Ever since its inception, Netflix’s iteration of Virgin River has been reliable when it comes to release schedules. Season 1 dropped in December 2019, Season 2 in November 2020, Season 3 in July 2021, Season 4 in July 2022, and Season 5 in September 2023 – aside from the last two Christmas specials, which came a month later.
As you can see, the creators don’t like to leave fans waiting. However, the road to the sixth chapter won’t be quite so straightforward, with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes causing delays to production.
The good news is that Netflix renewed Virgin River for Season 6 before the fifth chapter started streaming. But will we be seeing any new episodes in 2024?
Last week, Netflix shared previews of its 2024 slate, and Virgin River wasn’t on there. The reason being that Season 6 hasn’t started filming it yet, meaning it’s likely we won’t be seeing it until 2025 – and the news hasn’t gone down well with the fans.
Taking to Reddit, one wrote, “According to Deadline, Season 6 will not be released until 2025,” to which another replied, “This is ridiculous. They will lose a lot of viewers.” A third speculated, “All Netflix shows have been taking ridiculous amounts of time. People will unsubscribe and then resubscribe for that month.”
However, a fourth pointed out that Netflix had a “record breaking year,” adding: “Most analysts have said it’s definitively won the streaming wars due to its global scale and scope – it licenses content like Suits that broke records globally and it also has originals like Virgin River (but more popularly – Stranger Things, Squid Games, Bridgerton, etc). And its password crackdown gave them MORE subscribers – not less.
“So they can confidently push all these shows to 2025 knowing they have enough subscribers across licensed and original content to overcompensate for the churn of those who subscribe and unsubscribe timed to their fave shows.”
Another commented, “Even though there were the two strikes it just seems like they can at least give us a split season – like six episodes in the fall and then release the rest next spring. It’s a way to give us – the viewers – something right?”
“For a show with a short turnaround time, that’s nuts,” said a sixth. “It’s produced like a soap opera. Even with the strikes, there’s no reason for that. Waiting over a year for the show to progress two weeks (in show time???).”
Some are more hopeful, especially given filming is set to run from this month through to May. One suggested that while it’s likely to be released in 2025, “there’s a remote possibility that we see VR in the ending of 2024.”
We’ll just have to wait and see how this pans out – until then, you can find out more about the Season 6 time jump here.
