Everything We Know About Denny (And His Secret) on ‘Virgin River’

Virgin River is back for Season 4, and a new character is stirring up trouble in town.

No, we don’t mean hot new doctor, Cameron Hayek (Mark Ghanimé). We’re talking about Denny Cutler (Kai Bradbury), who you may remember from the final minutes of Virgin River‘s Season 3 finale. If you recall, Virgin River Season 3 ended with a teenage boy arriving at the inn, claiming he was in town to visit his grandfather, Dr. Vernon Mullins. We had no clue Doc had a grandson, and from the looks of his Season 4 meeting with Denny, neither did he.

Netflix’s romantic dramedy, based on a series of novels by Robyn Carr, focuses on the small, charming, occasionally chaotic town. And Denny’s arrival is raising a lot more chaos. Key characters in the series include nurse practitioner Mel Monroe (Alexandra Breckenridge), local business owner Jack Sheridan (Martin Henderson), the aforementioned physician Doc Mullins (Tim Matheson), his wife and town mayor Hope McCrea (Annette O’Toole), and more. So when Denny rolls into town out of the blue he has quite a few eyes watching his every move.

Throughout the season, Denny raises more than a few red flags among Virgin River residents and viewers. So who is Denny Cutler? What secret is he hiding? And what else do we know about Kai Bradbury, the actor who plays him? We’ve got all the answers.

Who is Denny Cutler on Virgin River? What is Denny’s secret?

Denny meets Doc in Episode 1 of Season 4 and explains that Doc had a son he never knew about, who recently died. Apparently, Doc dated a woman named Rose Miller in college, and she never told him she was pregnant because she didn’t want a baby to stand in the way of his medical career. Denny lost his mom when he was young and claims that his dad’s death inspired him to visit Virgin River and seek Doc out. Rhough Doc is overwhelmed with Hope’s recovery, he’s thrilled to welcome his grandson into his life.

Since Doc’s one of Virgin River’s busiest residents, he enlists Lizzie’s (Sarah Dugdale) help to show Denny around town. Lizzie and Ricky (Grayson Maxwell Gurnsey) just broke up, so she has a lot of free time and is open to new relationships. She and Denny really hit it off, and it seems like they both want to be more than friends, but Denny keeps pumping the brakes before their relationship becomes too romantic. His hot and cold behavior with Lizzie isn’t the only reason people are suspicious of Denny’s presence. In Episode 5, Doc lets Denny stay in the bedroom above the clinic and Mel catches the teen breaking into the medicine cabinet, which houses strong, dangerous drugs. When she confronts Denny, he claims the cabinet was left open and that he was just looking for medicine to help with a headache. After learning no one in the office left the cabinet open that day, Mel realizes he’s lying and tells Doc.

Doc gets another earful about Denny after Lizzie finds a bottle of a drug called clonazepam (aka klonopin) in his bedroom, which is prescribed to someone else. The drug has several uses, including seizure prevention and anxiety treatment, and Denny claims it was his dads and he uses it to help his anxiety. OK. But something still feels off. As suspicions rise, friendly neighborhood Murial (Teryl Rothery) warns Doc to be wary of his new grandson. She shares a story of an acquaintance whose “niece” showed up out of nowhere and ended up scamming her, which is a distressing thought, especially when we see Denny inexplicably snooping through the clinics financial statements. He pays a visit to the bank and moves some serious cash around, and it doesn’t look great for Doc.

Later in the season, however, we learn that Denny wasn’t stealing from the clinic. He was paying off the clinic’s mortgage with money he received after his dad’s death. He tells Doc that he wanted the gesture to be a nice surprise, and it was, but it was also extremely stressful!

Just when Denny’s name seems cleared, he passes out and tells Doc and Hope he was just dehydrated. The show makes it seem like he’s secretly using drugs, but in the Season 4 finale, Denny tells Lizzie he has a terminal medical issue.

What Disease Does Denny Have On Virgin River?

Every time it seems like Denny and Lizzie are going to be together in Season 4, he pulls away and keeps her at a distance. He’s definitely sending mixed signals, which confuses Lizzie. But after he finds out Lizzie might decline Hope’s offer to be an in-home aid because she doesn’t want to be around him, he shares his secret with her in hopes of changing her mind.

“The reason I can’t be with you is because I don’t have a future,” Denny tells Lizzie. “I have Huntington’s Disease, which is terminal.” It seems like Denny would love to be more than friends with Lizzie, but he’s trying to be consider of the ways in which his disease would impact her life and their future together.

What is Huntington’s Disease?

Huntington’s Disease is a real terminal disease of the brain. According to Huntington’s Disease Society of America, the disease, which impacts tens of thousands of people, is inherited from a parent and stems from an error in the huntingtin gene. As people with the damaged gene age, the issue leads to brain damage and eventually physical and mental deterioration. There is currently no cure for Huntington’s Disease, and people often die around 15 to 20 years after developing symptoms. According to John’s Hopkins, early symptoms can include irritability, depression, forgetfulness, and trouble learning new things. As the disease worsens, people with Huntington’s can have trouble swallowing and speaking, memory loss, and more.

In terms of Virgin River, both Denny’s parents died, so it’s possible one of them also had Huntington’s Disease. People frequently develop symptoms in their mid-30s and 40s, so we’ll likely learn about how Denny was diagnosed at such a young age and see more of his experience living with the disease in Season 5.

Who is Kai Bradbury, Who Plays Denny Cutler in Virgin River Season 4 on Netflix?

The actor who plays Denny is a 28-year-old named Kai Bradbury from Vancouver, British Columbia. Bradbury is Japanese and Scottish, and if he looks familiar you may know him from other TV series, including Supernatural, The Boys, and Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Bradbury has more than 2,600 Twitter followers and nearly 9,000 followers on Instagram, but we expect those numbers to rise as more and more people watch Virgin River Season 4. Before Season 4 of Virgin River, Bradbury most recently appeared in Are You Afraid of the Dark? as Captain Jonas Cutter. His IMDb page notes that he has two other upcoming projects, and hopefully we’ll see him return for a fifth season of Virgin River.