According to Deadline, Virgin River has received an early renewal, breaking another record for Netflix. Several days after production ended on the seventh season, starring Martin Henderson (The Ring, Grey’s Anatomy) and Alexandra Breckenridge (She’s the Man, This is Us), it became renewed for Season Eight, which will have 10 episodes. 

With this new season, Virgin River will be Netflix’s longest-running live-action scripted series, exceeding Orange Is the New Black, Grace and Frankie, and Elite in terms of production hours and episode count, via Deadline. 

The series is based on Robyn Carr (Whispering Rock, Shelter Mountain)’s novels and it has a comfortable and enjoyable premise: the relationships among characters in a small town, shooting in Canada’s beautiful locations with minimal special effects, a strong cast led by Henderson, Breckenridge, Tim Matheson (Animal House, Buried Alive), and Annette O’Toole (Cat People, Superman III). Thus, it is not surprising that the series has surpassed other higher-profile shows on Netflix, Deadline adds. 

Virgin River appeared in the Global Top 10 English TV List 30 times, accumulating over 140 million views, and Season Six recently debuted at #1 on the Top 10 (English) and it stayed on the list for four weeks. Furthermore, the series spent 38 weeks on the Nielsen Top 10 since its debut, as mentioned by Deadline. 

Deadline states that another aspect into the rapid order for Season Eight is the consideration of fan frustration over the long gaps in between seasons. These gaps have been stretching for up to two years, because of 2023 strikes, and streamers have been stepping up on early renewals to reduce the wait time. Virgin River has delivered a new season every year after the 2019 launch, renewing for Season Seven last October four months after the end of Season Six production. The premiere date for Season Seven has not yet been set, but it is expected to debut as early as December 2025, but most probably in January-February 2026. 

Virgin River is a romance story centered around Melinda Monroe (Breckenridge), a nurse practitioner that moved from a remote California town to Virgin River. In search of a fresh start, she discovered that small-town life isn’t as easy as she thought and she had to learn how to work on herself and healing before she could consider Virgin River home, Deadline notes. 

Season Seven of Virgin River is executive produced by Amy Palmer Robertson (The Good Witch, Good Witch), showrunner Patrick Sean Smith (Chasing Life, Greek), Roma Roth (Sullivan’s Crossing, Supercollider), Sue Tenney (Good Witch, 7th Heaven), Erin Cardillo (The Suite Life on Deck, The Truth), Carr, Richard Keith (I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show), Christopher E. Perry (Sullivan’s Crossing, The Black Widow Killer), and Jennifer Monroe (Jackie, The Grey). Co-executive producers include Thomas Ian Griffith (Vampires, Cobra Kai), Jackson Sinder (Ice, Your Monster), Ian Hay (My Life with the Walter Boys, Devil in Ohio), and Mary Page Keller (Venomous, Duet), via Deadline. 

The Season Seven returning cast includes Henderson, Breckenridge, O’Toole, Matheson, Benjamin Hollingsworth (Code Black, The Joneses), Grazzini, Colin Lawrence (Riverdale, iZombie), Sarah Dugdale (The Hollow, Sugar Babies), Allen, Kandyse McClure (Ghost Wars, The Client List), and Kai Bradbury (Motherland, Menendez: Blood Brothers), Deadline finally adds. 

Read more about Virgin River on Deadline.