The Virginian: Season 3
Season 3 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of The Virginian Season 2.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 3 Progress Shield
Ryker
Sep 16, 1964
A former law man and now hired gun, Emmett Ryker (Clu Gulager), heads to Medicine Bow at the request of Hagen (Leslie Nielsen). Hagen holds a mortgage on the ranch of Hale (Russ Co
Dark Challenge
Sep 23, 1964
Carl Hendricks (Victor Jory), with his son Arnie (Chris Robinson) and daughter Jenny (Katharine Ross), buys a local ranch. Trampas is embarrassed when he tries to get Jenny to danc
The Stallion
Sep 30, 1964
A wild stallion escapes its owner, John Slaughter (Don ""Red"" Barry), killing a handler in the process. The animal injures itself and is found by Randy Benton who takes him to the
The Hero
Oct 7, 1964
Posing as a newspaper man, James Templeton (Steve Forrest) comes to Medicine Bow to interview Judge Garth who is a leading candidate for territorial senator. Betsy Garth is smitten
Felicity's Spring
Oct 14, 1964
Felicity Andrews (Katherine Crawford), the new Medicine Bow school teacher, lives with her older sister Kate (Mariette Hartley) and grandfather Jonah (Carl Benton Reid). Everyone r
The Brazos Kid
Oct 21, 1964
Samantha Frye (Barbara Eden), who has been fired from many newspapers for her exaggerated stories, arrives in Medicine Bow where she begins working for the newspaper and becomes co
Big Image . . . Little Man
Oct 28, 1964
Millionaire Paul Leland (Linden Chiles) treats everyone like dirt and ends up in the desert after getting shoved off a train by a disgruntled employee. He is found and taken on by
A Father for Toby
Nov 4, 1964
At the Medicine Bow orphanage Toby Shea (Kurt Russell) makes up stories about his great father which none of the other boys believe, so he befriends Trampas and tells the other boy
The Girl from Yesterday
Nov 11, 1964
Steve Hill is asked to go under cover by a US Marshall (Don Collier) by renewing his relationship with a former girlfriend, Jane Carlisle (Ruta Lee),who is a new dance hall girl at
Return a Stranger
Nov 18, 1964
An old friend of Judge Garth named Charlie Ryan (Leif Erickson) revives the low grade silver Gloria Mine with help from his mining college-trained son Craig (Peter Brown) and a new
All Nice and Legal
Nov 25, 1964
Victoria Greenley (Anne Francis) comes to Medicine Bow to set up a law practice but encounters resistance from those who do not think law a suitable profession for a woman. Althoug
A Gallows for Sam Horn
Dec 2, 1964
Widower Sam Horn (John Lupton) comes into conflict with the railway headed by Colonel John Briscoe (Edward Binns). Part of his land had been expropriated as a railway right of way
Portrait of a Widow
Dec 9, 1964
French-accented portrait painter Charles Boulanger (John Gavin) says goodbye to Betsy Garth and Maggie Mencken (Vera Miles) who have been visiting Chicago. Maggie is a good friend
The Payment
Dec 16, 1964
Ryker invites the man who raised him to come to Medicine Bow after being released from 10 years in prison. When Ryker finds Abe has invited his family to join him, he knows there a
Man of the People
Dec 23, 1964
Trouble comes to Medicine Bow in the form of a number of settlers who camp on land they say has been promised to them but that Judge Garth and others traditionally have leased from
The Hour of the Tiger
Dec 30, 1964
A landslide blocks the pass needed to drive the Shiloh cattle to the rail line. The only alternative route would have to cross the property of Junius Antlow (Tom Tully), an arch en
Two Men Named Laredo
Jan 6, 1965
The Virginian hires some workers to help drive some cattle to Shiloh from Cheyenne, among whom is an easy going and timid hand who reads Shakespeare named Eddie Laredo (Fabian). Ed
Hideout
Jan 13, 1965
Betsy Garth investigates rumours of wild broncos in the mountains and while there she encounters a young man, Clint (Andrew Prine) and his father Martin (Forrest Tucker) living in
Six Graves at Cripple Creek
Jan 27, 1965
Emmett Ryker learns that a man named McMasters, who had killed his good friends, a rancher and his daughter, two years before, was one of six men supposedly killed by Indians. Beli
Lost Yesterday
Feb 3, 1965
A man dies due to a gunshot wound but not before he reveals to his sweetheart, Clara Malone (Shirley Knight), that robbery money is hidden near Medicine Bow. Faking suicide to esca
A Slight Case of Charity
Feb 10, 1965
Trampas is in Albuquerque to pick up some money on behalf of the cattlemen's association. He encounters and is robbed of some of the money by Charity (Kathryn Hays). She was in lov
You Take the High Road
Feb 17, 1965
The Virginian makes the acquaintance of a young man, Mark Shannon (Richard Beymer), who along with his sister (Diana Lynn) and her love interest, trail boss Jack Slauson (Myron Hea
Shadows of the Past
Feb 24, 1965
Emmett Ryker's good friend, storekeeper John Conway (Jack Warden), is to marry a woman he met in San Francisco and has known for only a very short time, Rita Boland (Marilyn Erskin
Legend of a Lawman
Mar 3, 1965
In Cobb's Run, Kansas, while waiting for the Virginian, Randy Benton is framed for a $50,000 payroll robbery. His defence, that the legendary but aging town marshall, Floyd Buckman
Timberland
Mar 10, 1965
Local ranchers are upset with the lumbering of Charles Daniels (Arch Johnson) which they believe will destroy a valuable watershed area and ruin grazing land. Daniels refuses to li
Dangerous Road
Mar 17, 1965
Trampas escorts a murderer back to a town where he knew the sheriff. There is a question of the man's innocence plus Trampas learns the sheriff died in a horse accident two days la
Farewell to Honesty
Mar 24, 1965
A deputized Virginian arrives in the very misnamed Honesty, Wyoming looking for Major Ralph Forrester (Richard Carlson) who had defrauded Judge Garth. However, the local judge is i
Old Cowboy
Mar 31, 1965
An older man, Murdoch (Franchot Tone), and his young grandson Willie (Billy Mumy), arrive at Medicine Bow on foot. Much to the Virginian's chagrin, Trampas feels sorry for Murdoch
Showdown
Apr 14, 1965
The Virginian is forced to take sides in a bitter dispute between a family of ranchers and two domineering marshals.
We've Lost a Train
Apr 21, 1965
In this pilot episode for the Laredo TV series, Trampas must pick up a bull for Shiloh Ranch in Mexico, and along the way he runs into Texas Rangers Reese, Joe, and Chad. Trampas e