yet to be revealed. That’s believed to be revealed by the end of season 4.
Brady’s future looks to be in jeopardy given that he’s been arrested for the shooting of Jack at the end of season 2.
We should see the return of Hope in season 4 although in what form is yet to be seen. She was absent for most of season 3 (mainly due to not being allowed to travel to film) but we learned that she was visiting her aunt in another state. On the way back, however, she had been hospitalized after an accident in the storm when returning to Virgin River.
VIRGIN RIVER (L to R) TIM MATHESON as DOC MULLINS and STACEY FARBER as TARA in episode 309 of VIRGIN RIVER Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021
Crossing to Doc Mullins (husband of Hope), he’ll continue to battle his disease (macular degeneration) which has been slowly progressing throughout season 3. Sue Tenney, who serves as the showrunner for Virgin River, spoke to Entertainment Weekly about what we can expect from Hope in season 4 saying:
“To us, it’s the recovery and what she’s dealing with – a traumatic brain injury. In a hospital and going through recovery, that’s not really where our show lives.
But we’re very committed to what the truth of something is, so we’ll go to the edge of what’s the best recovery for this.
We always stick with the parameters, medically, but also we know at this point what we like to do, which are complicated emotionally drama-based stories.”
It’s been confirmed that Lynda Boyd will return for season 4 in the form of flashbacks according to an interview with the actress.
Daniel Gillies has teased a return to the show too saying:
“Here’s what I’ll say, somewhat enigmatically, the good news about being the dead husband is that you can appear at any time. I’ll leave it at that.”
On the show’s Instagram account, they rarely give too many hints about what we can expect but did recently ask for suggestions for Jack’s specials board that sits outside the restaurant.
Billboard at Jack’s Bar
Will there be a season 6 of Virgin River?
This is way too early to be talking about but we have had some hints about whether the show could go on beyond its now announced fifth season.
Speaking before the announcement to Us Weekly, the showrunner Sue Tenney teased that they “want to do as many seasons as we can”. There’s a mountain of source material to cover in future seasons so the door is wide open.
If you’re looking for something else to stream in the meantime, head on over to our top recommendations on shows similar to Virgin River.
As for keeping up-to-date with Virgin River announcements, either follow us or follow the official Instagram page for Virgin River which has been a great exclusive source of behind-the-scenes snaps and more.
You’ll find videos and photos like the recently uploaded video on set celebrating the birthday of Martin Henderson.
Are you looking forward to season 4 of Virgin River on Netflix? Let us know in the comments down below.