Virgin River is one of the most-watched shows on Netflix. The drama series follows Mel Monroe (Alexandra Breckenridge) and her now-fiancé Jack Sheridan (Martin Henderson). The series also centers on the other small town residents who buzz around the happy couple.
Hope McCrea (Annette O’Toole), the town’s mayor, has been a major character since Season 1. However, she was largely absent from the third season of the show. Now O’Toole is explaining exactly why she was not in that season.
After being mostly absent from Virgin River Season 3, Hope returned to Virgin River after having a terrible car accident and worked diligently to regain her footing following a head injury. Now when Season 5 premieres in 2023, fans can expect to see a major transformation from her.
“I would like to see her — and I believe this is going to happen — be more of a mayor, be more involved in her work,” O’Toole told The List. “We see her walking around, showing up, and she can go anywhere.”
Former showrunner Sue Tenney said that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was the reason for O’Toole’s absence in seaosn 3. However, the actor is now talking in depth about why she sat out the third season of the series.
“Season three took place at the worst time of Covid,” she expressed to Hello! Magazine. “There was no vaccine and being away from my family for the first time, kind of ever, was a real issue. Normally I could fly back and forth. But my mother is going to be 97 in a couple of weeks, and at the time, she was 95, and I was very concerned about being able to get back to her because I’m her only child and she depends on me for a lot. But that was the issue. It wasn’t fear about the virus so much; although that was scary, it was mostly about being separated from my family. My whole life I’ve had to be away from my family, and it doesn’t get easier; it actually gets harder.”
Now that things have calmed down considerably, O’Toole has been working on season 5 in Vancouver.
As thrilled as fans are to see Hope get back to work and hopefully see her reconnect with Jack, there is also a rumor swirling that she will die in season 5.
“Hope is going to pass away,” one Redditor explained via Express. “It was hinted throughout S4 that her health was deteriorating, and with the home health aide thing, I’m thinking she will die surrounded by loved ones, and Doc/Denny will live together.”
While nothing has been said explicitly, Henderson has expressed in a recent interview that someone is set to “leave” Virgin River. Moreover, O’Toole has expressed interest in returning to theater. ” I love the show,” she told Hello! Magazine. “The only thing I wish is that we could be consistent with when we do our shooting because that’s the other thing that it’s hard to work around it and make plans. There’s a play that I’ve been wanting to do for two years and we had it scheduled and then they changed our shooting schedule. “
Only time will tell what O’Toole decided to do and where Hope will end up.