‘Virgin River’ Everything We Know About Season 8: Time Jump, New Couple

SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about Season 7 of Netflix‘s Virgin River.

After Season 7 picked up where Season 6 left off, immediately following Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge) and Jack’s (Martin Henderson) wedding, Virgin River will be bringing back the season-to-season time jump next season.

“We’ll start with a four-month time jump,” Virgin River executive producer/showrunner Patrick Sean Smith told Deadline about the 10-episode eighth season, which is slated to start production April 22 in Vancouver and wrap in early August.

There are no plans for it to be the veteran romantic drama’s final season, he said.

When Season 8 kicks off, it will reveal the outcome of Mel and Jack’s baby’s surgery. It will also find Denny “going through the application process and interviews” for medical schools after getting his MCAT scores, Smith said. In a postmortem interview with Deadline, Smith also teased Brady’s fate after the horrific accident in the finale, the return of Mel’s former crush Eli, introduced in the Season 7 finale, and a “complicated” relationship between Hope, her ex Roland and Doc in Season 8. Additionally, you can check out Deadline’s report on which Virgin River cast members are leaving after Season 7 and who is returning.

New Couple Alert

Season 8 has a surprise love match in store for two recurring characters, Muriel (Teryl Rothery) and Mel’s biological father Everett (John Allen Nelson).

The pairing comes as a bit of a shocker because Muriel looked happy and content with her supportive new beau Walt as she underwent cancer treatment in Season 7. (Walt’s own cancer journey was also revealed this season, which could potentially be a factor even though he was in remission.) Everett has not had a romantic interest on the show yet beyond the flashbacks with Mel’s late mom, Sarah.

“We’ll explore a new relationship for Muriel next season” with someone who “might be a little close to Mel,” Smith said, subsequently confirming that someone is Everett.

Season 8 Theme

In Season 7, Mel and Jack moved into their new house on the farm they bought after it had burnt in the fires (which Mel was able to furnish overnight with catalogue-worthy designs).

“We’re looking at the concept of feeling haunted by something, sacrifice, and, of course, rebirth as Jack is getting the farm up and running, and the natural cycle of things,” Smith said about the theme for next season.

Clay’s Search For His Sister

Cody Kearsley, who was introduced in Season 7 as Jack’s mysterious new farmhand Clay, will continue to recur next season as the rodeo star carries on with the search for his sister.

“We’ll pick up where we left off with his search for his sister, and Brie comes in to help him with it,” Smith said. “We’ll get into some sibling themes with Jack and Brie, who had a bit of a rough patch in their relationship in Season 8. That mirrors what’s going on with Clay and his sister.”

As for Clay’s sister, she is a new character that will be introduced next season, not someone we have seen on the show.

Despite the character of Clay having some darkness to him early on and the stashed gun, he won’t turn into a villain, Smith said.

“We never share everybody’s backstory, so we don’t know about somebody’s past or their skeletons in the closet, but in Season 8, he becomes Jack’s right-hand man on the farm as we start to expand that out.”

Jack & Preacher’s “Special Relationship”

Preacher’s (Colin Lawrence) bond with Jack had been unbreakable until now. It was left in the limbo by the finale with Preacher holding the buyout agreement for Jack’s Bar that would allow him to leave and open his own place, but he hesitated signing it.

“He’ll be in the show next year, but I think, Season 8, a part of it really focuses on the strength of Jack and Preacher’s friendship and the strength of that bond,” Smith said about Lawrence. “So regardless of how things work out in that regard, that’s always such a special relationship that we want to be very careful with.”

Miscellaneous

There has been a wedding or birth(s) in each of the last couple of seasons. Will that continue in Season 8?

“No plans for a wedding in Season 8,” Smith said.

While Marley and her boyfriend were making up her mind on giving their baby up for adoption, Mel and Jack managed to squeeze a short honeymoon filmed in Mexico for Virgin River‘s first shoot outside of Canada. Will there be more international trips?

“It worked out organically,” Smith said about the Mexico shoot. “I don’t want to turn it into The Brady Bunch where Mel and Jack go to Hawaii or anything. But I think if the opportunity presents itself, our production was able to pivot well and shoot in two different countries, which is no small order. So, if it seems right for the story, I think it would be great.”