Fans of popular shows like Dawson’s Creek even Royal pains, sit down. Netflix has a slightly new offering that’s sure to excite you – but you might already know that. virgin river, now available on the popular streamer, certainly has that old school feel when it comes to the TV drama realm. The pace is leisurely and the juicy relationships burn to the max.
The first season of virgin river debuted on Netflix in December 2019 and it’s hard to believe that 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 popular streamer last July. While we wait for 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.
Storyline and cast of Netflix’s hit series
First, let’s take a step back for those who aren’t in the know – or need a refresher course. After all, there’s an insane amount of television content out there these days, especially among streamers like Hulu, Disney+, and Prime Video — in addition to Netflix, of course. virgin river follows Melinda “Mel” Monroe, who responds to an ad to work as a midwife and nursing specialist in the remote Northern California town of Virgin River, thinking it’s the perfect place to start over and put her painful memories behind her to leave. 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 merry characters, you’d imagine this is the ideal place to base yourself and get away from the mundane hustle and bustle of city life. For Mel, however, things aren’t as easy as she expected, and she soon realizes that she needs to heal herself first and foremost. It’s only when she meets Jack (Martin Henderson), the owner of the local bar, that things start to heat up and become interesting, to say the least. Over the course of the first four seasons, we learn a lot more about Jack’s backstory, including his own painful memories of 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 said Glamor magazine, about shooting intensely emotional scenes for the final season. “You’re aware that you’re revealing things that have been latent and in the dark, so to then bring it to light… there’s something exciting about that. It’s very revealing about who this guy is and what he’s with Creatively I think “It’s really exciting, but psychologically it’s kind of scary. No one really likes to touch that kind of thing in their own life, right? We are all very good at avoiding the darker, more painful emotions. As an actor, it’s your job, but there’s a fear that it won’t work, or that it can’t get there emotionally.”
Virgin River Shooting Locations
So, where exactly does the magic happen? Well, it’s pretty magical how, per Forbes, virgin river rocketed to the top of Netflix’s charts during its streaming run. If that tidbit surprises you, it might be more shocking that a show set in California – a state where most of the film and TV production takes place – isn’t even filmed in the Golden State. For example, Season 1 was shot primarily in Vancouver, Canada. 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 really exist. If you want to experience the beauty firsthand, as depicted in those often glamorous shots tucked into the critically acclaimed Netflix series, check out Vancouver’s more detailed overview of the tourist hotspots at Destination Vancouver.
Future of the streaming show
“Mel is dealing with that and then she’s dealing 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 hasn’t talked to anyone about it and he usually refuses to,” Breckenridge once told Parade about the final season.”[Mel] has to push and push and push to the point where it becomes kind of dangerous for Mel and her baby to be in a relationship with someone who could potentially get drunk and become volatile. She doesn’t know. She knows she loves him and will always be there for him no matter what. But it’s really hard for her to balance all these things.”
While Breckenridge couldn’t comment on the upcoming season in her Parade interview mentioned above, there’s no denying that Season 4 had a lot of complicated circumstances – without giving too much away. While it answered some lingering questions, it gave us a great ending that left 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 up, so we expect the final product to hit the masses in the summer, just like last time.