Few were expecting a miracle, but the update is still a devastating one.

It’s been a month and a half since the two Virgin River Christmas specials hit Netflix,

wrapping up the mayhem of Season 5. Even now, six weeks later, it’s hard to stop thinking

about the dramatic new trials ahead for Mel, Jack, and everyone else in the quaint and serene Northern California town. A considerable amount of time has passed since the episodes were released, but unfortunately that doesn’t mean the new sixth season is any closer.

Against the backdrop of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes that shut down nearly all activity in the American film and television industry for several months, few of us Virgin River fans were counting on the upcoming season being released in 2024, as nearly every popular series, including Netflix’s flagships, experienced serious production delays. However, according to one of the latest reports, the filming of Virgin River Season 6 is just around the corner, only we’ll have to wait impatiently for its release for another year.

Season 6 Was Set for an Earlier Release

Given the enormous success of the show, Netflix announced the sixth season of Virgin River in May 2023, four months before the release of the first part of Season 5. Under these circumstances, filming should have started last summer, which could have resulted in the release of Season 6 in the first half of 2024.

Filming Schedule Announced

Fortunately, with the end of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, the industry is slowly regaining its footing and the Virgin River production team is finally getting back to work. Apparently, the script is now complete and filming for Season 6 will begin very soon.

According to What’s on Netflix, filming will begin on February 2, 2024 and wrap up four months later on May 17, 2024. Of course, this is great news because we know that the resumption of production of our favorite series will happen very soon. However, there is not much to be excited about since it implies that the premiere will not happen in the near future.

When Can We Expect the Return of Virgin River?

Back in September, Virgin River executive producer and writer Richard Keith hinted that a new season was unlikely to be seen before 2025

Both unions did indeed hurry up and managed to sign contracts with the AMPTP that were satisfactory for the industry workers. Nevertheless, Keith’s prediction seems to have come true, as we really shouldn’t expect a new season this year.

Typically, it takes about 7-10 months from filming Virgin River to post-production and release on Netflix: Season 4 was released nearly eight months after filming wrapped, and Season 5 was released ten months later. So if filming does indeed wrap by May 17, Netflix will release the new season early next year.Of course, there’s a chance that the production team could wrap up by November-December and deliver a season like the last two specials before Christmas, but it’s more likely that Netflix will choose to draw even more attention to Virgin River by releasing Season 6 just in time for the holidays, or even after.