Virgin River star Lynda Boyd has spoken about her character Lillyâs tragic season three storyline,
which saw her diagnosed with late stage pancreatic cancer. The Netflix dramaâs third season
saw Lilly confide in her closest friends that she had been diagnosed with cancer,
with Lilly sadly passing away from her illness toward the end of the season.
Actress Boyd has now opened up about how she felt about the storyline, telling RadioTimes.com that she found it incredibly difficult to take on the plot due to her own real-life experiences.
âI had a call from the producers, a conference call, and theyâre like, âWeâre so excited for your storyline for season three â youâre going to get cancer and die.â
âAnd I was sitting there at my end and going, âOh. Cancer. Cool.â I lost two siblings to cancer and I just didnât want to go back there and feel those feelings anymore, but it ended up being some really good writing for Lilly.â
The star also spoke about how intense it was to film the scenes in which Lilly told her friends about her diagnosis, especially as she has such a strong relationship with her co-stars.
âAll those women are my friends in real life,â she said. âIâve known Teryl (Rothery), who plays Muriel, since I was 14 years old. [She] and I used to take tap dancing lessons together, so standing up before them and telling them what a wonderful life Iâve had and how much it meant to me â they were all bawling.
âThat was real. It was almost like rehearsing for that day when I had to tell people I was dying, you know what I mean? It was hard but I think it might help people in some way, for anyone else whoâs going through that , losing a loved one.â
Virgin River season three showrunner Sue Tenney recently dropped some hints about what we can expect to see in a potential season four of the drama, addressing the outcome of Jack Sheridan (Martin Henderson)âs proposal to Melinda Monroe (Alexandra Breckenridge) and the paternity of Melâs baby.
There will also be drama for Charmaine Roberts (Lauren Hammersley) and Jack, as Charmaine tries to win full custody of the twins.