Virgin River fans still have a long wait until the show returns to Netflix for Season 5, but with production currently underway in Vancouver, behind-the-scenes photos are offering a glimpse at the small-town drama to come.
As you may recall, here’s how the show’s fourth season ended: Denny revealed to Lizzie that he has Huntington’s disease; the Preacher–Paige–Wes drama reached a fatal conclusion; Brie’s abusive ex re-entered her life in a big way; Charmaine admitted that Jack isn’t actually the father of her twins; and Jack (who is the father of Mel’s baby!) finally proposed to the woman he loves.
And based on all of those developments, we’re a little surprised to see certain characters together on set. Heck, we’re surprised to see certain characters there at all!
Scroll down for more teases from Virgin River Season 5, complete with insight from new showrunner Patrick Sean Smith. When you’re done, drop a comment with your hopes for the show’s future below.
Here we see Mel and Jack in their natural habitat, enjoying a scenic mountain hike. What, did you expect them to be stuck inside wedding planning all season? Not likely.
“Mel and Jack are such an epic couple that you really want to savor things as much as you can,” Smith tells TVLine of the couple’s eventual nuptials. “We don’t want things to ever feel like they’re stalled, but we also want to enjoy [their engagement] while we can. So we’re moving at that pace with all of the things they have ahead of them, anticipating [a wedding] down the road.”
“We’d love to see him interact with other characters he hasn’t yet,” Smith tells TVLine about Preacher in Season 5.
And by the looks of things, Colin Lawrence’s character is certainly mixing it up with more townsfolk.
“We’re also going deeper into his non-romantic life,” Smith says of Preacher. “We don’t know a lot about him.”
And nothing says “non-romantic” like a day out with Preacher and his fellow Marines.
Denny may not want to pursue a relationship with Lizzie, due to his Huntington’s disease diagnosis, but it doesn’t look like she’s giving up on him in Season 5.
“If you know [my work in ABC Family cancer drama Chasing Life], you know how I’m gong to approach that relationship,” Smith tells TVLine of Denny and Lizzie. “I don’t want to focus on the dark and the sadness. People in the Huntington’s community would want to see the same. That was one that was tricky for me, but it goes back to what I earned on Chasing Life. Take a story that has the potential to go into a dark place and find a way around it.”
Brie is going to be wading through some dark, serious territory following the return of her abusive ex, but at least she’ll always have these two to lean on. (Seriously, are we #TeamBrady or #TeamMike here?)
Jack may not be the father of Charmaine’s twins, but judging by this behind-the-scenes photo snapped by actress Lauren Hammersley (alongside Tim Matheson and Annette O’Toole as Doc and Hope), it doesn’t look like she’ll be leaving her ex’s orbit anytime soon.
Cameron ended the show’s fourth season at odds (or at least at awkwardness) with several Virgin River residents. But this shot of actor Mark Ghanimé on set with Matheson has us thinking that his exit strategy won’t prove successful.
All Smith will confirm is that Cameron is “in the first episode.” The mystery continues!
One character you won’t see in these behind-the-scenes photos is actor Grayson Gurnsey. Ricky left town for basic training in the Season 4 finale, which could keep him off our screens for quite some time.
“The timeline was set that he would be in basic training until December,” Smith says, reminding us that the show’s naturally slower pace will make it feel like Ricky has been gone even longer. “I won’t say [you’ll have to wait until] Season 10, but he’s a fan favorite. Everybody loves him. We’ll probably see Ricky at some point down the road.”
