Virgin River stars say the show has an 'unlimited shelf life'

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Lauren Hammersley stars as the passive-aggressive Charmaine Roberts on Netflix’s hit romance series Virgin River. Although she portrays the manipulative hair stylist, Lauren revealed she had also auditioned for the role of Mel Monroe as she opened up about her initial disappointment. 

Virgin River told the story of Mel (played by Alexandra Breckenridge), who had relocated to the small town after suffering a huge loss in Los Angeles. 

Since the show first aired in 2019, fans have grown to love that character, who has since found a career and new romance in the Northern California town.

However, Mel’s happiness didn’t come without ample heartbreak and one of them being Charmaine’s fault. 

Although fans are used to seeing Lauren portray the cold-hearted character, it’s almost hard to believe that she could have starred as Mel. 

Reflecting on the auditions, Lauren shared: “Mr D had ended, and I’d done all these auditions, and I thought I was never going to work again. 

“So I was going to put an offer on this bed and breakfast in St John’s Newfoundland, [and] I was going to cash in my chips.”

She joked: “I was going to shave my head and get a tattoo on my face if I wanted to.

“Then that weekend, when I went to put an offer on the place. I got a phone call about Virgin River, and I was like ‘Oh my gosh,’ but I auditioned for Mel.”    

Lauren continued: “When they said there was another character named Charmaine, I looked through the book and she’s like 10 years older than Jack. 

“You can tell that she used to be pretty, but she had a couple of kids, and I was like ‘oh.’”

The actress was in fits of laughter as she added: “Then finally one of the producers went, ‘We rewrote the roles to be something else.’”

Speaking on the Chatting with B podcast, Lauren added: “This industry has a way of making your confidence go up and down.”

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Virgin River is the onscreen adaptation of a hit novel series of the same name written by Robyn Carr. 

With more than 20 books in the series, fans were quick to highlight the changes that were made to the characters and storylines. 

In the novel, Jack Sheridan (Martin Henderson) and Charmaine had a casual relationship until Mel’s arrival made him realise he loved her instead and broke things off with Charmaine. 

However, in the TV show, this was a bit more dramatic as it became a love triangle with Charmaine pregnant with Jack’s twins. 

Jack’s world was turned upside down as it was later revealed Mel was also pregnant. 

The season four finale unveiled the truth as Charmaine disclosed she had lied about Jack being the father of her children. 

As Mel and Jack were there to help calm her down after a panic attack, she dropped the truth bomb, which left viewers gobsmacked. 

Although the paternity of the unborn twins is yet to be revealed, this was good news for Jack who went on to propose to Mel.

Virgin River seasons 1-4 are available on Netflix 

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