‘Jane the Virgin’ Season 3 Premiere Reveals Michael’s Fate, Xo’s Baby Decision

“This is always what was going to happen,” Jennie Urman says of revelation about Jane’s new husband

Jane the Virgin Post Mortem
The CW

(Spoiler alert: Please do not read on if you have not watched Monday’s Season 3 premiere episode of “Jane the Virgin.”)

Michael lives!

After an excruciating summer hiatus and 40-minute season premiere, “Jane the Virgin” finally revealed that Jane’s (Gina Rodriguez) new husband Michael (Brett Dier) will recover from the gunshot wound he suffered in the Season 2 finale.

“This is always what was going to happen,” Urman told reporters following a screening of the episode. “Michael was never going to die in the finale.”

The cliffhanger lasted almost the entire episode, with Michael’s life hanging in the balance and Jane forced to make a decision between a risky surgery that could kill him, or increasing the odds of paralysis without surgery.

“I didn’t want it to be resolved like the baby kidnapping was, they get him back in the first act and then you’re dealing with the emotional ramifications,” Urman continued, referencing the big Season 1 finale cliffhanger. “This event has bigger emotional stakes for everyone. The healing from such a traumatic event is something we continue to play through. And it has lasting ramifications for the character, which you’ll start to see in terms of if he can return to work, how his life is changed as a result of this. It takes him into a new direction and there are ongoing medical issues that we continue to grapple with.”

Additionally, Michael is not definitively out of the woods just yet. There is still that ominous voice-over forecasting his death from Season 1 to contend with.

“I would say it’s a reliable narrator,” Urman teased ominously. “And we’re going to be dealing with that.”

In another big development, Jane’s mother Xo (Andrea Navedo) makes a definitive decision to have an abortion rather than go through with the unintentional pregnancy that resulted from her one night stand with Rogelio’s (Jaime Camill) nemesis Esteban (Keller Wortham).

“It was a very clear choice,” Urman said of Xo’s no-nonsense approach to the decision. “She didn’t want to have a baby with Rogelio, she’s certainly not going to want to have a baby with Esteban … If Xo were to have that baby, that would be a really strong message that I did not want to send. Which is that a 40-something woman who has raised a child and doesn’t want a baby should have it anyway.

“I didn’t want it to be a really dramatic [thing]. Xo is not tortured. It is not a tortured abortion. It’s not an abortion where she’s unclear about what she wants or unclear about her choice. She’s very clear and I think most abortions are that. I feel like that’s an important thing to reflect on TV as well, like, if you’re sure, you’re sure. And she’s sure.”

“Jane the Virgin” airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.

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