The Virgin River universe is expanding with a prequel spinoff, just announced on Thursday, Feb. 22.

We come with major news for Virgin River fans! Looks like this franchise is not nearing its end anytime soon as it was announced on Thursday, Feb. 22 that a prequel spinoff is in the works! Deadline shared the news, reporting that the new show will revolve around Mel’s (Alexandra Breckenridge) parents.

Of course, Mel is the protagonist of Virgin River and we follow her journey as she leaves the big city life of Los Angeles behind for a new, small town in Northern California. There, she unexpectedly falls in love with the local bar owner named Jack (Martin Henderson) and, well, the rest is history! Mel’s mother Sarah sadly passed away when Mel was just a child, but she’s never been forgotten. In the most recent season, we learned that Mel and her sister Joey (Jenny Cooper) aren’t actually her full sisters; their mom had an affair with a man who lived in Virgin River! Of all places!

This huge plot twist in Virgin River season 5 changes everything, and now we know we’ll be getting to know Sarah and Mel’s biological dad Everett (John Allen Nelson) a lot closer in the spinoff. I know fans are going to be so excited to learn all about how Sarah and Everett met and how Mel has had a Virgin River connection for much longer than she’d realized! As Deadline teases of the prequel series:

“The potential prequel, which is currently in development, will explore Sarah and Everett’s origin story. The upcoming Season 6 will provide a glimpse into the duo’s past, featuring young Everett and Sarah in flashbacks.”

Virgin River showrunner Patrick Sean Smith is said to be heading the new spinoff, which is reportedly now being written and developed.

Virgin River season 6 is also in the works, expected to be released on Netflix in 2025. The Deadline report says that the upcoming installment will include flashbacks of Sarah and Everett in their younger years. Any new castings have not been announced yet, but we assume whichever actors play Sarah and Everett in the season 6 flashbacks might be reprising their roles for the spinoff series as well. To celebrate the start of production on the sixth season, Breckenridge and Henderson posed for a cute photo, shared to the Virgin River Instagram page today: