Virgin River has done a great job in its four seasons of delivering a number of characters for fans to root for in the midst of a lot of romantic drama, relationship challenges, and shocking (and sometimes violent) twists and turns to viewers with a Netflix subscription. Along the way, we’ve learned quite a bit about several of the people who make up the small, Northern California town, but one major character, Preacher, is about to get a bigger story, as Season 5 is “going deeper” into his life.
How Will Virgin River Go Deeper Into Preacher’s Life?
Though we all love talking about the specifics of Jack and Mel’s quickly moving romance, how much of a problem Charmaine is, and how Brady just can’t stay out of trouble, Colin Lawrence’s Preacher is another major character who’s been on the front burner of the action since the beginning. And, when I say “action,” I really mean it, as he’s largely been focused on helping his friend Paige cover up an accidental death and evade a very dangerous man. Now it sounds like Virgin River Season 5 is going to be able to give Preach a bit of a break, from what showrunner Patrick Sean Smith told TVLine:
We’d love to see him interact with other characters he hasn’t yet. We’re also going deeper into his non-romantic life. We don’t know a lot about him.
FINALLY! Look, I love that Preacher is a big-time hero and so quickly and completely put his life on hold to help single mom Paige out of a very dangerous bind. But, let’s be honest, he deserves so much more than that! It was clear very early on that these friends could have been more, had Paige not been in town to hide from her abusive ex-husband. When she revealed the truth to Preach, it was because she needed help hiding that ex’s body after he’d found her and a struggle led to his death. Then she went on the run, leaving Preach to raise Christopher, her young son.
As Smith noted, all we really know about Preacher is that he’s a Marine who served with Jack and Brady, he’s a very good dude, and he genuinely loves his job cooking at Jack’s place (especially now that he and his military buddy are actually partners in the business). It wasn’t even until Season 4 that our lovable hero gave up hope of a romance with Paige and started one with Julia, but even that relationship is now up in the air, with Paige having returned and the questions resolved when it comes to her criminal ex-brother-in-law.
Alright, here’s what I want to see and hear from Preacher in the upcoming season. It’s great that he’ll hang out with some characters we don’t usually see him with, but I really want him to remove himself from Paige’s orbit so that she knows they’re just friends, and so that he can continue seeing Julia. I also want to at least hear more about how he grew up and what he wants from his future. Hopefully, even if he enters crisis mode again, we’ll get to see him have some support from, oh, I don’t know, maybe some of his actual family who could come to town and help the man out?
We can learn more about Preacher when Virgin River returns for Season 5, but until then you can see what’s coming for the rest of the 2022 Netflix TV premieres.
