Two of Netflix’s most popular comfort shows have set their returns, with one coming back sooner than later.
Virgin River Season 7 will premiere Thursday, March 12, the streamer announced on Wednesday. If you need a reminder of what happened at the end of last season, we don’t blame you since it will have been a 15-month wait by the time the new season is released. Last we saw, Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge) and Jack (Martin Henderson) had gotten hitched, and then in the final moments of the Season 6 finale, mom-to-be Marley approached Mel and offered up her soon-to-arrive baby! Showrunner Patrick Sean Smith told Tudum that “we’ve only just begun to see Mel and Jack function as a married couple, which is exciting.” Season 7 will “explore the honeymoon phase for them as they’re building their lives on the farm, which can come with its own obstacles,” he added.
The upcoming season will feature several new additions: Austin Nichols (One Tree Hill), Sara Canning (The Vampire Diaries) and Cody Kearsley (Riverdale). Canning will play Victoria, an ex-cop who now works for the state medical board and comes to Virgin River to investigate Doc’s practice. In the process, she “runs into a friend whom she wouldn’t mind catching up with…or maybe more,” our sister site Deadline reported. Kearsley will portray Clay, who’s looking for his younger sister with whom he grew up in the foster care system. No details are currently available about Nichols’ character.
Virgin River fans also got some very good news in July 2025: The show has already been renewed for Season 8! Get a first look at the upcoming seventh season below:
Meanwhile, Sweet Magnolias Season 5 will be released Thursday, June 11, 16 months after its last season wrapped up. At the end of the Netflix drama’s fourth season, Helen (Heather Headley) and her ex, Erik Whitley (Dion Johnstone), got engaged, while Maddie’s oldest son Ty (Carson Rowland) and Dana Sue’s daughter Annie (Anneliese Judge) confessed their feelings for each other — but she’s going to college in California, and he’s planning tour all over Europe with his band. Elsewhere, Maddie (JoAnna Garcia Swisher) accepted a marketing job at a publishing house in New York City, which will take her away from the town of Serenity. But the Magnolias’ bond will remain strong, as seen in the below Season 5 first-look photo of the trio in New York’s Central Park.
For Maddie, life in the Big Apple is a big change, but “she’s adjusting. It’s definitely been a roller coaster,” Garcia Swisher previously told Soaps.com. While the city has bright lights and excitement, the lure of home is also strong. “I’m back in Serenity now, currently,” the actress revealed during a break from filming. “So I don’t know if that’s spoiler or not, but a lot happens.”