Mel's Dad's Identity Was *Just* Revealed On 'Virgin River' Season 5 Part 2
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A lot has gone down on Netflix's hit show Virgin River during its fifth season, including a massive wildfire that blows through the town and a devastating miscarriage for the show's main star, Mel Monroe. ICYMI, this fifth season was broken into two parts (to pack in *all* the drama), with the first part premiering on Sept. 7, and the second on Nov. 30.
But while fans eagerly awaited the next episode drop after the end of part 1, they got a pretty big surprise. The trailer for part 2 ends with a major cliffhanger: Mel has clearly learned that her dad might actually live a lot closer than she thinks. Like, right there in the town of Virgin River. So of course, the entirety of part 2 is perfectly set up to answer the big question of her father's identity (among other things).
Now, the new episodes have finally arrived on Netflix, and they is definitely delivering on all the questions fans have about Mel's dad's identity.
So, who is Mel’s dad and what do viewers learn about him in the new episodes? Here’s the deal.
Mel learns that her father might be living in Virgin River.
In the original trailer for part 2, Mel says, “we did it, we found my father,” and Preacher adds that he’s still “right there in Virgin River.”
Then, in a nine-minute sneak peek on Netflix's site, viewers see Mel and Jack picking out a Christmas tree and wondering her biological dad is ~actually~ in Virgin River.
There were lots of theories circulating about who her dad is.
Speculation about the identity of Mel’s dad has been circulating ever since the trailer dropped, and a ton of names have been thrown out there.
One Reddit thread suggests it could be Nick, Charlie, Calvin, and even Lily’s late husband, among others. However, Doc was the leading fan theory for a a long time. This felt pretty plausible since he served as a sort of "father figure" for Mel throughout the five seasons.
"It’s Doc!!! I’m 99 percent sure he’s Mel's father," one commenter said on an Instagram post by Lauren Hammersley (who plays Charmaine Roberts) teasing part two of season 5.
Who is her dad?
Well, it’s not Doc…or Nick, Charlie, Calvin, or Lily’s late husband.
Mel’s dad is a man named Everett Reid, who lives in a remote cabin on the outskirts of town. As the show reveals, Everett doesn’t want anything to do with Mel at first but, at the end of the two episodes, he seems to have changed his tune.
The show runners created a new character on purpose.
Executive producer and show runner Patrick Sean Smith told Glamour that the team behind Virgin River purposely created a new character to be Mel’s dad.
“Doc was the obvious choice, but Doc has played so well in her life as a surrogate father that it would feel, I think, pointless to then just attach it to biology,” he said.
Smith continued: “So we decided it was more interesting to create a new character that could establish new dynamics for season six for all of our characters and everybody in the cast. Then it was just like, Who is this guy? What can we imagine? And especially with Virgin River being so remote, it was somebody who had shut themselves off, who had suffered heartbreak that Mel could relate to that we get into in season six. And it felt like a fresh way to bring in a new character that had an automatic close bond with Mel.”
Who is the actor playing Everett Reid?
Everett Reid is played by John Allen Nelson. He’s 64 and has appeared in 24, Crisis, and the original Baywatch series, according to IMDB.
Her dad is going to crop up again in season 6.
This isn’t the only time we’ll see Everett. Smith also shared with Glamour that he’ll “be a part of Mel’s storyline” for the next season as well.
You can catch Virgin River season 5 part 2 streaming now on Netflix.
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