played two characters who couldn’t be more different at the same

time this past year: villainous Leslie Larr on  and resident Tara,

who lost her mother Lilly, in the third season of the Netflix drama.

“That was really difficult as well to perform, but in a completely different way [from Leslie], which is the whole fun,” Farber tells TV Insider. “What’s weird is that I was filming both of these shows at the same time because they both shoot in Vancouver and they obviously both filmed this year in the pandemic. So at the beginning, I was going back and forth between those two characters and they couldn’t be farther apart: One is a super sweet farm girl who’s losing her mother and feeling everything, and the other is a Kryptonian metahuman who has no feeling and wants to kill people. So it was a fun challenge for me as an actor.”

And that came during what she called a “heavy” arc for Tara. Her mom died of pancreatic cancer. But following the funeral, an “anonymous donor” Mel) set up a trust for Tara and her baby sister, Chloe. It covers extra help and maintenance for the farm, so they don’t have to move.

If there is a Season 4 — Netflix has yet to make a decision on the romantic drama’s future — Farber isn’t sure what’s next for her character. “I think it could go any number of ways, but I would imagine that if she were to stick around, I think she’d still be grieving her mom and figuring out what her life is without her,” she speculates. “Her mom played a hugely important role in her day-to-day life and they live together and she has her baby sister who she would now have to be responsible for. So I think there’s a lot of that to figure out at home.”

Fortunately, Tara’s in the perfect place to do so. We’ve already seen other characters (including Mel) figuring out their next steps in that small town. “It’s a very supportive and cozy place,” Farber agrees. “I can’t really imagine a better place to be going through something tough emotionally.”

Virgin River, Seasons 1-3, Streaming Now, Netflix