Virgin River made Brie’s life more complicated than ever in season 6 — and Zibby Allen couldn’t be more excited about it.
“I love what the writers did for Brie,” Allen, 44, exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the season 6 premiere. “They have not made her life more simple. They have only added layers of complication.”
Warning: Spoilers below for season 6 of Virgin River.
Since joining the cast in season 3, Allen’s Brie has found herself in a complicated romance with her brother Jack’s (Martin Henderson) former military comrade Brady (Ben Hollingsworth). The pair ultimately called it quits at the end of season 5, and Brie opted to move on with good-guy cop Mike (Marco Grazzini) while Brady fell into a relationship with Lark (Elise Gatien), a woman he met at the homeless camp on the outskirts of town.
Despite their attempt to date other people, season 5’s Christmas episodes proved there were still some major sparks between them. When season 6 premiered on Thursday, December 19, viewers watched as the exes gave into their desires and slept together on a pool table in Jack’s bar.
“I feel like it’s been building, though, the tension [between them],” Allen said of twosome’s shocking tryst. “There’s so many sparks between them. Even if they’re not talking, they’re dating other people. It’s just there, always.”
With a smile, she added, “I think people are going to love it.”
While the intimate moment definitely came as a surprise when reading the script, Allen said she and Hollingsworth, 40, were fully on board after a period of not working together.
“We were just excited to have such a beautiful, juicy scene,” she explained. “And I think what that scene does for me — beyond it being, like, so sexy and steamy and the Brie and Brady chemistry that we all know and love — is that the writers gave them both a moment to acknowledge that neither of them have felt worthy of love.”
Allen noted the complexities of the moment between the two exes, pointing out that Brady — who had just discovered that his girlfriend was trying to steal his money behind his back — was facing the fallout from Lark’s “betrayal.” She added that both characters are coming from a “very low place of self-worth.”
As for actually filming the scene — which was one of the show’s spicier moments in its six seasons — Allen said she and Hollingworth were completely comfortable since the pair have had the “pleasure” of working together for four seasons now.
“And our first scene ever together was a makeout scene,” she said with a laugh. “So we’ve felt safe with one another from the get go. I’m really, really grateful for that. I think we both are. There’s just a given line of respect.”
Allen also revealed that the scene changed over time, with the original script setting the location in Brody’s room above Jack’s bar — the same room Brie used to live in — instead of on the pool table downstairs. Allen and Hollingsworth, however, had a different idea.
“Ben and I read it and we were talking about it and he’s like, ‘Man, we’ve seen scenes up there already.’ I’m like, ‘I know.’ And we were kind of riffing,” she recalled. “And then Ben was like, ‘What about the pool table?’ I was like, ‘Oh, that’s scandalous!’ And he was like, ‘Let’s pitch it.’ So we did and they went for it. And I’m so glad because I think it’s kind of iconic!”
The aftermath of their infidelity was a major focal point of season 6. Brady — who had dumped Lark for betraying him only to take her back — confessed his undying love for Brie at Mel and Jack’s wedding as Lark eavesdropped on the conversation. Brie, meanwhile, confessed her secret to Mike, who responded by revealing he’d known about the affair from the start before getting down on one knee to propose.
The credits rolled before Brie could make her decision, but Allen told Us fans can expect season 7 to heavily focus on her “grappling” with whether she’s made the right decision — whatever that may be.
“Many of us know what that’s like to make a decision that’s based on logic and parsing through and going, ‘This is why I should be doing something or be with this person.’ And then there’s that sort of undeniable thing, this chemistry that doesn’t just die overnight,” she said. “It’s hard to reconcile what that is. I don’t think it’s gonna be, like, all wrapped up in a bow.”
So where does Allen stand when it comes to her character’s future? Brie and Brady have been a fan-favorite couple from the jump, after all. “I’ll be walking down the street and out of nowhere a stranger will yell, ‘Team Brady!’” Allen told Us with a laugh.
Many of Allen’s castmates, however, feel differently. Alexandra Breckenridge and Martin Henderson, for example, both told Us earlier this month they think Mike is the better choice. Allen, for her part, is still undecided.
“Brie needs to get really real with herself,” she explained. “I think that she has an old identity that she’s still fixed too. The one that was really good at everything, she was amazing at her job. Nothing could get past her. And then that huge betrayal with her sexual assault with her ex totally turned her sense of self upside down. I think she’s still trying to cling to an old sense of herself. So until she can start to really get right with who she is now, and soften, it won’t be clear to any of us.”
No matter where Brie goes in season 7 and beyond, Allen is fully down for the ride — “that’s my girl,” she quipped — and she’s embracing the lessons she’s learned from Brie along the way.
Zibby Allen. Courtesy of Netflix
“As cheesy as it sounds, I always like to think that roles choose me because however that character shows up in that metamorphic field will need some of my qualities to help them along their journey,” she explained. “And conversely, I need some of what they have to offer.”
She continued, “I think Brie is, in a lot of ways, a lot stronger than I am. I’m a little softer and I wear my heart on my sleeve more. And I think Brie can use some of that, you know, where she’s going to be really self-sufficient and hard charging. I think that her vulnerability is both her strong suit and also the thing that she’s afraid will make her weak. And so I think that maybe I bring that more to that character as we grow together. And then I have had to borrow from what I’ve learned from Brie over the years in terms of just being a lot more of an advocate for myself.”
“She’s helped toughen me up,” Allen explained. “And I really appreciate that.”
Virgin River season 6 is now streaming on Netflix.
