Virgin River Cast Break Down Mel and Jack’s Wedding, Cliffhangers, More

Virgin River finally let Mel and Jack walk down the aisle during the season 6 finale — and stars Alexandra Breckenridge a Martin Henderson looking back on their best memories of the big day.

“Watching Martin cry every time I walked down the aisle,” Breckenridge, 42, shared in the latest issue of Us Weekly. “I wasn’t crying. I was like, ‘Oh no, where are my tears?’ You know, happy tears. I’m like, ‘Where are those?’ But every time I walked down the aisle, he would get all (misty eyes). He was being very sentimental, and it was very sweet.”

After six seasons of break-ups and makeup, a fake paternity test and heartbreaking pregnancy loss, Mel (Breckenridge) and Jack (Henderson) said “I do” with their friends and family around them in the finale season 6. It was an emotional moment for everyone involved in the series, and although Breckenridge was able to keep her eyes dry, Henderson explained why the moment resonated so deeply with him.

“Obviously, I’ve invested a lot of energy and emotion into the character of Jack and his love for Mel, which is kind of the core of the show in a way,” he said. “So to finally get to that moment, and for Mel to be walking up the aisle radiant and so beautiful, I felt that love that I think these characters have for each other . It was really moving.”

Henderson added that the way the wedding was shot felt so “beautiful” and “tender” for the two characters, who have been through so much together. “I was shocked and very emotional about it. It was so touching,” Henderson continued. “It’s been six seasons leading up to that. … I poured my heart and soul into (Mel and Jack) and I was so happy for Jack to have this woman as his wife and what that means to him.”

Henderson noted how tremendous the moment was for fans too, who have known that Mel and Jack were destined soul mates from the pilot. “They belong together,” he said. “The audience knows that when she walks into the bar (in the pilot). So it felt like the culmination of all the energy and romance and love and emotion that has existed between them for six seasons.”

Henderson was certainly not the only person on set feeling the waves of emotion. Breckenridge said most people attending the ceremony had tears in their eyes.

“I think there are a lot of people crying,” he said Us. “Like, with (Mel’s father-like figure) Doc (played by Tim Matheson) walked me down the aisle … when I was saying my vows, I could hear sniffing behind me.”

While Henderson will likely remember Jack’s wedding day for the rest of his life, there was one particular season 6 moment he chooses to forget: performing an intimate strip-tease for Breckenridge to “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy” by Big & Rich.

“I literally put that completely out of my mind,” Henderson quipped of the moment, which saw Jack undress while wearing a cowboy hat. “That was one of the most stressful moments of my life, let alone my career.”

Joke aside, Henderson wanted to make sure the scene felt authentic to who Jack was as a character – which is why he turned down the opportunity to have a professional block of the dance and instead leaned on his creative freedom to himself

‘They offered, ‘Do you want to choreograph it?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, yes, I’m doing it. I definitely need help.’ But then I was getting close to going to the first meeting and I thought about it. I was like, ‘Wait, that’s going to look really weird. Jack Sheridan, the Marine, bar owner from Virgin River breaks down in some kind of Magic Mikeperfectly-choreographed gyrating? That’s going to look funny. It will look silly.’ So I said, ‘You know what? No, forget about it. Just play the song.’”

What came of that decision was an instant favorite moment and the highlight of the entire six seasons, which Henderson described as Jack’s attempt to “entertain his drunk fiancé” after she ran out of strippers at her Bachelorette party. Luckily for Henderson, Breckenridge was the perfect scene partner to help her feel comfortable being so vulnerable—especially when production had to cut the music off halfway through filming.

“There was a little bit of dialogue, unfortunately, kind of interwoven among the strip. So to get the sound for her lines and my lines, we couldn’t have music playing,” he said Us. “It was such an embarrassment. I was dying. There’s no music, there’s no beat. I’m just, like, doing this ridiculous dance. But I will say, Alexandra Breckenridge was so kind and present and she played opposite me with such joy and fun,” he said. “And that’s why I think in the end I decided, ‘These two should be enjoying each other a lot.'”

The wedding (and bachelor/bachelorette mayhem) was undoubtedly the highlight of season 6, but Mel and Jack were on their own journeys as well. Breckenridge was particularly invested in Mel’s story with her biological father, Everett (John Allen Nelson), with whom she reconnected at the end of season 5. They both spend Virgin River season 6 getting to know each other while also connecting over their mutual love to Mel’s mother, Sarah, who died at the age of 11.

“It was very touching, especially because I know what it’s like to lose your mother,” said Breckenridge, whose own mother died. Us. “So I was connected very quickly at that level. I’ve always been for (Mel), but what she’s going through emotionally with finding her father and being able to get this glimpse of what her mother was like (it was special).”

Although Mel and Everett experienced a few bumps in the road trying to find their new normal, their dynamic developed quickly throughout the season, and it’s something Breckenridge is looking forward to continuing with season 7.

“I’m very curious to see where that goes,” he told us. “I love how Mel tries to open up her relationship with her father, and he keeps trying to push her away because I think he doesn’t want to experience the loss again. You know, very often, people who lose people, they’re afraid to love anybody again, because they’re afraid, they’re going to go through that pain. But you can’t live without it, you know? It’s not life if you don’t love yet.”

As Mel continued to navigate her new relationship with her father, Jack was also on his own personal journey, one that Henderson believes was about making “peace and coming to terms with what his military background was meant to him then, but also what it means to him now.”

“We watched him struggle with that when he had to reconnect with his ex-wife. And the medal that is given to him, is almost contemptuous of that and ignores this idea that it is a good thing,” he explained. “And it’s kind of throwing the baby out with the bathwater in a way because there’s so much pain and regret around some of the things that happened.”

Henderson noted that Jack is also forced to balance his own negative emotions about his time in the military while also supporting Ricky (Grayson Maxwell Gurnsey), who returned to Virgin River before being deployed. “Jack is trying to stay the course and stay supportive and not undermine this poor kid. (Ricky) already had his own insecurities and fear, and Jack is trying to say, ‘Hey, it’s okay. I was scared too.’ And there’s this gray area around that, and Jack, emotionally, and he doesn’t know how to feel.”

Mel and Jack’s individual storylines will likely continue into season 7, but the duo will also face many other obstacles together. The final moments of season 6 saw the two entrenched in cliffhangers, with Marley as a pregnant teenager (Rachel Drance) announced that she wanted Mel and Jack to adopt her unborn baby. Meanwhile, Jack went over to check on Charmaine who was missing (Lauren Hammersley) and found her home ransacked before opening her twin babies’ bedroom and discovering something shocking – a revelation the audience has yet to see.

Mel and Jack have, of course, wanted a baby together for a long time, but after Mel experienced her second pregnancy loss in Virgin River season 5, their future as parents has been up in the air. However, season 7 could mean big changes for the newlywed duo.

“Jack is still kind of holding out for this family that he wants and he’s pretty anxious and wanting to know where that’s going to lead,” Henderson shared, while Breckenridge teased that a million thoughts run through Mel’s head – but that doesn’t mean she’s closed off to the idea.

“She’s just like, in complete shock,” he explained. “I mean, she just got married. This is literally the morning after she wakes up, and she is in shock. And then there’s, like, that hope that kind of starts creeping in. Let’s see. I don’t know.”

Virgin River now streaming on Netflix.