Fans are already excited for the next season of Virgin River. However, when the popular

Netflix show returns, one beloved character will likely be recast ahead of Season 6.

Find out who may be leaving the series below. Virgin River is a romantic drama based

on the novels of the same name by Robyn Carr. It premiered on Netflix in 2019 and follows 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 (Tim Matheson) to be the town’s nurse practitioner/midwife. This Is Us star Alexandra Breckenridge plays Mel, while Grey’s Anatomy alum Martin Henderson portrays Mel’s love interest Jack. Annette O’Toole, Colin Lawrence, Benjamin Hollingsworth, Zibby Allen, Sarah Dugdale, Lauren Hammersley, and Denny Cutler also star.

The show recently released its Christmas episodes, which conclude with Jack gifting Mel a puppy named Pony. Mel is ecstatic, as she always wanted a puppy since she was a little girl. However, Virgin River showrunner Patrick Sean Smith told TVLine in December 223 that the dog will likely need to be replaced for the next season because of the writers’ and actors’ strikes.

“I’d always anticipated there would be a time jump after the holidays when we pick up with Season 6, so we were going to have that dog age naturally as we headed back into production,” Smith says. “But we didn’t account for the five-month strike. So I don’t know where Pony is now in their maturation. I hope we don’t have to recast, but we might have to.”

Perhaps the most heartbreaking part is that Breckenridge revealed to the outlet that the production named the puppy “Doc” in real life. The actress added that Mel and Jack were supposed to get a dog earlier, but the addition was delayed “for logical reasons.”

“[Charmaine] was going to give us her dog at one point, and I said, ‘No way,’ because [Jack wouldn’t] want to be stuck with her dog,” Breckenridge explained. “First of all, given the circumstances between Mel and Charmaine, I said, ‘Why would Mel ever agree to this? I don’t think that makes sense or is appropriate.’ Second of all, it was during COVID, so the sets were locked down, everybody was in a mask and had a shield on their face. … So I just was like, ‘Given the circumstances right now, let’s not have a dog.’ Then when we talked about it for this year, and I was like, ‘Yeah, me and Jack should probably have a dog.’”

When Season 6 returns to Netflix, the series will look a little different than the past two seasons. It will only have 10 episodes (as it did in seasons 1 through 3). Additionally, there will be another time jump will kick off Season 6. “We do intend to do another time jump from the holidays to when Season 6 starts so we can anticipate a bit of a time jump. I don’t know exactly how many months but it won’t be a direct pickup from the holidays,” Smith told Deadline.

The showrunner added that he doesn’t know if he will do a holiday special again. “It’s sort of, been there done that, and I feel like we did it in a big way that I wouldn’t even know where to start to explore. I think we’re probably looking at a 10-episode season moving forward,” he added, noting that there are “no plans of wrapping anything up.”

“I think, as long as these characters are living, there are always going to be stories to tell, and that’s an incredible opportunity for any showrunner,” he concluded.