We’re not done with Virgin River, nowhere near done, in fact. That’s because it’s already been renewed for Season 8, and Season 7 of Virgin River just finished production. However, this news is bigger than a single-season renewal. It’s a historic moment for both the series and the great streaming service that houses it, Netflix. So, it makes sense that fans and the show’s star, Alexandra Breckenridge, are celebrating.
Virgin River Has Been Renewed By Netflix For A Historic Eighth Season
I’m no exaggerating when I say this is a historic renewal. By picking up Virgin River for Season 8, the romantic drama has now become Netflix’s longest-running scripted series, per Deadline. What an accomplishment!
The show, which started in 2019, wrapped production on Season 7 at the end of last month and was then quickly picked up for another ten episodes. So, that means we’ll be seeing even more of Alexandra Breckenridge, Martin Henderson and co.
That alone is fantastic news and solidly places Virgin River as one of the prominent long-running shows currently on the air. However, it also puts it in a category of its own on Netflix.
With Season 8 on the way, Virgin River has officially bypassed two of Netflix’s bingeable original shows, Grace and Frankie and Orange is the New Black, which both ran for seven seasons and previously held this title. It will also bypass the Spanish drama Elite, which did run for eight seasons, but had fewer episodes (when all is said and done, Virgin River will have 84 installments while the Spanish series has 64).
On top of that, Virgin River will also take the title in terms of runtime. While Grace and Frankie, which held the title for a while, had longer seasons than the romantic drama, it only did half-hour episodes. So, per Deadline, Virgin River will have about 70+ hours of runtime while the Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin-led comedy sits around 45+ hours.
The report notes that this early renewal isn’t too shocking. The series is a popular comfort watch based on Robyn Carr’s books, making it easy to make and watch. Plus, it’s financially an easy show to say yes to because there are few stunts and special effects, and they shoot in Canada on a handful of the same locations.
The nice cost plus good ratings – the show has been in Netflix’s Global Top 10 English TV 30 times since the list was introduced during the show’s third season, and it’s spent 38 weeks in the Nielsen Top 10 since Season 1 – means it’s worth renewing. And that is cause for celebration.
How Alexandra Breckenridge Responded To The News
Not long after this news broke, Virgin River’s star, Alexandra Breckenridge, reposted the Deadline article on Instagram and wrote a short but sweet six-word response. Take a look:
#virginriver keeps on keeping on!
It sure will keep on keeping on, and I love that for this series. A Season 8 pickup is a big deal, no matter where a show lives. However, on Netflix, it’s huge, considering there aren’t many projects that have more than seven seasons.
I also love how short and sweet this is. It gets the message across perfectly and is fitting, considering they just finished production on Season 7. The work is very much ongoing with another season on the way, so I appreciate the brief pause for celebration even more.
At the moment, we don’t know when Season 7 of Virgin River will premiere; however, I hope it will be late on Netflix’s 2025 schedule or early in 2026. In the meantime, you can stream the first six seasons of the streamer’s soon-to-be longest-running scripted series with a Netflix subscription.
