The CW will close the book on “Jane the Virgin” this spring. But fans may get to dive into another chapter of Jane Villanueva’s world — or at least the one in her mind — if the spinoff pilot, “Jane the Novela,” gets picked up to series.
But does the possibility of a followup series mean other members of the “Jane” universe will be following creator Jennie Snyder Urman and star Gina Rodriguez (who will reprise her role as Jane as the narrator of the spinoff) over to the project?
“Probably not in the first year,” Urman told reporters while discussing the final season of “Jane” alongside Rodriguez, during the Television Critics Association’s press tour Thursday. “It’s imagined as an anthology, ’cause telenovelas are close-ended and it feels really exciting to be able to tell this kind of emotional, dramatic, scary, funny story all in one season.”
Written by Valentina Garza, “Jane the Novela,” is described as a telenovela anthology series where each season is based on a different fictional novel “written by” Jane and narrated by the author herself. The first installment takes place at a Napa Valley vineyard, where family secrets (and family members) don’t stay buried for long.
Urman told journalists once “we establish new characters and new faces and have Jane’s voice narrate it, then we can see what comes.”
“But I mean, I love this cast and I would love to work with every single one of them again and I really hope to,” she said.
In addition to Garza, Rodriguez will also serve as an executive producer on the project, along with Urman and Joanna Klein of Sutton Street Productions, Emily Gipson of Rodriguez’s I Can and I will banner, Ben Silverman of Proagate Content, Jorge Granier, and Gary Pearl. Brad Silberling will direct and executive produce the CBS Television Studios pilot.
The fifth and final season of “Jane the Virgin” premieres Wednesday, March 27 at 9/8c on The CW.