Warning: This article contains spoilers for Virgin River season five.
While so many other Netflix originals out there are felled after just one or two seasons, romantic drama Virgin River has been blessed to keep on running and running. Since first hitting the streaming platform in December 2019, the popular screen adaptation of the books of author Robyn Carr has racked up five seasons and counting — a sixth season has already been commissioned and, with Carr penning 22 Virgin River novels to date, the show could theoretically go on and on.
Virgin River stars Alexandra Breckenridge as Mel Monroe, a midwife who moves to the Northern California town of the title in the hopes of starting afresh and leaving her tragic past behind, only to find that living in her new home brings its own trials and tribulations. As this suggests, Virgin River features an ever-growing ensemble cast of familiar faces playing the colorful residents of the town. Among them is Calvin, the (apparent) mastermind of the town’s drug trade. Here’s what you need to know about Calvin and who plays him.
Who plays Calvin Charmaine in Virgin River?
Recurring throughout all five seasons, Calvin is played by David Cubitt. The English-born Canadian performer is currently 68 years old and has been a prolific character actor on the small screen since his career began in the early 1990s. He’s appeared as a guest star and supporting player in countless beloved shows, including the likes of Arrow, Bates Motel, Ray Donovan, Once Upon a Time, and Supernatural.
He’s perhaps best known, though, for his long-running regular role on Medium, the Emmy Award-winning NBC supernatural drama starring Patricia Arquette as Allison DuBois, a psychic woman who aids the police. Cubitt played Allison’s ally on the force, Det. Lee Scanlon, appearing in a total of 111 episodes across all seven seasons, which aired from 2005 to 2011.
As Calvin, Cubitt plays one of Virgin River‘s most morally questionable characters. As the boss of the local lumber yard, Calvin is also in charge of an illegal pot farm located on the other side of the river, bringing Brady (Benjamin Hollingsworth) into his unsavory business after Brady leaves his job at Jack’s Bar. Calvin also has a fierce rivalry with Jack (Martin Henderson), which even leads him to poison the bar’s food one time.
What does Virgin River season five reveal about Calvin’s fate?
If you recall, the last time we saw Calvin, it appeared that his reign of terror had come to an end in explosive fashion. In season four, Calvin is presumed deceased once his boat blows up, but as is a classic rule of TV, we never saw a body, so we knew there was a strong chance he was secretly alive. Sure enough, Calvin’s return in season five confirms it, as well as well as dropping a whole other twist we didn’t see coming.
Simply put, it turns out Jack isn’t the father of Charmaine’s twins, Calvin is! Prior to Calvin’s return in season five’s tenth episode, Charmaine (Lauren Hammersly) admits to Jack that her sons’ father was just a one-night stand who she didn’t want to be involved in their lives as a parent. And yet once he’s back that’s just what Calvin wants. Not only that, but it’s unveiled that Calvin isn’t the real drug kingpin of Virgin River either — it’s actually Melissa (Barbara Polland).
Expect Calvin’s storyline to only get more dramatic as Virgin River season five continues with two more episodes this Nov. 30. For the moment, catch the first 10 episodes on Netflix.
