Virgin River ended on a major cliffhanger in Season 5 Part 1, and now, thanks to the Christmas episodes, fans finally have the answer to the one major question they’ve been asking themselves: Who is Mel’s biological father in Virgin River? We have the answer below.
The series is a romantic drama based on the novels of the same name by Robyn Carr. It debuted on Netflix in 2019 and centers on Melinda ‘Mel’ Monroe, a woman who relocates from Los Angeles to the remote Northern California town of Virgin River hoping for a fresh start. She is hired by Vernon “Doc” Mullins (played by Tim Matheson, who portrayed a similar role in Hart of Dixie) to be the town’s nurse practitioner/midwife. This Is Us and The Walking Dead star Alexandra Breckenridge stars as Mel, while Grey’s Anatomy alum Martin Henderson plays Mel’s love interest Jack. Rounding out the cast is Annette O’Toole as Hope McCrea, Colin Lawrence as John “Preacher” Middleton, Benjamin Hollingsworth as Dan Brady, Zibby Allen as Brie Sheridan, Sarah Dugdale as Lizzie, Lauren Hammersley as Charmaine Roberts and Denny Cutler as Kai Bradbury.
The Season 5 Part 1 finale ended with a flash forward scene of Mel and Jack decorating for the holidays. Mel receives a phone call from her sister Joey, who explains that she was rummaging through their late mother’s stuff and found love letters from decades ago. Joey believes that the letters were written by someone their mom was having an affair with, likely Mel’s biological father. Ironically, the letters are postmarked from Virgin River.
With this cliffhanger, fans were left dying to know who Mel’s biological father is. In September 2o23, Netflix released a trailer for the two Christmas episodes, which showed Mel relentlessly trying to track him down and learning that he was still living right there in Virgin River. Now that the Christmas episodes are finally here, fans can learn who Mel’s biological father really is. Keep reading to find out his identity.
Who is Mel’s biological father in Virgin River?
Who is Mel’s biological father? Unfortunately for fans who predicted Doc would end up being her dad, Mel’s father is not a character we’ve met before. Meet Everett Reid, a Virgin River resident played by John Allen Nelson.
After her sister comes to visit for the holidays, Mel decides that she wants to find her biological father. She connects with a retired postman and learns that the mystery man’s name is Everett Reid and he still lives in Virgin River. Their first meeting at Everett’s house doesn’t go too smoothly and Mel thinks he doesn’t want anything to do with her. He shows up at her cabin later on in the episode, however, and they spend Christmas together. “You look so much like your mom. Seeing you just broke my heart all over again. I didn’t know what to say,” Everett tells Mel. “I didn’t lie. I’m not the man who wrote those letters, not anymore — not since your mom died … I don’t know what you wanted to say to me or what you wanted me to say back. I don’t know if you wanted me in your life or just wanted to ask me for a kidney or something. By the way, I am your father. And I’m here now.”
While some fans felt that the reveal was underwhelming since it was a new character they had never met before, Virgin River showrunner Patrick Sean Smith explained to Decider why they didn’t go with the obvious choice of Doc, although he noted that they did consider it. “In the beginning when we started to explore the storyline, we thought about the obvious one being Doc. But he was already such an important part of her life as a surrogate father, that the idea of attaching biology to it felt unnecessary,” Smith explained. “And then looking at the other characters, they all kind of already came with their own story or their own baggage. So bringing in somebody new, we anticipate for Season 6, would be able to create a new dynamic in the character relationships not just with Mel but with other people in the town.”
Everett did leave fans with a mysterious cliffhanger, though, telling Mel at the end of the episode: “I’ve got something important I need to tell you.”
Breckenridge weighed on the biological father reveal, telling Deadline, “I thought it seemed awfully convenient for her father to be living in Virgin River, it felt a little bit television.”
However, she added that with how heavy Season 5 was, she liked the idea of having some lighthearted Christmas episodes. “It’s nice for Mel, who has no other family besides her sister, to be able to have the opportunity to potentially reconnect with a parent … ” she explained. “I think that because we were doing a Christmas episode, we really wanted it to be a lot lighter; it was important to give that to the audience, to have a little reprieve from the Mel and Jack season that they had.”
