‘Virgin River’: Hannah Will Become a Central Character in Season 5
Virgin River centers on a small town in Northern California. However, the small town has some major drama. From romances to drug lords and everything in between, fans have watched from the beginning as Los Angeles transplant, Mel Monroe (Alexandra Breckenridge), has navigated her new home and a super hot romance with Jack Sheridan (Martin Henderson).
Now, as the series presses forward into season 5, some new faces will get some major screen time. Hannah (played by Clare Filipow) will have a central role in season 5.
‘Virgin River’ Season 5 will focus on diversity and inclusion
With a new showrunner Patrick Sean Smith at the helm, things will be a bit different on Virgin River moving forward. Though the series has some main characters of color, including Preacher (Collin Lawrence), the world will expand outward.
“I’m hoping that in the future, we can bring more conversations to the table,” Breckenridge told Glamour. “In season five, we’re bringing some more LGBTQ stories into the show, which I think is wonderful. I’ve been fighting for diversity on the show since we started, and I think we’ve been slowly moving toward a lot of that. Certainly with our new showrunner and directors. Netflix is really trying to bring more inclusivity into programming.”
Hannah will become a central character in season 5
Speaking of diversity, Hannah, whom we met briefly in season 4, will become a central character in season 5. As we know, she is a waiter at Jack’s bar who has no qualms about sticking up for herself or other people.
She is also the first LGBTQ+ character in the series. “That actress is amazing. I’m excited to explore that character more.,” Smith told Entertainment Weekly of Filipow. “Not only through her character, there will be a little more LGBTQ representation in the show than there’s been in the past. I’m excited about bringing that in, but bringing it in a way that feels true and organic to Virgin River.”
‘Virgin River’ will likely get a massive time jump soon
The timeline for Virgin River moves extremely slowly. Fans were stunned that it took four seasons for Charmaine’s (Lauren Hammersley) pregnancy to be visible. It turns out that Mel has only been in the new town for a handful of months.
“Things move slowly in Virgin River,” Breckenridge told Glamour. “I think Mel’s only been in Virgin River for maybe four months,” Breckenridge guesses. “It’s a hundred and some odd days; there’s a chart for it. She’s only nine weeks pregnant at this point, and Charmaine is like five months, apparently.”
Since things are moving at such a snail’s pace, in order to move the story along more swiftly, a time jump will be needed in the near future.
“I’m like, ‘You guys, eventually, you’re gonna have to do a time jump because we’re just aging way too fast for a five-month span,'” Zibby Allen, who plays Brie, told TODAY. “But yeah, I think that the pregnancy thing was one of the first sort of tells because even I, when I was watching the show before I was on, was like, ‘Oh, this covers way more time in the story.’ And it really doesn’t.”
