Mel and Jack get cozy in first look at Virgin River season 4

Oh, mama, is Virgin River ever ready to return.

The Netflix drama, based on Robyn Carr's bestselling romance novels, is returning for its fourth season on July 20. The streamer shared a first look at the new season, as well as announcing the release date on Wednesday.

Season 3 ended on the mother of all cliffhangers...on a cliff. Mel (Alexandra Breckinridge) is pregnant, but she's unsure if the baby belongs to her late husband, Mark, or new beau, Jack (Martin Henderson).

Netflix 'Virgin River,' based on Robyn Carr's bestselling romance novels, returns for season 4 on July 20.

Despite this looming paternity question, Mel begins season 4 with a sense of optimism as her longtime dream of being a mother gets one step closer to reality. Jack is still troubled by whether or not he's the father, but he's making an effort to be supportive and excited.

But nothing is ever simple in Virgin River, and things get complicated with the arrival of a handsome new doctor, eager to start a family of his own.

"Jack is very much a man of his word, and very much, very much in love with her," showrunner Sue Tenney previously told EW. "Jack and Mel, their love and their commitment to each other, that doesn't change. How he feels about her does not change. There's circumstances that happen around them — and the reactions and how they deal with those things."

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But she also hinted at the paternity question being a sticking point, saying, "Do you go down that road [of finding out]? And if you do, why do you? There's a lot of complications."

Netflix

Doc (Tim Matheson) and Hope (Annette O'Toole) face an uphill battle, as she struggles to heal from her car accident and the lingering effects of her brain injury. "We do move ahead," Tenney said previously. "To us, it's the recovery and what she's dealing with — a traumatic brain injury. In a hospital and going through recovery, that's not really where our show lives. But we're very committed to what the truth of something is, so we'll go to the edge of what's the best recovery for this. We always stick with the parameters, medically, but also we know at this point what we like to do, which are complicated emotionally drama-based stories."

Brie (Zibby Allen) seems to be in Virgin River to stay, determined to prove the innocence of Brady (Benjamin Hollingsworth). But this causes her to grow unexpectedly closer with the prime investigator in his case, Mike (Marco Grazzini), while also throwing her deeper into Calvin's (David Cubitt) violent criminal web.

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"In the book, she ends up with Mike," Tenney previously said. "At a certain point — I hope it's many, many, many, many, many seasons from now — I will put the characters back to where we found them. They end every book happy. But until then, we like triangles and we like the drama and we like the character of Brady, who wasn't very big in the books."

Netflix

Meanwhile, Preacher (Colin Lawrence) forges a new romantic connection despite holding out hope that he'll be reunited with Christopher (Chase Petriw) and Paige (Lexa Doig). As Tenney said, "Given a fourth season, we're going to bring everything together with Paige and Preacher, and it's going to come to a very dramatic end at the end of season 4."

Check out the photos for a glimpse of season 4, including what appears to be a continuation of the complicated romance between Ricky (Grayson Maxwell Gurnsey) and Lizzie (Sarah Dugdale).

Netflix

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