‘Virgin River’ Season 6: Everything We Know

Virgin River. (L to R) Martin Henderson as Jack Sheridan, Alexandra Breckenridge as Mel Monroe in Virgin River – Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2023

Netflix is returning to Virgin River for a highly anticipated sixth season, which was announced ahead of season 5 premiering in 2023. Filming was originally scheduled to begin on the new season in the summer of 2023, but the show has been one of the titles caught up in the strikes. Let’s dig into everything known about the upcoming sixth season of the feel-good drama Virgin River.

Renewal for Virgin River came in May 2023, when we got news at Netflix’s Upfront Event that the show had been handed a sixth season renewal ahead of Virgin River season 5, hitting with its first part in September. The early renewal has become a habit of the show, with every season given an early renewal (and often filming ahead of the announcement) since season 2.

The future of Virgin River continues to look pretty safe on Netflix. Jinny Howe, who is the head of scripted drama at the streamer, teased in an interview with Deadline in August 2022 that so long as fans keep turning out for the series, “you can rest assured that there will be more Virgin River.”

Season 5 of the show saw some big changes, particularly behind the scenes, with a new showrunner coming on board. The show was split into two halves, with episodes 1 through 10 added on September 7, 2023. The remaining two episodes, which are holiday-themed, will be dropping on November 30, 2023.

Christmas episode for Virgin River – Picture: Netflix

What to Expect from Virgin River Season 6

It’s a little too early to go super deep into what we can expect from the sixth season, given we’ve still got the Christmas episodes to release on November 30th.

With that said, the showrunner for Virgin River season 6 spoke to Glamour Magazine about the show’s future and gave away some hints. Patrick Sean Smith teased that the events of the upcoming Christmas episodes will “directly propel us into season 6.”

Other insights from that interview included:

• Ava will be returning in season 6.
• We will see a resolution for Preacher in season 6 and how complicated his relationship with Kaia is, but Smith says he’s worried for Preacher’s future.
• The relationship between Cameron and Muriel will be explored further.

Of course, going into the Christmas episodes, the big question lingering on most people’s minds will be who is Mel’s father.

Where is Virgin River season 6 in production?

According to our sources, writing on the sixth season had begun in early 2023, although Netflix declined to comment consistently until the May 2023 renewal announcement.

Cameras were due to begin rolling in the summer of 2023. In fact, numerous sources state that production was originally scheduled to begin on July 24, 2023, with the show reportedly still continuing to have a budget of between $3 and $5 million per episode.

SAG-AFTRA (the union representing actors) would go on strike just a couple of weeks earlier than that start date and have been on strike ever since, meaning that the production start for Virgin River season 6 (set to take place in Vancouver, Canada again) is now delayed indefinitely.

Thankfully, the writer’s strike ended in September 2023, meaning that the writer’s room could continue for the sixth season. On October 10th, the Virgin River Series account posted the first look at the writers involved in season 6 along with the caption:

“Thrilled to have our writing team back in action, diving into Season 6!”

Picture: Instagram / VirginRiverSeries

Thanks to The Viewer’s Perspective, we can put the names of the faces in the picture:

• Patrick Sean Smith
• Erin Cardillo
• Richard Keith
• Tesia Joy Walker
• Mary Page Keller
• Thomas Ian Griffith
• Jackson Aaron Sinder
• Ildiko Susany
• Becky Hartman Edwards

Also on the writing team are Nate Tedford, Jen Troy, and Rachel Borders.

Ahead of the writers room re-opening, Smith told Glamour Magazine in their interview that they’ve “half of season six written, so now we just have to get back for the second half.”

Of course, a new filming date cannot be scheduled until the SAG-AFTRA strike is resolved, which looks like it should happen sometime in October 2023, but things are very much still in motion.

When will Virgin River season 6 be released on Netflix?

Without cameras rolling until very late 2023 or, more likely at this point, 2024, seeing the show return before the close of 2024 seems like it may be a hard target to hit.

At the moment, we’re currently predicting a very late 2024 or 2025 release date for Virgin River season 6.

Throughout the strikes, numerous producers, writers, and actors suggested that the longer the strikes, the more likely a 2025 release date would be. That sentiment was on display via an Instagram post by executive producer Rich Keith, stating:

“All I want for Christmas is my two… uninions to get a fair deal from the AMPTP. If they don’t hurry up there won’t be any #VirginRiver on @Netflix until 2025…”

Ahead of the sixth season’s release on Netflix, Virgin River will be getting some more content in the form of a new title within the Netflix Stories app.

Netflix Stories App with Virgin River

Are you looking forward to watching Virgin River season 6 on Netflix? Sound off in the comments below.