‘Virgin River’: First Look At Mel’s Parents Played By Jessica Rothe & Callum Kerr As Netflix Mulls Potential Prequel
EXCLUSIVE: As Deadline reported exclusively in February, the upcoming sixth season of Netflix’s Virgin River, which focuses on Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge) and Jack’s (Martin Henderson) nuptials, will also feature Mel’s late mother Sarah and biological father, Everett, in flashbacks. We can now reveal that Jessica Rothe (Happy Death Day, All My Life) and Callum Kerr (Monarch, One Piece) have been cast in the roles and offer first-look images of them as Sarah and Everett in Season 6.
The recurring characters are being introduced as Netflix is exploring an expansion of the Virgin River universe with a prequel following Sarah and Everett’s origin story.
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Seen in flashbacks mostly set in or around 1972, Sarah (Rothe) is a witty, free spirit from the big city with an ardent passion for activism, and trying to avoid the conventional/traditional life of a young woman in the ’70s. Always up for an adventure, she can’t help chasing an instant spark with a handsome musician, Everett (Kerr), that might just be her star-crossed soulmate.
Everett is a singer-songwriter with a poet’s soul. One day he’ll pursue his dreams of the stage, but for now, he’s skimming through life in a VW Van, until a chance meeting with a beautiful hitchhiker, Sarah, may just show him there’s more to life than he ever thought possible.
Present-day Everett, who was revealed in the Virgin River Season 5 Christmas special as Mel’s biological father, is played on the show by John Allen Nelson. As series showrunner Patrick Sean Smith teased in a post-special Q&A with Deadline, Season 6 will be exploring “who Everett Reid is, what his backstory is, what his connection to Virgin River was when he met her mom and then also what it is today; the relationship of Everett with the town as well as Everett and Mel.”
Before the upcoming 1970s storyline, Sarah had not been seen on the show, at least not in a meaningful way.
The upcoming season’s official logline references the 1970s flashbacks: “Against the backdrop of Mel and Jack’s romantic spring wedding season, this sixth installment promises fresh twists and turns, escalating love triangles, delightful wedding drama, as well as uncovered secrets from Mel’s father’s past which will transport us to the magic and mystique of Virgin River in the 1970s.”
In addition to Breckenridge and Henderson, Virgin River‘s series-regular cast for Season 6 includes Tim Matheson, Annette O’Toole, Colin Lawrence, Benjamin Hollingsworth, Zibby Allen, Sarah Dugdale, Marco Grazzini, Kai Bradbury and Kandyse McClure.
Season 6 directors are Martin Wood, Rama Rau, Felipe Rodriguez, star Martin Henderson and Monika Mitchell. Writers include Patrick Sean Smith, Jackson Sinder, Erin Cardillo, Rich Keith, Ildiko Susany, Thomas Ian Griffith, Mary Page Keller, Tesia Walker and Becky Hartman Edwards. The series is executive produced by Smith, Sue Tenney, Amy Palmer Robertson, Roma Roth, Christopher E. Perry, Robyn Carr, Cardillo and Keith.
Both Rothe and Kerr are coming out in other high-profile Netflix series. Rothe will be seen in new medical drama series Pulse; Kerr was cast as Smoker in Season 2 of One Piece. Rothe is repped by UTA, Brillstein, Sloane Offer Weber & Dern; Kerr is repped by UK’s Revolution Talent, Roar and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.
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