'Jane the Virgin' Showrunner Promises 'Light and Bright Jane World' After Shocking Death
TV

Jennie Urman says the devastating twist was something that had been mapped out since the beginning, but she feels bad about the timing of the twist.

AceShowbiz - "Jane the Virgin" dropped a huge shocker in the latest episode [SPOILER ALERT!] by killing off Michael (Brett Dier). Jane's husband died of an aortic dissection related to the gunshot wound he got in season 2, shortly after taking the LSAT.

The scene briefly showed Jane's reaction after getting the bad news, before taking us three years later with Jane getting ready for another wedding to a mysterious man and Mateo already walking and talking.

The devastating twist is so heartbreaking since the show let Michael survive the gunshot wound in the season 3 premiere only to kill him off later, when he and Jane were enjoying their wedded bliss and already thinking about having a baby together.

Trying to comfort fans, showrunner Jennie Urman wrote a letter to explain the decision to kill off Michael. Urman admitted "this was a devastating episode for us to write," but added that "it was also a decision made very early on, when I thought about our story as a whole."

"And even in season one, I knew it would be a hard thing to actually do, which is why there was a line (which many of you noticed) about how Michael would never stop loving Jane. And the Narrator confirmed, 'For as long as Michael lived, until he drew his very last breath, he never did.' Honestly, I put that line into the script at the last minute to hold our feet to the fire, to make sure we went through with it," she said.

Urman added that this tragic event was needed to show Jane's optimism. She pointed out, "You'll recall, back in the pilot, Jane was on a path. Things were mapped out. And then she was accidentally artificially inseminated and everything changed. Well now, everything is changing again. How does our romance-loving hero move on, how does she get back the light and the hope...?"

"Well, it's certainly not quick," she continued, "And that's why we're now three years later in our story. We'll be flashing back to those three years and filling in gaps, but mining emotions realistically is something we work hard on and we knew the immediate pain of that loss would overwhelm our storytelling. After talking to grief counselors, this felt like the right time to reenter Jane's journey. She'll always feel Michael's absence (and trust me, we will too), but it opens up our storytelling in new and exciting ways, while allowing for the light and bright Jane world that we love to write."

Urman did feel bad about the timing, though. "I've had so many tweets lately about how Jane is a bright spot these days. And I know you just watched a gut punch of an episode," she said, "So, I just wanted to reassure you that Jane's optimism will rise up."

"Jane the Virgin" airs Mondays at 9 P.M. ET on The CW.

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