Virgin River star Marco Grazzini has spoken out about his exit from Netflix’s longest-running series after six seasons.
The Canadian actor, 45, first joined the romance drama — about a nurse practitioner (Alexandra Breckenridge) who gives up city living for a remote Northern California town — in its second season as a recurring character, detective Mike Valenzuela. He was later promoted to a series regular in season three.
However, on Thursday, the same day season seven premiered, Netflix confirmed Grazzini’s character will not be returning for the show’s eighth season.
Addressing the news in a statement to Entertainment Weekly, Grazzini said: “Character departures are very common in this business — especially on a long-running and beloved series like Virgin River. It’s been a wonderful opportunity to play Mike for six seasons.”
He added that he has “nothing but love for the cast, crew, and especially the phenomenal fans who make the show so special.” “I’m excited for this new chapter in my career,” he said.
This season, Grazzini’s Mike, a former Marine who served with Martin Henderson’s lead character Jack, embarks on a mission with his love interest, Brie (Zibby Allen), to find missing woman Charmaine (played by original Virgin River cast member Lauren Hammersley).
Hammersley, too, will be leaving the show after its current season.
Virgin River became the streamer’s longest-running English-language drama series with its seventh season renewal in 2024. It was renewed again for an eighth season in July 2025, well ahead of its season seven premiere on Thursday.
Production on the new season is scheduled to take place in Vancouver, Canada, between April and August, with an expected release date sometime in 2027.
Speaking recently to Deadline about how he maintains the show’s storyline, showrunner Patrick Sean Smith said: “For me, I’m just trying to look to the longevity of the show and making sure that the characters that we’re keeping have enough story engine in them to keep going.
“So I can’t say there are any specific cast shakeups planned, but I think we will have to start to — as characters run their course — make some decisions and bring in some new blood,” he continued.
“Mike probably will be on the back burner for a little while until we have something we’ve written. We have so many relationships already that I think a little bit of that was just a sort of happy ending for this chapter for Mike to find his way back to Victoria and to explore what happens there. But I love Marco and could see his character coming back in a more substantive role if the creative is right.”
Virgin River season seven is out now on Netflix.
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