Virgin River will be back for season six a little earlier than expected after a subtle update from Netflix.

Virgin River season six has been on the backburner for some time now but

its return will now be earlier than initially planned. The Netflix romantic drama was last seen

for its festive episodes back in November 2023 and updates have been few and far between regarding when it would be back for a sixth outing.

Production on the next series started later than expected as well following the actors’ and writers’ strikes bringing Hollywood to a halt last year.

So filming has only been going ahead since February with subscribers told that Virgin River season six should be expected in early 2025.

However, the Netflix CEO has since given a welcome update and the Alexandra Breckenridge and Martin Henderson series is instead scheduled to return later this year.

Talking during the Netflix Q2 earnings interview, Ted Sarandos stated: “Just before the end of this year we’ve got Squid Game’s return, Emily in Paris’s return, a new season of Selling Sunset, The Lincoln Lawyer, The Diplomat, Virgin River, Love is Blind, Ryan Murphy has an incredible new season of Monsters.

“That’s all just coming up before the end of the year.”

An official release date is still under wraps but given season five dropping its Christmas episodes in November 2023, the show may return around this date.

And with Virgin River season six due to land before the year is over, fans have been expressing their excitement at the update.

Taking to Reddit, one fan simply wrote: “Yee!! More Xmas episodes!”, while another said: “Yaaaay! Good news.

“This will be a nice winter treat I can’t wait to see what’s in store… I hope Mel finally gets to have a baby.”

A third exclaimed: “Yes I cannot wait any longer. I want to see Mel and her dad’s story and I know more problems for Brady are coming around.”