Virgin River star Lynda Boyd has spoken about her character Lilly’s tragic season three storyline, which saw her diagnosed with late stage pancreatic cancer.

The Netflix drama’s third season saw Lilly confide in her closest friends that she had been diagnosed with cancer, with Lilly sadly passing away from her illness toward the end of the season.

Actress Boyd has now opened up about how she felt about the storyline, telling RadioTimes.com that she found it incredibly difficult to take on the plot due to her own real-life experiences.

“I had a call from the producers, a conference call, and they’re like, ‘We’re so excited for your storyline for season three – you’re going to get cancer and die.’

“And I was sitting there at my end and going, ‘Oh. Cancer. Cool.’ I lost two siblings to cancer and I just didn’t want to go back there and feel those feelings anymore, but it ended up being some really good writing for Lilly.”

The star also spoke about how intense it was to film the scenes in which Lilly tells her friends about her diagnosis, particularly as she has such a strong relationship with her co-stars.

“All those women are my friends in real life,” she said. “I’ve known Teryl (Rothery), who plays Muriel, since I was 14 years old. [She] and I used to take tap dancing lessons together, so standing up before them and telling them what a wonderful life I’ve had and how much it meant to me – they were all bawling.

“That was real. It was almost like rehearsing for that day when I had to tell people I was dying, you know what I mean? It was hard but I think it might help people in some way, for anyone else who’s going through that, losing a loved one.”

Virgin River season three showrunner Sue Tenney recently dropped some hints about what we can expect to see in a potential season four of the drama, addressing the outcome of Jack Sheridan (Martin Henderson)’s proposal to Melinda Monroe (Alexandra Breckenridge) and the paternity of Mel’s baby.

There will also be drama for Charmaine Roberts (Lauren Hammersley) and Jack, as Charmaine tries to win full custody of the twins.