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LMGI COMPASS
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Winter 2023
And fans seem to agree. With billions of viewership minutes
that topped blockbusters like The Queen's Gambit and Stranger
Things, the popular response to Virgin River has been phenomenal.
The romance sizzles behind the scenes too, as Preacher, played
by Colin Lawrence, finds new love with kung fu instructor
Julia—played by his real-life spouse, Lucia Walters. With its
multigenerational love stories and few of the cast members
under 25, the over-50 demographic is tuning in voraciously, too.
Millar says the soapy storyline is popular in South America, with
one Brazil-based Facebook fan page clocking a quarter million
likes on a recent post announcing that Season 5 filming had
begun. "People like to watch beautiful people fall in love," agrees
Devenyi. "It seems to strike a chord in that it just has the right
amount of intrigue, along with the beauty of the show."
Even exacting fans of the Robyn Carr novels are creatively
satisfied with the production team's rendering of their beloved
series—including the structural and tonal tweaks made to
appeal to a broader viewership. "They've really stretched the
fan base, and that means that it's building its own
audience regardless of the source material," says
Dayal. "A lot of shows tend to not be able to do when
there's such a theology around the world, but I think
Virgin River does that really well."
The show's wholesome energy has created a
backwash of goodwill from viewers that seems to
resonate on a deeper level than simple fandom.
Proposals and pilgrimages are common sights at
favorite filming locales. When Martin Henderson
posted on social media that it was chilly filming at
Jack's Bar, a woman from his home country of New
Zealand hand-made and shipped wool clothing for
