Fans of hit shows like Dawson’s Creek and even Royal Pains, take a seat. Netflix has a somewhat new offering that will surely tickle your fancy — but perhaps you already knew that. Virgin River, now available on the hit streamer, certainly has that old-school feel when it comes to the TV drama realm. The pace is leisurely, and the juicy relationships are slow-burn to the max.
The first season of Virgin River debuted on Netflix back in December 2019, and it’s hard to believe season 4 has already reached the masses. Last year, the series was renewed for a fifth season in addition to the fourth, which dropped on the hit streamer this past July. As we await the release of Virgin River’s highly anticipated fifth season, here’s a closer look at where the magic happens — that is, where the series is filmed.
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Storyline and Cast of Netflix’s Hit Series
First, let’s take a step back for those not up to speed — or who need a refresher. After all, there is an outrageous amount of television content out there these days, particularly among streamers like Hulu, Disney+ and Prime Video — in addition to Netflix, of course. Virgin River follows Melinda “Mel” Monroe, who answers an ad to work as a midwife and nurse practitioner in the remote Northern California town of Virgin River, thinking it will be the perfect place to start fresh and leave her painful memories behind. She had lost her baby to stillbirth, followed by her husband in a car accident.
With a picturesque backdrop of pine forests, rivers, log cabins, and a small population of fun-loving characters, you would imagine it being the ideal place to settle and be away from the humdrum hustle and bustle of city life. However, for Mel, it isn’t quite as simple as she expected it to be, and she soon realizes that she needs to heal herself first and foremost. It’s when she then meets Jack (Martin Henderson), the owner of the local bar, that things start to heat up and get interesting, to say the least. Over the course of the first four seasons, we learn much more about Jack’s backstory, which includes his own painful memories about a brother he lost at a young age.
“Those scenes are a mixture of excitement because they’re big moments for the characters,” Henderson once told Glamour Magazine, about shooting intensely emotional scenes for the latest season. “You’re aware that you are revealing stuff that’s been latent and in the dark, so to then bring it to light…there’s something exciting about that. It’s very revealing of who this man is and what he’s dealing with. Creatively, I find it really exciting, but psychologically it’s a bit scary. No one really likes touching on that stuff in their own life, right? We’re all really, really good at avoiding the darker, more painful emotions. As an actor, it’s your job, but there’s a fear of it not working, or of not being able to get there emotionally.”
Virgin River Shooting Locations
Reel World Management
So, where exactly does the magic happen? Well, it’s pretty magical how, per Forbes, Virgin River skyrocketed to the top of Netflix’s charts during its streaming run. If that little factoid comes as a surprise to you, perhaps it’s more shocking that a show that’s set in California — a state that hosts the majority of film and TV production — doesn’t even shoot in the Golden State. Season 1 was primarily shot in Vancouver, Canada, for example. Overall, the Netflix series was also filmed in other parts of British Columbia, including Snug Cove, New Westminster, Squamish, Agassiz, and Port Coquitlam. And sadly, the town of Virgin River doesn’t actually exist. If you’d like to experience the beauty first-hand, as depicted in those frequently glamourous shots stuffed into Netflix’s acclaimed series, check out Vancouver’s more detailed breakdown of its tourist hotspots via Destination Vancouver.
Future of the Streaming Show
“Mel is dealing with that and then she has to deal with Jack’s not just sobriety, it’s not really about sobriety. He’s dealing with his trauma. His PTSD is so huge for him, he’s not talked to anybody about it and he mostly refuses to,” Breckenridge once told Parade regarding the latest season. “[Mel] has to push and push and push to the point where it becomes sort of dangerous for Mel and her baby to be in a relationship with somebody that could potentially become a drunk, and turn volatile. She doesn’t know. She knows that she loves him and is always going to be there for him no matter what. But it’s really difficult for her to balance all of these things.”
While Breckenridge wasn’t able to comment on the upcoming season in her Parade interview mentioned above, there’s no denying that season 4 saw a lot of complicated circumstances — without giving too much away. Although it answered some lingering questions, it did give us a bombshell ending, leaving us wondering what’s next for Mel, Jack and others down the road. The official Virgin River Instagram account confirmed in November that filming for season 5 has wrapped, so we expect the finished product to hit the masses during the summer, just like last time.
