After much anticipation, Virgin River Season 4 is coming to the Netflix platform on 20 July 2022. According to Tim Matheson, who plays Vernon ‘Doc’ Mullins, there will be a lot of surprises and twists coming up in Virgin River Season 4. Especially in his relationship with Hope and the discovery of the existence of a grandson and son he didn’t know he had!
We at Survived The Shows had the pleasure of chatting with Tim Matheson about his experience on Virgin River and in particular what we can expect from season 4!
What is the main element of Vernon Doc Mullins’ character and the show in general that fascinates you the most and drew you to join Virgin River?
TIM MATHESON: The thing, I guess, that drew me was the medical aspect of the character and I think that most all of the characters on Virgin River are people who have suffered a trauma in their life and have sought out this little community of supportive people and crazy people, and, you know, a beautiful environment where people can sort of get their heads together.
Vernon was a big time doctor in Seattle, ran up a portion of a hospital and the head of the department and just got fed up with it and because it he didn’t have contact with his patients so he sought to move to a smaller venue and where he could. Basically, in a small town you know all your patients, you know they’re who they are. You know what their life is. You know everything about them, and while that is sometimes more difficult because then you have feelings about when they get sick or if they pass or something. But that was the thing that interested me, and he is a person who’s seeking to connect more with humanity than to elevate himself in a business world you know, and so it’s sort of like working to live rather than live to work.
We could say that Doc has had a one-of-a-kind journey over the past three seasons of the show, starting from being a bit grumpy to being loved by everyone. What has been the biggest challenge for you in playing him?
TM: Well, I think one of the bigger challenges not being a doctor you know is to. Make sure that the procedures that you’re performing on camera are done correctly. You know the examinations or the triage or the you know, the the way you administer your skills to help a person. It has to be done correctly, and then the oftentimes they’re the craziest words you know. Describe me a medical term describing something which a doctor just throws off it casually, whereas as an actor, I have to practice that and work on that and and and I have to find a place to keep it in here so that it just comes as second nature.
And the other thing is, you know at first I you would. I would tend to overdramatize the the the doctor’s involvement, but doctors are very cool, you know? I mean they’ve seen this 100 times generally speaking and it’s it’s like a captain of a ship if you panic, everybody’s panicking, so the deal is don’t panic, just you know, even if you, even if you don’t know what you’re doing. You’re you’re you’re the person in charge here. You’re the trained person to handle this situation. So handle it and convey to the patient that they’re in good hands. It’s going to be OK.
What can we expect from Doc’s storyline in Virgin River Season 4?
TM: I think his journey, this season 4, has to do with reuniting with the woman he loves who suffered, you know, a brain injury, Hope and, you know, it was in a way their relationship gave him a chance to redeem himself. He had a great love with a woman who he betrayed and lost, and then he sort of been trying all these intervening years to make it right and just when he thought it was going to be made right then, she’s injured and now brings up a lot of questions.
Is she ever going to be the same? Is she the same woman I know and love and can I help? And how do I make sure that I keep her forefront in my life and get her back to the best she can be? And how does that affect your relationship? I mean an unexpected event like that that can complicate a relationship and complicate feelings. Especially if a person can’t give back, you know, the care and love that you’re providing.
So I think it’s those things and he’s got a physical issue, although it seems to be more under control, but he’s got macular degeneration, age-related where I think it’s the stiffening of the eye. You know, when you’re getting cloudy vision in your sight which complicate things for a doctor, you know. And now that he’s open about it and he’s accepted that and he’s getting treatment, so it’s something I think you live with, and learn to adjust. And I think that’s him and also you know he has another doctor as a partner and he’s got Mel there. Although I think we’re gonna challenge their relationship in this coming season. I won’t give away too much, but I deeply adore Mel and Alex Breckenridge is just so so much fun to work with and practice medicine with. She’s just the heart and soul of the show
Another twist we got to see in the Virgin River season 3 finale concerns the arrival in town of Doc’s mysterious nephew, played by Kai Bradbury. What can we expect from their reunion and relationship?
TM: Well, that was really an A wonderful surprise for me. You know, to find out he has a grandson, you know. So I think for Doc it’s a chance to connect with his offspring and a son he never knew he had, and all those things and just to make a connection, you know, and also I think he had a relationship that went bad, I mean, why did this woman never tell him she was pregnant? And why did she run in, you know? And she didn’t want to interfere with his medical school, but it’s like, you know, I think those are the things you want to discuss more so than you know, just unilaterally act on that.
So, I think there’s a lot of complications like that and and getting to know my grandson, I think. It just reawakens a whole part of your life and and to see you know like who he is, who was his father and mother and you know and and grandmother who we lost. And so it’s just a whole new chapter and whole opening.
What was it like for you to work with Kai Bradbury?
TM: He’s a fine young actor. There’s a lot of twists and turns in their relationship and challenges and, so I think, you know, that’s what keeps you young. That kind of thing. I mean, all of a sudden, here’s a young boy, young man who’s maybe went in his early 20s and it’s a breath of fresh air and youth. It’s similar in a way to the change that Mel brought into Doc’s life when she came and, you know, you just start looking at the world through somebody else’s eyes and he was sort of old and her older and stuck in his ways and he had it. You know he had his routine down and that’s the way he did things.
Whereas when Mel comes in, he’s got to rethink everything and he’s got to communicate with her and and she gives a new perspective which I think brings makes you younger you know and it’s more health. It’s healthier to be exchanging ideas with somebody professionally and personally, and I think that you know. He’s come to admire her Mel as a partner of medical partner and also to enjoy her as a person. She’s just, you know, got a heart that’s as big as the whole town, so it’s just a treat. It’s a win for him.
Speaking of relationships, you can’t help but love the relationship between Doc and Hope. What can we expect for them in Virgin River Season 4? Even considering that we haven’t seen Hope for most of season 3.
TM: Yes, well, we can see that you know at the end of season three she came back and she was an injured in an auto accident and has a traumatic brain injury so. It’s all about their relationship as a new. Block in the middle of it, you know there’s a new something between them, it’s which is her recovery from her injury.
How quickly she can recover? Will she totally recover? How? How does that affect them? You know how does that? I mean, is she going to be the way she used to be?
And I think that’s you know. It also tests any relationship when someone is injured, because now are they the same person do I? I mean they are they the person that I loved and you don’t want to do dessert? Somebody who’s in need, but it can impact on your feelings for them. You know that if they’re not reciprocated or they’re reciprocated in a different way. Or, if she’s changed radically, you know so, but I think underscoring all of that is that they had a deep bond that they have to keep trying to keep it alive and to resurrect and to find again or find a new way you know.
I mean, I think he deeply, deeply loves Hope.
She’s giving him a second chance to make right by her. You know to do right by her and then this crazy accident happened. So it’s like it. The irony of it is is unsettling, but hopefully there’ll be a way around that, you know. And and now with a new Doctor in his office, he can take a little more time and spend it with. Hope and spend it with his grandson and I think have more personal time.
What was it like for you to build this relationship with Annette O’Toole?
TM: Well, I’ve known Annette for gosh, I don’t know, 30-40 years. I mean I was just before I did Animal House. She and I did a television episode of a series, an anthology series on NBC I believe and so I’ve known of her because I’d worked on a film with her then-boyfriend and actor, wonderful actor named Bruno Kirby who was in Godfather 2 and Good morning Vietnam and he’s wonderful. And City Slickers. He’s an incredible actor who’s now gone unfortunately.
But so I’ve known Annette most of my adult life and and revere her as an actress.
And so it was a great treat for me. In a surprise, I got to the airport to come to the Vancouver for the first time when we were starting the show and she runs up and says I’m playing hope and it’s like ‘Oh my God, no this is fantastic’ because we you know when somebody you know that long and you’re friendly with them, your friends.
It’s easier, you know I have a fondness in a trust with her that is really, really wonderful. And so I, I really enjoy working with her and it in many ways mirrored the relationship that Doc and Hope have because I didn’t. You know, I’d known a net forever and so it’s a chance to rekindle our relationship. I didn’t betray her like Doc betrayed Hope, but thankfully, you know, we do have a back story that we can share.
As you mentioned earlier, another great friendship Doc has cultivated over the seasons of the show is the one with Mel. What is it like for you to work with Alexandra Breckenridge and what can we expect from their relationship in season 4?
TM: Well Alexandra is, as I said, the heart and soul of the show and she’s a wonderful scene partner to to be in a scene with her. She listens so intensely to what you are saying and it just makes things so simple and real that it’s just a joy. It’s all the scenes over before even you imagine. You don’t feel like you’re acting, you’re just talking to a person that you have this relationship with and she’s so much fun on the set between takes and just, you know. She keeps things light and so she’s sort of the spirit of the whole series, you know, and keeps us all amused and constantly falling in love with her and and she’s she’s she’s just wonderful to be around
If you had to choose one character, besides Doc, that you would have liked to play in Virgin River, which would it be?
TM: I’ve always had a good time and had fun playing the bad guy. So you know the characters that are most evil, or sometimes the most fun and the better the villain, the better the movie or the show. And you know we’ve got a great villain on our show [Virgin River], who runs the, you know, the pot cultivation thing and then he got into other drugs and it’s so I mean that character is if I find fascinating but you know, I couldn’t be happier playing Doc. You know, I’m just totally excited and thrilled and and over the moon to go to work every day and play this character.
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