10 Biggest Questions Virgin River Season 8 Needs To Answer

Warning: This article includes MAJOR SPOILERS for Virgin River season 7!

Virgin River season 7 leaves many storylines open-ended, and these are the biggest questions that season 8 will need to answer. Netflix's romantic drama returned for a seventh season, and Netflix has already renewed it for an eighth. Production on Virgin River season 8 is expected to start in late April, and the next season will have a lot to cover.

Currently, the series has 14 main characters plus a ton of supporting characters, and at least half of them have storylines going on at any given time. Virgin River season 7 followed Mel and Jack's adoption, Charmaine's kidnapping, Lizzie and Denny's early parenthood, the Brie-Brady-Mike love triangle, Muriel's cancer, Preacher's restaurant dreams, and Doc's medical investigation. Plus, a myriad of side plots occur.

While a few stories wrapped up, the ending of Virgin River season 7 left so much open-ended. These are the ten biggest questions that will need to be addressed in season 8.

10 How Will Virgin River Season 8 Write Mike & Charmaine Off The Show?

The same day season 7 was released, news broke that actors Marco Grazzini and Lauren Hammersley will not return in Virgin River season 8. This is particularly surprising because neither was phased off the show at the end of Virgin River season 7. In fact, it seemed like they had stories set up for both characters.

Charmaine would recover from getting kidnapped and have to testify in court against her boss. Meanwhile, Mike is starting to date a new woman. Unless they include a time jump, Charmaine and Mike’s disappearance will seem abrupt. Either way, they’ll have to explain where Mike and Charmaine went.

9 Does Lizzie & Denny’s Baby Have Huntington’s?

In Virgin River season 6, Denny and Lizzie agree that they will test their baby, Fumiko, for Huntington’s after she’s born. The seventh season focuses on Lizzie giving birth and her postpartum anxiety, so the story doesn’t get around to answering the looming question, “Does Koko have Huntington’s?” The answer to this question is bound to influence Lizzie and Denny’s story.

Lizzie already has the lingering fear that her boyfriend Denny will die young. It’s bound to hit her pretty hard if they test Koko and learn she has Huntington’s Disease. What’s more, Denny and Lizzie will have to figure out how to explain to their child, either because she has it or because her father has it.

8 Will Muriel Go Into Remission After Chemo?

Muriel received the tragic news in Virgin River season 6 that she has breast cancer, and she starts treatment in season 7. She goes through her first round of chemo, with all of her friends showing up to support her. She experiences side effects from the treatment, and Hope takes care of her.

Later, Muriel is shown happy and in love with Walt. However, that doesn’t necessarily tell us anything about whether Muriel’s treatment is working. She can be happy and also have cancer. As such, Virgin River season 7 will need to update us on Muriel’s cancer journey. I’m keeping my hopes up that she will go into remission.

7 Does Preacher Leave Jack’s Bar?

Preacher’s desire to leave Jack’s Bar feels like it’s been in the works for quite some time. Throughout Virgin River, Preacher’s cooking has been the backbone of the business. However, he doesn’t exactly get the appreciation or recognition that he deserves.

This is shown when Jack just completely dismissed the idea of making Preacher a co-owner. Even after that, Preacher seems to do everything to keep the bar running, and Jack still treats him like he’s not actually an equal decision maker.

However, at the end of Virgin River season 7, Preacher realizes his idea of opening a fancy restaurant wasn’t what he wanted. In the last few minutes of the finale, we see Preacher sitting in the office at the bar, looking at the buyout agreement Jack put together. He goes to sign it and hesitates. We don’t see whether he actually signed the papers. Virgin River season 8 will need to answer whether Preacher leaves Jack’s bar.

6 Will Denny Get Into Medical School?

Denny has a lot going on in Virgin River season 7. He’s still interning at Doc’s clinic, which takes a lot more time and energy during Doc’s investigation. He is also a brand-new parent. He is actively involved in caring for Koko and being a good partner to Lizzie, two responsibilities he takes very seriously.

However, alongside all those daily obligations, Denny is also studying to get into medical school. He spends all his spare time reading his notes and practicing. He finally takes the test at the end of the season.

As such, Virgin River season 8 will need to confirm whether Denny passed his MCAT. If he does, his storyline will need to explore how he balances being a new father with attending med school.

5 Will Jack & Mel’s Farm Be Successful?

Jack has the most random storyline of Virgin River season 7, and I frankly don’t know how to feel about it. After going to a farm to buy butter lettuce, he decides that he wants to open his own farm. He’s never expressed any desire for this before, and it doesn’t really fit his character.

However, he goes all in on the idea, getting a tractor and planting seeds. With this in mind, Virgin River season 8 will need to show the difficulties of running a farm. If there’s a time jump, as I suspect there might be, they will also need to show if the crops are growing. With how slowly the Virgin River timeline moves, we probably won't know for sure whether their farm succeeds for many seasons.

4 How Will The Town React To Doc Partnering With Grace Valley Hospital?

After working towards the goal in Virgin River season 7, Hope successfully convinces the town to sign a petition to keep corporations out of Virgin River, California. They fully support stopping Grace Valley Hospital from expanding across town lines, especially after Doc gets his medical license back. This creates a massive issue.

Doc and Mel have multiple experiences in season 7 that show why it would be helpful to have Grace Valley Hospital in the town. He resists for quite some time, thinking Dr. Hayes is a terrible person. However, by the end, they come to understand that both of them are valuable.

Dr. Hayes experienced the loss of a family member due to a lack of medical resources in a rural area, which is why he wanted to expand into Virgin River. Meanwhile, Doc understands the challenges of rural medicine. They decide to partner up, which is bound to ruffle some feathers in Virgin River season 8.

3 Will Brady Survive His Motorcycle Accident?

Virgin River season 7 set up Brady’s death by having him get into a motorcycle accident while traveling at full speed. They cut away rather than showing whether he’s still breathing. On the one hand, he was wearing a helmet. On the other hand, that kind of trauma to his body could still kill him.

The next season will have to tell us whether Brady survives or dies. This scene could very well be a fakeout, as the show has pulled that trick frequently on the show. It wouldn’t be surprising to me if he’s completely fine at the start of Virgin River season 8.

2 Does Mel & Jack’s Baby Survive His Surgery?

Virgin River finally wraps up Mel and Jack’s journey to parenthood, at least for now, but that doesn’t mean their challenges will be over. They found out their son has superoinferior ventricles, meaning his heart ventricles are stacked. To repair this, he has to have open-heart surgery immediately after his birth.

The season ends with Mel, Jack, and the baby leaving the Children’s Hospital in an ambulance on the way to the Heart Institute. Everything is prepped so that they can start as soon as he arrives. Virgin River season 8 will need to reveal whether the baby survives. It will be cruel if he doesn’t make it, but they do like to put Mel through an inordinate amount of trauma.

1 Will Doc & Hope Stay Together After Their Fight?

As mentioned, Doc completely changes his perspective on Grace Valley Hospital's expansion into Virgin River, and he partners with them to ensure the citizens have access to the best medical care. However, he does all this without ever talking to his wife, Hope, who has been campaigning on his behalf.

When Doc tells her about the partnership, Hope blows up at him and kicks him out of their house. She feels like he betrayed her. They were always supposed to have each other’s backs. Virgin River season 8 needs to answer the question of whether Doc and Hope will stay together.

Fights happen, and they don’t automatically mean a breakup. However, Hope and Doc had been separated for years before the start of Virgin River season 1 because he had cheated on her. She might see his decision as another betrayal and decide she can’t forgive him since it’s the second time. If they do separate, it could change the whole dynamic on the show.