E024 | Virgin River Season 7 (2026) – Adoption on the Small Screen

What do you get when you take sweeping mountain views, added to a fictional town of 627 people, with a magical sprinkle from the vivid imagination of a showrunner who is also a proud adoptive parent? You get the wildly problematic, seventh season of the cozy Netflix drama, Virgin River. Listen in as podcast journalist Haley Radke, filmmaker Kristal Parke, and cultural critic Sullivan Summer read between the lines of this Pop! Star favorite: thank you to Dalia, Lisa, and Karri for suggesting!

Virgin River is based upon the books by Robyn Carr. Season 7 Episode 7, "It Takes a Village" was directed by Ruba Nadda, and written by Becky Hartman Edwards, Robyn Carr, and Ildiko Susany.

This episode of Adoption Pop! aired on May 20, 2026. In it we discussed and/or relied upon:

Throughout this episode, Sullivan mistakenly refers to the showrunner as "Sean Patrick Smith," as he is named in one of the articles. His name is actually "Patrick Sean Smith." We apologize. (If only everyone were such sticklers for accurate representation).

Nellie Andreeva, "'Virgin River' Showrunner on Shocking Season 7 Life & Death Cliffhanger, Mel & Jack's Adoption Journey, Medical Utopia, LGBTQ Representation, & More," Deadline (March 12, 2026)

John Griffiths, "Life with Fathers," televisionacademy.com (June 18, 2015)

The Adoption Pop! theme music is The Chase by Audiogreen.

We'd love to hear what you thought of this episode, and what you'd like for us to cover in the future. Find, follow, like, and subscribe to Adoption Pop! at our website, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

Podcast journalist Haley Radke is at adopteeson.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Filmmaker Kristal Parke is at kristalparke.net, on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

Cultural critic Sullivan Summer is at sullivansummer.com and on Instagram.