What role does Elise Gatien play in Virgin River? Character explored in depth

Virgin River Season 5 introduced a new character named Lark, who is a single mother and goes on to become a potential love interest of Dan Brady (Ben Hollingsworth). The addition of her character added more drama and intensity to the storyline of this small-town drama.

Elise Gatien, a Canadian actress, plays the role of Lark, and her character significantly influences the lives of the other much-loved characters of the show. Lark has been a consistent part of the storyline since her appearance in season 5, and she will also be returning in Virgin River Season 6.

Let us now explore the character of Lark in detail along with the actor who plays the role.

What role does Elise Gatien play in Virgin River?

As previously mentioned, Elise Gatien plays the role of Lark in Virgin River. Her character is shown to be a single mother who frantically searches for her daughter Hazel in the midst of a massive wildfire spreading across the Virgin River.

While everyone runs to save themselves, Brady comes across Lark and ultimately saves Hazel. The timing of their meeting is interesting as Brady’s personal life is going through complications as his relationship with Brie Sheridan (Zibby Allen) stands on its last legs.

Lark and Brady connect well over their troubled past, and though Lark seems to understand Brady, the latter maintains his determination to save his relationship with Brie. However, after a point, Brady realizes that no matter what he does, he and Brie cannot work out as a couple.

This leads to Brady deciding to move on, and with Lark already in his life, it’s only a matter of time before the two explore their feelings for each other. That’s exactly what happens, though their relationship proves to be troublesome, as shown in Virgin River Season 6.

Things go south in season 6 after Lark overhears Brady having an emotional conversation with Brie and then confronts him regarding the nature of his relationship with her. While Brady did put in a lot of effort to make things work between himself and Lark, especially because of her daughter Hazel, this incident basically puts a disastrous end to whatever they had.

While Brady lies to Lark about the Brie situation, it does not stop Lark from leaving with her daughter while also taking the money from Brady’s account. Now this makes things interesting because in case Lark does have connections with Jimmy (Ian Tracey), there is a possibility that she betrayed Brady.

Regarding this turn of events, showrunner Hollingsworth told Entertainment Weekly,

"It's almost justifiable in a way. What he said to Brie at the end of the season is pretty paramount. And Lark was kind of planning to do this all along. So yeah, he's in trouble again."

He further added,

"What he didn't do is what he was saying he was going to do, which is make the habit of being honest. He should've stopped dancing with her and said, 'Listen, I need to talk to you. I realized tonight that you'll always be second in line. I still have feelings of Brie. I had an affair with Brie. You don't really deserve me, and if you want to move on, I totally understand.' That is the proper response."

This shows how Hollingsworth feels that Brady kind of caused all of this for himself. If only he had known how to behave, he could have saved a lot of trouble. With Virgin River returning for its 7th season and Lark’s character being confirmed to come back, it remains to be seen where the storyline regarding Brady and Lark goes.

What else has Elise Gatien starred in besides Virgin River?

The 36-year-old Elise Gatien has numerous other projects to her credit besides Virgin River. She played the role of Candace 'CJ' Ward in the show Tower Prep. She has also starred in Ghost Wars, iZombie, Supernatural, and Smallville.

Virgin River can be streamed on Netflix.