Jane the Virgin

Premise

Set in Miami, the series details the surprising and dramatic events that take place in the life of Jane Gloriana Villanueva, a hard-working, vaguely religious, young, Venezuelan-American woman with a love for writing and telenovelas. Jane's vow to her grandmother to save her virginity until marriage is complicated when a doctor mistakenly artificially inseminates her during a checkup. To make matters worse, the biological father, Rafael, is a married man, a former playboy, and a cancer survivor who is both the new owner of the hotel where Jane works and her former teenage crush. Jane's predicament is made more awkward as her mistaken insemination used Rafael's final frozen sample and is the last chance for Rafael to become a father.

In addition to adjusting to pregnancy and then her motherhood, Jane is faced with many questions about her professional career future and the daunting prospect of choosing between the father of her baby or her detective boyfriend, whom she had been with for two years before the events of the series. As the series evolves, the issues shift as her child grows into a toddler, her writing career moves forward, and her family members likewise develop independent plotlines. Some of these plotlines include issues with immigration status, health concerns, and lessons of self-discovery.

Cast

Main

Gina Rodriguez as Jane Gloriana Villanueva, a 23-year-old, religious Latina virgin who becomes pregnant after being artificially inseminated by mistake. At the time she was dating Michael Cordero, a Miami police officer. She was inseminated with the last sample (that we know of) of a local hotelier, Rafael Solano, a cancer survivor. His wife, Petra, wanted to surprise Rafael with the insemination. Jane learns she is pregnant after she faints on the bus. Michael is not interested in raising another man's child. It turns out that Rafael owns the hotel where Jane is a waitress. After meeting Rafael and hearing his situation, she agrees to carry the baby full term and turn over custody to him and his wife Petra, but only if she is sure her baby will be safe and loved with them. Jane breaks off the engagement with Michael due to him keeping secrets from her regarding the Solanos. As the pregnancy proceeds, Rafael and Jane start to have feelings for each other, but the relationship doesn't last very long. Jane ends up having a baby boy named Mateo Gloriano Rogelio Solano Villanueva. She marries Michael Cordero in the season two finale. In the tenth episode of season three, she becomes widowed when Michael dies from complications associated with his previous gunshot wound. She spends the next three years mourning him and trying to revive her life while raising Mateo with Rafael, who she has built a great co-parenting relationship with and who has also become her best friend. After searching for a letter which Michael wrote to her, Adam, her ex-boyfriend comes back into her life, but he soon leaves for a job offer. Meanwhile, she finds her feelings resurfacing for Rafael, and after they reunite in Season 4, she marries him at the end of Season 5. Executive producer Jennie Snyder Urman stated that Gina Rodriguez "was literally the third person that came in" during the casting.

Jenna Ortega as Young Jane, at age 10, is the most frequent (21 chapters as of season 3) of the four younger "Janes" seen in flashbacks.

Andrea Navedo as Xiomara "Xo" Gloriana Villanueva, Jane's outgoing mother. She was only sixteen years old when she had Jane, which is why Jane would rather keep her virginity until marriage than make the same mistake her mother did. She is a dance teacher, but dreams of having a singing career. She marries Jane's father in the Season three finale. In the end of Season 4, she is diagnosed with breast cancer. She survives this, moves with Rogelio to New York for his TV-show, while she enrolls in a nursing school.

Catherine Toribio plays a younger Xiomara during some flashback sequences.

Recurring

Yara Martinez as Dr. Luisa Alver, Rafael's lesbian, neurotic, recovering alcoholic older sister, and the doctor who accidentally artificially inseminated Jane. She later has a relationship with her step mother, Sin Rostro/Rose.

Bridget Regan as Rose, a former lawyer, former girlfriend of Luisa, and eventually stepmother of Luisa and Rafael who defends Luisa against the malpractice suit. She is later revealed to be the crime lord Sin Rostro, and is arrested in season three but dies in season 5.

Megan Ketch as Susanna Barnett (season 2), Michael's partner who was in fact Rose in disguise. After being discovered, she shot Michael in the chest. Before this she has a relationship with Luisa, but Luisa was unaware that she was actually Rose.

Elisabeth Röhm as Eileen (season 3), the second woman whose identity Rose steals for the next three years. In the meantime, the real Eileen murdered Scott.

Mia and Ella Allan as Anna and Ellie Solano (seasons 3–5), Petra and Rafael's twin daughters as a result of Petra's artificial insemination.

Carlo Rota as Emilio Solano (season 1), Luisa's biological father and Rafael's adopted father. He is murdered by his wife, Rose.

Michael Rady as Lachlan Moore (seasons 1–2), Rafael's rival and Petra's former fiancé.

Diane Guerrero as Lina Santillan, Jane's life-long best friend and co-worker.

Carmen Carrera as Eva, Jane's co-worker (season 1).

Azie Tesfai as Detective Nadine Hansan (seasons 1–2), a police detective and rival, partner, and brief lover to Michael. She was killed taking a bullet that was meant for Michael, after she was revealed to be working with Sin Rostro.

Production

On June 27, 2013, The CW announced that it was planning to release a new show based on the Venezuelan telenovela Juana La Virgen. On February 23, 2014, Entertainment Weekly announced that Rodriguez would play the title role of Jane Villanueva. On May 8, 2014, during The CW's 2014–2015 upfronts, the series was officially picked up. and on July 18, 2014, an extended trailer was released by The CW. On August 8, 2014, it was announced that White Collar's Bridget Regan and Azie Tesfai would join the series as respectively Rose, a former lawyer, and Detective Nadine Hansan, a police detective and rival to Dier's character. On August 10, 2014, TVLine announced that Melrose Place and Emily Owens, M.D. actor Michael Rady would join the series as Lachlan. Filming for season one commenced on July 28, 2014. The show is filmed on soundstages in Los Angeles and the pilot was filmed in Huntington Beach, California. On October 21, 2014, the show was given a full season order. On January 11, 2015, the show was renewed for a second season, set to air during the 2015–16 television season. Its second season premiered on October 12, 2015. On March 11, 2016, the show was renewed for a third season, which premiered on October 17, 2016. On January 8, 2017, The CW renewed the series for a fourth season that premiered on October 13, 2017. On April 2, 2018, The CW renewed the series for a fifth and final season, which premiered on March 27, 2019.

Broadcast

Jane the Virgin premiered on The CW on October 13, 2014, during the 2014–15 television season. Unique to the CW, it is the network's only program to feature a Spanish language audio track on the second audio program channel; however, as many CW stations usually do not carry the SAP channel due to a lack of need, this is more limited than the major networks, which are required by the FCC to have a SAP channel for the Descriptive Video Service track, which as a minor network the CW is not required to carry.

The series was aired on Sony Channel in Asia, Balkans and Bulgaria on FOX Life.

In the United Kingdom, every series is available to watch on ITVX.

Home media

Warner Home Video originally released Season 1 on DVD, but poor sales caused a switch in distribution rights with CBS (distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment) now releasing every season of Jane the Virgin as manufacture-on-demand Blu-ray and DVDs exclusively on Amazon going forward in addition to a manufacture-on-demand reissue of Season 1.

Reception

Critical response

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave the first season of the show a rating of 100% based on 56 reviews, with a rating average of 7.70 out of 10. The site's consensus states, "Jane the Virgin's dubious premise has become part of its unlikely charm – along with delightfully diverse writing and a knockout performance by Gina Rodriguez." Metacritic, another review aggregator, gives the show a score of 80 out of 100, based on 23 reviews.

On Metacritic, the second season holds an 87 out of 100, based on 4 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a rating of 100% based on 13 reviews and a rating average of 9.70 out of 10. The site's consensus reads, "Jane the Virgin stays true to its over-the-top telenovela roots in season two while layering in more humor and increasingly complex storytelling." Maureen Ryan of Variety praised the show, saying that the series "is envisioned, edited and curated with great deftness and economy, and the fact that it is so entertaining and accessible should not preclude it from being at the center of conversations about the best the medium has to offer".

Accolades

The show has been acknowledged by the People's Choice Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Critics' Choice Awards, the Primetime Emmy Awards, the Image Awards and the Television Critics Association as well as honored by the American Film Institute and the George Foster Peabody Awards.

Novel

A tie-in novel, based on the book Jane writes in the show, has been published. The story is a historical romance set in Miami during 1902. In the series, the book's plot is inspired by the love story of Jane and Michael.

International adaptations

The international rights are distributed by Propagate Content.

Cancelled spin-off

On December 3, 2018, it was announced that The CW was developing a possible spin-off of the series to launch in the 2019–20 television series. The potential series was conceived and written by Jane the Virgin writer and co-executive producer Valentina L. Garza as "a soapy, telenovela-inspired anthology series in the tradition of [its parent series] where each season was based on a different fictional novel [written by] Jane and narrated by Gina Rodriguez, who would reprise her role in the spin-off. On January 23, 2019, the spin-off, titled Jane the Novela, was ordered to pilot at The CW. In February 2019, it was announced that Jacqueline Grace Lopez was cast as the main character, Estela. On March 7, 2019, it was announced that Marcia Cross was cast as Renata. On March 15, 2019 Hunter Parrish was cast as Felix, one of two male leads. Remy Hii was cast as the second male lead Luen on March 19, 2019.

On May 7, 2019, it was announced that the spin-off would not be moving forward.

Remake

An Arabic remake of the series titled Miss Farah, starring Asmaa Abulyazeid in the titular role, was released on December 29, 2019. It premiered on MBC 4, Shahid.net. Dubai One was developing their own version of the series, Jane the Virgin with Sally Wally along with their production company, S Productions in partnership with Propagate Content. The series was greenlit for a 110-episodes of fifth and final season.

A Korean remake titled Woori the Virgin consisting of 14 episodes started airing on SBS TV on 9 May 2022.

An official Indian Hindi-language remake of the series titled Oops! Ab Kya? (Translation: "Oops! Now What?") was released on JioHotstar. The first season, consisting of 8 episodes, premiered on 20 February 2025, with Shweta Basu Prasad playing the titular role

The American series is itself based on the 2002 Venezuelan telenovela, Juana La Virgen.