Is Lauren Hammersley leaving Virgin River, role of Charmaine?

After being a staple of Virgin River and frequent foil for much of the show’s run, is Lauren Hammersley leaving the show? Is Charmaine actually gone for good?

Well, it was clear fairly early on in season 7 that the character was off in the wind, and now we’ve got some further news that she will not be coming back anytime soon. This was confirmed in a report by Deadline, who noted via showrunner Patrick Sean Smith that Hammersley will not be coming back in season 8. However, there is still a chance that Charmaine returns at some point down the road. The character is not dead and just by virtue of that alone, there is always a chance that things could change.

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In speaking further about these changes to the aforementioned publication, Smith noted that some of it is just the nature of TV needing to constantly shake things up:

“For me, I’m just trying to look to the longevity of the show and making sure that the characters that we’re keeping have enough story engine in them to keep going … So I can’t say there are any specific cast shakeups planned, but I think we will have to start to — as characters run their course — make some decisions and bring in some new blood.”

You can certainly argue now that when it comes to Charmaine’s story, there was not anywhere else to take her for the immediate future. She had already caused her fair share of chaos and in removing her from the equation for a while, there is a chance to reset her story to a certain extent. With that, she could be a slightly different person by the time we do see her again.

Related – When could a Virgin River season 8 end up premiering?

Do you think that we are going to see Charmaine again on Virgin River?

Be sure to share right now in the attached comments! Once you do just that, remember to also come back — there are some other updates on the way.