Benjamin Hollingsworth says the first Meet Cute Con: Small Town Swoon will give Virgin River fans something the show's cast has never had before: a chance to meet most of the series' stars in one place, in an environment built to feel less like a sprawling convention center and more like the small town at the heart of the Netflix drama.
The convention is set for Nashville, Tennessee, this November. It will bring together most of the Virgin River cast — Hollingsworth, Alexandra Breckenridge, Martin Henderson, Colin Lawrence, and Zibby Allen — alongside One Tree Hill alumni Jana Kramer and Bethany Joy Lenz, and The Way Home stars Chyler Leigh and Evan Williams. For Virgin River, it marks the first time the cast has appeared together in an official capacity to meet fans.
Hollingsworth, who plays Dan Brady, said the show's record-breaking run has left him stunned and grateful. Virgin River is heading into Season 8 and has become the longest-running series in Netflix history, an achievement he described as surreal and difficult to fully process.
«It's surreal. I'm very, very aware of how blessed [I am] and I'm super grateful that I'm a part of this historic [feat],» he said. «With season eight, we became the longest-running Netflix series in history, which is — I don't know how to quite compute that — but it's a blessing, and I'm grateful.»
He credits the audience for getting the series this far, and said the cast is eager to finally meet the people who have kept it alive. «And what's really cool is what's gotten us this far: our fans,» he said. «We're finally getting a chance to meet some of them and chat with them, which is really exciting.»
The event's theme of community and small-town charm fits Virgin River closely. Hollingsworth said the town itself functions as the show's main character, with the cast rotating around it. What makes that town special, he argued, is the way its characters show up for one another — a form of connection he believes is becoming rarer in modern life.
«We have communities online. We have so many communities online, but our personal interaction, that community, is starting to fade away,» he said. «And again, I think that's one of the reasons why we decided this was a good thing to do, is to try and reinforce that community, even within our show.»
That impulse is central to Meet Cute Con's design. Rather than placing fans and actors in a massive hall with long lines and brief encounters, the event aims for smaller, more personal interactions. Hollingsworth said that intimacy is exactly why the cast chose this convention over others.
«I personally had done one other one, but part of the reason why we all decided we wanted to do this one was that this one's going to feel more intimate and feel more like a community and less like some of the bigger ones,» he said. «They're in convention centers, and it doesn't — they can feel sterile or non-personal.»
He added that the format should let fans have a genuine «fun little mini interaction with someone you know so well from TV.» For the cast, the gathering also offers a rare chance to share the experience together. Hollingsworth noted that some of his co-stars have never done a convention before, including Lawrence and Henderson, making the Nashville event a first for much of the group.
«We'll all be together, and it's crazy that it's taken us this long to get together and chat about Virgin River, but hey, better now than never!» he said.
For a series that has built its following on warmth, romance, and the pull of a tight-knit community, the convention's promise of a «mini Virgin River» may be the most fitting tribute yet — a chance for the show's fans and its stars to occupy the same small-town feeling the series has spent eight seasons creating.