What Virgin River Author Really Thinks of the Show's Detour from the Books

Fans of Robyn Carr's book series know that Netflix's Virgin River doesn't always follow the storylines of the novels exactly – and they're not always happy with the results.

Considering that the author has written 22 novels in the Virgin River series since 2007, it's only natural that there would be discrepancies with the source material in one way or another. However, while some of the changes involve pacing or changing the focus on certain characters, others prove to be more drastic, changing entire story arcs. However, what does Robyn Carr herself think about the changes?

Deviations from the Books

Netflix's adaptation of Virgin River has its fair share of differences, and Season 5 is no exception. These include the fact that Jack and Mel's romance is not always the primary focus of the book's narrative, and, for example, the fact that the timeframe in the novels is much longer, while in the five seasons of the series, a little over a year has passed since Mel's arrival in Virgin River.

There are many more drastic changes, though. While in the books Preacher and Paige's love story is the ultimate happy ending, as they both found comfort in each other by building a healthy relationship, in the show we've seen a completely devastating mess. This includes – spoilers – Mel's stillborn daughter from Mark, which was not the case in the books.

To understand why this happens and what the author herself thinks about it, it is worth turning to the words of the showrunner.

Showrunner on the Creative Process and Carr's Opinion

Patrick Sean Smith, the showrunner, co-executive producer and co-screenwriter of Season 5, revealed that the show's team deliberately strayed from the book's narrative to tell a TV story, while respecting and regularly checking in with the source material.

'[I]t's always like an extra check when we start to head in that direction to know that it's also honoring the spirit of the books, but not hamstringing ourselves to only capturing what the books did,' he said.

That was the course set by original showrunner Sue Tenney, and according to Smith, the author has always valued that approach.

'When Sue Tenney developed the series and pilot, she made some really smart choices of taking from all the books and then bringing the characters in the best way that told the TV story she wanted to. Robyn Carr has been very deferential. She's like, "I write books; you do TV." So there's always been a bit of a separation between what happens in the books and what happens in the show.'

We'll see where the plot goes in Season 5 Part 2, which will be released on November 30.

Source: Glamour.