Benjamin Hollingsworth is used to the devoted Virgin River fandom. Every time he leaves his house, he has learned to expect multiple fan encounters, whether it’s at the store or a restaurant. But nothing may be able to prepare him for the reaction that happens once fans finish bingeing the latest season of Virgin River.
Consider this your warning: If you’re not caught up on all of season six, and don’t want to be spoiled, then stop reading now. Because what happens to Brady—and Brie, and Mike, and Lark—will play out for seasons to come. Fans will have plenty to ask Hollingsworth about.
“It does feel like you’re a part of something cultural that’s really, really cool,” Hollingsworth tells Glamour from British Columbia. “I’m just as big of a fan of the show as anyone else. My wife is too. We sit down and devour episodes. When Brie and Brady broke up previously, my wife was crying. I’m like, ‘Are you crying about your husband’s on-screen girlfriend breaking up with him?’ [Laughs] Yes, she sure was.”
Now there’s even more to cry about, as Lark has wiped Brady’s bank account clean and disappeared into thin air. “He’s so incapable of maintaining a good thing,” Hollingsworth says of the zero balance that Brady saw when he logged into his account.
Of course, that’s the least of his problems—though it is quite a big one. Earlier in the season, Brie left Brady a drunken voicemail revealing she still has major feelings for him, and they ended up sleeping together on the pool table in Jack’s restaurant and bar. As if the cheating aspect wasn’t bad enough, it seems all too convenient that Brie will wind up pregnant (since she also slept with Mike soon after) and set up a “who’s the father?” storyline next season.
Then there’s the fact that Mike proposed to Brie in the final moments of episode 10. Instead of saying “yes,” she admitted that she slept with Brady, but—shocker—Mike already knew and didn’t care. So will Brie accept? Or will she talk some sense into Mike that this couldn’t come at a more awkward time?
Not only does Hollingsworth reveal what he thinks—hypothetically—could happen next season, which begins filming in Vancouver in March, but he also spills some fascinating tea on what almost didn’t happen this season. Get out your coziest blanket and read on.
Glamour: What reveal shocked you the most this season?
Benjamin Hollingsworth: Brady and Brie having sex on a pool table. Originally, it was scripted that Brie went to Brady’s room above the bar and they had sex on a bed. However, we’ve been building up to this moment for a season and a half, so I was like, “I think it needs to be more raw and unplanned and somewhere unexpected. What if it’s the pool table in Jack’s bar?” I pitched it to producers as a thought off the top of my head, and they thought it was gold. So they ran over to Patrick Sean Smith, our showrunner, and he was like, “I need to think about this, but I think it’s going to work. I think this might actually work.”
I loved it because Jack’s bar obviously isn’t going anywhere, and neither is that pool table. So for as long as we do the show, that pool table is only a quick glance away from my character. It’s kind of amazing. Brady goes through 18 different emotions all at once there. It was like acting gymnastics and a lot of fun. It was also super refreshing for Zibby and I to have a whole proper scene together since it had been so long. We had these little scenes and little moments, but not something meaty like that. Did it work?
It’s the sexiest scene of the entire season, but I kept thinking, This has got to hurt, the two of them on a pool table. It looked great visually, but I had to imagine there was some serious soreness involved.
I have two words for you: rug burn. [Laughs]
Did you end up regretting this? At what point did you think, Why the hell did I suggest the pool table?
Yeah. No, I don’t think I ever…it’s all for the craft. I think it really does come together in a way that feels organic and doesn’t make you dislike Brady or Brie, even though essentially they’re cheating.
Now, of course—in my mind, at least—season seven is being primed for a, “Who’s the father of Brie’s child?” Obviously Brie is not pregnant—yet—but she slept with Mike and Brady back-to-back. At one point at the end of the season, Brie’s parents hint that they want grandkids.
No comment. [Laughs] But gosh, wouldn’t that be something? I think if the baby comes out with a leather jacket, we know it’s Brady’s, right?
Absolutely. So, if Brady is about to become a father…
Oh my gosh, this is so hypothetical!
I know.
I am there for it, though. Even just seeing how Brady steps up for Hazel because he doesn’t want to have any child live with the way he grew up, which is without parents. So even if the child was Mike’s…oh God, that would be so hard. And this is hypothetical, just reminding everyone. We’re not going to be making crazy news here about season seven in this piece. I won’t lose my job over a season seven storyline that doesn’t exist. But with that said, I think that would make for some good drama.
Speaking of good drama, I was shocked in the finale when Mike proposes to Brie and not only did she admit she slept with Brady, but he says, “I know.”
I also was shocked, because it wasn’t written that way.
How was it written?
It was written that she admits she slept with Brady, but then that was it. The “I know ” wasn’t there in the script, originally. So when I was watching an early screener of the episode and Mike says, “I know,” I was like, “What?! Did I miss a revision or something?” They shot it two different ways. Now with it set up like this, it can play itself out in multiple ways. But holy shit, right?
Yes, indeed. Part of me was also stunned that Mike knew, but then again, they were practically telling everyone in town, so of course he knew.
It’s Virgin River. Internet slow, gossip fast. [Laughs]
And why would Mike still want to propose and marry Brie if he knows she slept with Brady?
Right. I feel like it played like desperation. It was Mike’s last hope of not having her drift away. I don’t know if Brady would’ve had a similar reaction if the roles were reversed. If the tables were turned, Brady would’ve probably found Mike pretty quickly and had a discussion with him about it.
So, hypothetically speaking, what do you think Brie will say to Mike when season seven starts?
Hypothetically, I think it would be very hard for them to have a relationship moving forward that isn’t extremely tainted. Now, not impossible, but I certainly think that is very tricky for someone to get married after that. But anything can happen in Virgin River.
I don’t know necessarily if it means all of a sudden Brie and Brady are a thing, also. I know fans are pretty adamant that they do get back together, and I certainly enjoy working with Zibby, so regardless of what happens, hopeuflly we get some more Brie and Brady scenes together. Zibby and I have such a fun time acting with each other.
Let’s talk about Lark. Were you surprised that Brady would reconcile with her after he found out that she was with Jimmy, who is the father of Hazel, and she was trying to scam him? He moved past all that pretty quickly. Were you surprised by that?
Shocked. In fact, when I read it, I didn’t buy it. I was like, “Guys, this is ridiculous. He would never do this.” And then Sean talked to me about it, and he said, “I think where we’re going to come from is the fact that Brady’s made mistakes. The whole idea of this season for Brady is that he’s trying to be the man that Brie wanted him to be, even though it’s with a different woman.” So Brady is really making an effort. He has to understand that if he wants to be forgiven for what he’s done, he has to also forgive others for making similar mistakes. Brady and Lark are very similar in that way. They find themselves in difficult situations and make some bad decisions. But overall, I think have a good heart.
Lark seems to overhear as Brady professes his undying love for Brie, but when Lark and Brady are dancing later, and she asks him about things, he doesn’t come clean. She seems at peace with his answer. I thought she knew, but now I’m not so sure?
Yeah, I think it’s another unfortunate moment for Brady, where he’s kind of confronted with not trying not to hurt someone’s feelings versus telling the truth. He started the whole season off by saying, “I want to make a habit of telling you the truth.” And then when confronted by Lark, he essentially says there’s nothing to worry about. I don’t know if it’s a direct lie, but it’s in the world of a lie, and that always comes back to bite him. I like that we’re not all of a sudden acting as if Brady is the shiny poster boy of humanity and morality. He’s still built in the same moral fabric as he was before. However, he’s trying to overcome some of these knee-jerk reactions that he used to have to protect himself. A lot of Brady’s personality stems from the fact that he always had to be a lone wolf. He wasn’t a part of a pack. He joined the Marines, and all of a sudden he was a part of this family. But when the Marines finished for him, all that went away and he had to fight for himself. He went down the wrong road. So all that is a part of who he is. I didn’t want to just abandon that. I’m happy the writers didn’t either. As tough as is to watch him do, I think the reason why the audience roots for Brady is because he’s constantly trying.
So even in that scene with Lark, I wanted to make it look like Brady wanted to tell her the truth, but he just couldn’t find the words. So he didn’t.
Hypothetically speaking, do you think the outcome of the season would’ve been different for Brady and Lark if he would have been honest about Brie? Would she have stayed? Or do you think Lark was set on leaving and taking his money?
I think if he gave her the respect of saying, “Listen, I need to be honest with you…I’m still very much in love with Brie, but I want to be there for you and Hazel,” I don’t think she would’ve run away with this money, but I think she would’ve probably ended the relationship.
That’s maybe the difference between her and Mike. Mike is always kind of doing the stand-up thing. He’s very predictable, dependable, reliable, all the -ables. That has its place. But I think missing from their relationship is a sense of authentic emotion, and the thing that makes us all human, which is that we’re not perfect and that we do all have wants and desires.
You really must have had a blast this season. Brady had the most OMG moments of anyone.
They did such a great job of setting up so many different opportunities for season seven. We’ll be back at work in March and find out where we go from here. I loved [season six]. We got to explore the messy world of relationships, because even with the most happily married couple, it’s still messy. That’s the reality of life.
So you were more shocked about Brady and Brie sleeping together, or Lark taking all the money out of Brady’s bank account and disappearing?
I feel like that’s just on par. Like, how is he going to lose this money this season? Because he’s so incapable of maintaining a good thing.
How did she get into his bank account? I know she saw his phone password when he entered it to play Candy Crush with Hazel, but the bank account would require more access than just that.
I think there was some artistic liberties taken because, I don’t know about you, but I have a face recognition thing and then it texts me a code if I want to access secured information. If we’re transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars, you think the bank would say, “Hi, was this you?”
Exactly. So we know you start filming season seven in March. What else is next for you?
I just finished a movie with Arielle Kebbel, who’s on Rescue: HI-Surf on Fox. It’s a really cute dog movie we’re doing together. That’s the first movie I’ve done with a dog. Got to say, dogs are very high maintenance. They are always eating all the food across crafts service. They are leaving hair all over the wardrobe. They never know their lines. They’re very seldom on their mark. [Laughs] No, I had a great time. I love dogs, and this is is very much about [animal] rescue.
We don’t know if it’s going to be on Netflix, or another network or streamer, but that’s in the works. And then, I’m writing a couple of different projects too. It’s really fun.
For more on Virgin River, click here.
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