SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about Season 6 of Netflix‘s Virgin River.
From the moment Mel walked into Jack’s bar in the first episode of Virgin River, he has known she was the one. That didn’t make the path to marrying the love of his life less complicated, with the demons of his past, especially his years in the Marines, often getting in the way. That happened again in the lead-up to their wedding in Season 6, culminating in the bachelor get-together with his friends from the unit.
Jack got to be a true romantic lead in Season 6, riding a horse and galloping with his bride-to-be when she was befallen by doubts and fears moments before she was to walk down the aisle. In one of the most romantic scenes on the show to date, Jack delivers the perfect vows in the picturesque spot of their first date.
In an interview with Deadline, Henderson, who also made his directorial debut on the show this season, speaks about Jack’s journey seeking closure — including on his service and his first marriage — as he prepares to start a new chapter. He also shares the biggest concern he had about Season 6 and the tweaks he made to Jack’s riverbank speech. Henderson talks about riding a horse and the prospect of Jack becoming a father. He also reveals what he saw in the final seconds of the finale when he entered the nursery at Charmaine’s ransacked house and what would be a sign that he is done with the show.
You can watch a couple of Henderson’s answers on video throughout the story. He also gave Deadline his take on weather he would return to Grey’s Anatomy. You can read it here. For a deep dive on all of Season 6’s burning questions and what to expect in Season 7, read Deadline’s interview with showrunner Patrick Sean Smith.
DEADLINE: You may be one of very few people who know what actually happened in the finale cliffhanger, because the last thing we see is Jack’s face.They must have told you what you’re looking at to have the proper reaction. So what can you tease about what happens in that nursery?
HENDERSON: I don’t know if this is going to be disappointing to audiences or not, but I still have no idea exactly what I was seeing in that room. It was written that Jack, oh, where’s Charmaine? She wasn’t at the wedding. Oh no, she left the message, okay, I’ll go and check on her. So Jack, being the good guy, does his wife’s bidding and goes out and makes sure she’s okay.
He enters the house. It’s written that he walks down the hallway, comes into a room, there’s evidence of some kind of struggle or rush exits, we’re not sure which, but it piques his curiosity. Jack then hears something, and he opens the door, and we end on Jack’s face. I don’t remember what the actual adjective was, maybe it was shocked. But it was never stated what he was looking at.
And when they went to shoot the scene, there was nothing in the room, so I said to the director, you want me to have this expression, but what am I looking at? And she said, I don’t know. They haven’t written that part yet. Which was terrifying as an actor. What if I give the wrong reaction? And then in Season 7, we find out it’s something different. So we opted to go for something that was a blend of shock and concern.
DEADLINE: In the final stretch of Jack’s journey to the long-awaited wedding to Mel he confronts his past one more time, including during the bachelor party activities with his Marine friends. It feels like he finally reconciled with it by putting on that uniform at the wedding. What is your take?
HENDERSON: I think what’s nice is you have Mel and Jack publicly expressing their undying love and commitment to one another in their vows. They’re on the eve of this giant commitment, through that sacred union of marriage, they’re now to be man and wife. And so in a sense, I think Jack was meditating on the idea of, well, so this is the next chapter of my life, and he had to close the door on the last chapter. And in doing so, as he says to Preacher, I thought about who is the man that Mel is marrying? Who am I? If I’m going to stand up there and make this massive declaration of love and commitment, am I also going to honor this other huge part of my life that was being a Marine and the commitment that he made when he had that duty, and the way he showed up with honor, yet knowing that it was also the thing which ultimately ended up causing so much pain and grief and loss.
He had so many struggles that came out of that, and his inability to deal with it. He’s been on this big journey, and now he’s come through that as a more mature, hopefully healed person, so that he can make this commitment to Mel. But he’s still not sure at the beginning of the season what does XXX mean to him. He tries to close the door on that chapter: you see him find the uniform in a box, he just puts it under the bed, and we’re led to assume that he just doesn’t really want anything to do with that past.
But it gnaws at him, and in the scene you’re talking about when he’s with his buddies, he says to them, we need to move on because we can’t be stuck in the past. He’s definitely trying to move forward with his life. So he’s in this introspective process throughout the season, and it’s fun to witness him struggle with that.
And of course, having to go back and revisit his first marriage and his first wife, Mandy, and the kind of Pandora’s box of that. He said to Mel in earlier seasons, yeah, we were married, we were kids, it was nothing, it was short-lived. But when we actually see him with Mandy, you realize it was probably more significant than he led on to Mel, and there was some closure that needed to happen, and some of that closure, I think, was achieved.
But then it also brought up this idea, with the medals that were sent to him, and he’s trying to disregard that as, yeah, whatever, that was my past, who cares? I want to focus on you. And Mel’s like, but it was also awesome what you did.
And so you watch Jack trying to make peace with the fact that something can be good and bad, and that’s okay, and one doesn’t have to cancel the other out. And that’s probably a healthier, more realistic view on life itself.
Sometimes we’re like, oh, man, my parents screwed me up. Yeah, okay, everyone’s parents screwed them up. But what about all the good things? And I Jack on the riverbank, when he does his vows with Mel, he says, I accept you for all of your pain as well as the light. It’s okay, because I have that too, and I’m trying to accept that myself. So of course I don’t need you to be anything other than who you are. There’s something unconditional and mature about that.
DEADLINE: You mentioned the scene on the riverbank. Talk about going back to the spot where Mel and Jack’s romance started in Season 1 and delivering that speech which will have a lot of women swooning?
HENDERSON: I enjoyed the significance of that. My biggest concern about going into Season 6 was when they were pitching me this idea of the wedding, and Hope takes over, and it’s got flying doves and ice sculptures and just so many moving parts and so elaborate and the scale was so big. I felt that that somehow eclipsed the personal aspect of what they were doing. Maybe that’s a man thing, because I guess women tend to love big weddings, and most men are probably like, ‘Yeah, as long as you’re there’.
I was genuinely concerned that it just felt too big for what was sacred, which was the love that they had, which was private in a sense. But then, when I read the story, Jack takes her on the horse, and they run away, and they have their own private ceremony, if you will, as God is their witness in this place where they first bonded.
I thought there was something really beautiful and sentimental, even though it’s only been — if you do the actual chronological time in Virgin River, it’s actually not that long. That actually felt really romantic and meaningful. Like he says, when I first met you,, she’d arrived from LA and she was heartbroken and grieving and just wanting to escape. He kind of senses that and takes her to this place that has so much meaning for him and so much beauty and solace that he knows that that would probably help her.
And so he takes her there again, it’s that lovely thing that this couple has. Like he says — and I worked on that speech a bit. I forget how it was originally, but I thought it was really important that he says, I get you. I understand you, and I’ve got you. From the beginning, I’ve always gotten who you are. I felt you needed something, so I wanted to give it to you. That, to me, feels like the crux of who Jack is and how he cares for Mel, how he tries to show up for her and is really trying to understand whatever she’s going through, and then tries to support her. I actually thought it was really beautiful, and I’m really glad. I wouldn’t have been as happy had that scene not been in the show, because I thought it was important.
DEADLINE: Did you add some of those words yourself, was any part of the speech improvised or was it all in the script?
HENDERSON: There was a version of them in the script. Usually, if there’s something big, where Jack’s trying to express an idea that’s really important, and emotional, and meaningful, I often work with the writers and just tweak it a bit here and there, and add, take some things out, or rearrange things. The writers are just wonderfully collaborative and supportive and welcoming of that so I got to just reshape it a bit so it had the feeling that I think it needed to have.
DEADLINE: You mentioned the horse in that a runaway bride and groom scene of romcom proportions. How was it working with a horse, Is it something you had done before?
HENDERSON: I love riding. I did a little bit of riding just for fun as a kid. And then I did a pilot for a supernatural Western show. It didn’t get picked up, but I got to play a cowboy, and I did a lot of riding, so they gave me this incredible horse, and I did a lot of stuff.
I was really grateful to have that be introduced for the character of Jack. When I started the show six years ago, he’s pouring bourbon and whiskey at the bar; I didn’t imagine that that would be an aspect of the character. So I love it, I love the freedom of a horse and the romance, I think it fits really well with the character and with the show.
DEADLINE: Jack doesn’t know yet but let’s talk about the prospect of him becoming a father. There was a time when Jack thought he was a father-to-be of three so he had gotten used to the idea before getting two blows in a row. What do you think about Mel and Jack becoming newlyweds and new parents at the same time?
HENDERSON: If you actually count the amount of days that have lapsed from the time that Mel arrived at Jack’s bar and them getting married, it’s not that long. But the global audience of Virgin River has been sitting around for years for this happy ending. And I think part of that fairy tale is the family aspect, it’s always been a dream of both of theirs. It’s alluded them up to this point — like Jack says in Season 5, maybe there’s another way, your dream is now my dream. Metaphorically, I’m pregnant with your dream. Come on, let’s do it.
And then faith would have it, that opportunity is going to come a lot sooner than any either of them anticipated, and I think sooner than what the audience would have anticipated. I think that’s quite nice, given how dragged-out this happy ending has been. Season 5 particularly got quite dark with the miscarriage and the fire. There was a bleakness to the world that was at odds with what had prior to that been established as very cozy and wholesome and sweet. So I think the audience will really appreciate seeing them in those roles sooner than later, because had they gone through a normal adoption process, it could be a very protracted, drawn-out timeline, and the audience might be getting itchy.
DEADLINE: What are your hopes for Jack, where his storyline could go, and how long do you want to keep going with the show?
HENDERSON: I don’t know the answer to that question today. I think that’s the kind of thing you can only know when you know it. And I think I will know that when I feel that, either by virtue of what the character is doing or how I’m feeling about it.
If I don’t feel like I’m really giving much, then I feel like that might be the time where I’d be like, look, this is probably the end for me. But as long as the writing is true to who I believe Jack is, and I’m still able to give something with my performance that I hope would satisfy the audience, then, I’d be happy to keep doing. I love that we make so many people happy, and I wouldn’t want to stop that anytime soon. So maybe the answer to that question is actually up to the audience.
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