Netflix Drops Massive 'Virgin River' News

The wait for Virgin River Season 5 will pay off. During its first-ever upfront presentation Wednesday in New York, Netflix not only announced that the long-awaited fifth season of the Alexandra Breckenridge and Martin Henderson-starring series will premiere this fall, but also confirmed that Virgin River has been renewed for Season 6.

Based on the Virgin River novels by Robyn Carr, the hit series follows Breckenridge's Melinda "Mel" Monroe, who moves from LA to a remote northern California town after answering an ad to work as a midwife and nurse practitioner. Hoping for a fresh start, she soon discovers that small-town living isn't quite as simple as she expected. Along with Breckenridge and Henderson, Virgin River also stars Alexandra Breckenridge, Tim Matheson, Annette O'Toole, Lauren Hammersley, Colin Lawrence, Grayson Gurnsey, and Sarah Dugdale. The series was last renewed in September 2021, when Netflix picked up Virgin River for two additional cycles, covering Season 4 and Season 5. The early Season 6 renewal isn't much of a surprise given the show's success.

The most recent season, which dropped in July 2022, garnered 277 million hours viewed in its first 28 days. It also ranked No. 1 on the Netflix streaming charts for two weeks and has ranked in the streamer's Global Top 10 for 10 weeks in more than 70 countries over its four seasons to date, per Deadline. Season 4 also surpassed Stranger Things during its debut week when it took the No. 1 position on Nielsen's weekly Top 10 Streaming chart with 2.6 billion minutes viewed within Season 4's first three days of availability, Variety reported at the time. On Rotten Tomatoes, Virgin River holds an overall 82% critics score and 60% audience score.

The Season 6 renewal comes as fans wait for Season 5, which Netflix confirmed will premiere at a date to be determined in the fall. The upcoming season, which began post-production in February, has seen a behind-the-scenes change, with Patrick Sean Smith taking over as showrunner from Sue Tenney. Amid the switch up, Netflix's Head Of Drama, Development Jinny Howe told Deadline that "Season 5 is going to continue to stay true to what fans have loved about the show from the beginning; it feels like a community that we all belong to and that we're all a part of, it's very comforting, it gives you hope, and I think all of that is stuff that people can't get enough of these days." A Season 5 premiere date will be announced at a later time.