Patrick Sean Smith answers all our questions, from what things look like with Calvin back

in the picture to Preacher’s cliffhanger. Virgin River is ringing in the holiday season

the only way they know how — with criminal intrigue, pregnancy drama,

and one woman’s quest for her biological father.

But while chestnuts may be roasting on an open fire somewhere, the only thing burning here at EW are our questions for the Netflix drama’s showrunner Patrick Sean Smith.

The two holiday episodes, which hit the platform on Thursday, transform the small town into a winter wonderland, complete with fairy lights, a skating rink, and a holiday musical extravaganza. But for Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge), Christmas is all about finding her biological father — and find him she does, only for him to initially tell her he’s not the guy. Eventually, however, Everett returns to Mel with a Christmas gift in tow — and one mother of a cliffhanger.

Meanwhile, Lizzie (Sarah Dugdale) grapples with telling her mom about her pregnancy, Doc (Tim Matheson) frets over his upcoming clinical trial, and Charmaine (finally!) has her twins. Cameron (Mark Ghanimé) contends with the return of his ex, only to have it reaffirm his relationship with Muriel (Teryl Rothery), even though she doesn’t want kids. Preacher (Colin Lawrence) deepens his relationship with Kaia (Kandyse McClure), only to be blindsided by the identification of Wes’ body.

We called up Smith to see if he would spill some secrets about these plot developments and what might lie in store in season 6.

PATRICK SEAN SMITH: It was something that I was interested in exploring before I came onto the show, and I talked to the network about it, and I eventually talked to Alex about it at great length. It felt like she had gotten pregnant so quickly and so easily with Jack after having so many issues that it really challenged reality. The show does have a fantasy element to it, but it felt like an opportunity to use her character to explore the issue more thoughtfully. But also more importantly, I wanted to see her and Jack go through it together because it was the fatal flaw of her and Mark’s marriage. He literally did not survive it — her wanting to have kids. I wanted to see Jack be the opposite of that.

I wanted to see her and Jack go through this experience together, and they both came to each other with these respective traumas that they were both healing from. By season 5 of a series, you want the couple to experience something together, and that’s where the miscarriage felt the most organic given everything. So I didn’t start with, “How can I inflict pain on this woman because I don’t love her?” I love the character so much, and what I loved being able to show was her strength in that adversity. She and Jack do end up in a happy and accepting place by the end — to be able to look forward to say their happiness might not be what they thought it was going to look like, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be happy again together in a different way.

Charmaine (Lauren Hammersley) asked Mel not to tell anyone that Calvin (David Cubitt) is the twins’ father. But will the truth come out in season 6? How hard might he fight to stay in the picture?

It will all become clear in season 6. But in bringing his character back at the end of part one and then having her deliver in part two, it did feel like a natural progression, given who their characters are, to bring a bit of a threat back into the world through Calvin. Not through a drug distribution storyline, but something more personal, which is what we’re looking at for next season.

Will Lizzie be pregnant as long as Charmaine?

Considering Charmaine was pregnant for four seasons, I will say no.

Sometimes things do take a long time to resolve on this show, whether it be Charmaine’s pregnancy or finding out who shot Jack. Why did you guys decide to have the search for Mel’s dad only span these two episodes?

We were looking ahead to how we would tell the stories in season 6. We were more interested in exploring their relationship than it being a season-long scavenger hunt to figure out who he was. And we knew that we only had the two episodes left of the season to hit an endpoint. That endpoint felt the most natural, knowing where we want to go in season 6.

How much does Everett, Mel’s dad, returning to her at the end of the episode set us up for season 6? Are we going to see a lot more of them getting to know each other?

He will definitely play a good sized part in Mel’s storyline.

Doc is really concerned about his illness, and he’s worried about seeing Mel at her wedding. He’s worried about seeing Hope to renew their vows. Should we be as worried as he is? Is this going to be a good clinical trial?

All will be revealed in season 6.

Preacher has really had a rough go of it romance-wise, but here he tells Kaia he loves her. She’s going to stay on as the new fire chief. Is it safe to say that he might finally have found the one?

I’m optimistic for Preacher and Kaia’s future, but it won’t be without many challenges, especially given the cliffhanger out of part two.

How much is this identification of Wes’ body going to disrupt their relationship and impact Preacher’s life at large?

It’s a bombshell in season 6.

Muriel tells Cameron she doesn’t want kids, but this is a May December romance. Does she not want them or has that ship also sailed biologically?

Regardless of biology, Muriel is somebody who’s not interested in being a mother, which poses an obvious problem for Cameron, who’s mission when he moved to Virgin River was to find the love of his life and start a family. It’s definitely an uphill battle for this relationship that we’ll see more on season 6.

Cameron promises Muriel he is okay with it and won’t end up resenting her. Might he change his mind?

We’ll see.

It’s clear that Brie (Zibby Allen) and Brady (Benjamin Hollingsworth) still have some unfinished business. Is she all in on Mike (Marco Grazzini), or is there a possibility that this new complication with Lark (Elise Gatien) could give us hope for Brady and Brie to reunite?

There’s always hope. Brie and Brady will always have a special connection and incredible chemistry that is undeniable and will always be a tractor beam pulling them back into each other’s orbits.

The show hasn’t really had a main LGBTQ character in the mix, but we do have Hannah (Clare Filipow) at Jack’s Bar. We’ve gotten little glimpses of her family life and stories about her mom. Are we going to hear more from her in season 6? Might she get more of a prominent storyline?

Hannah’s such a special character to the show, so I would love that.

We end on this cliffhanger of Everett telling Mel he has something important to tell her. Will season 6 pick up right where we left off?

There will be a time jump. I can’t say how much of one, but we will answer what it was that he wanted to tell her in that moment.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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