Jane the Virgin came to an end on The CW earlier this year. Fronted by multi-award-winning Gina Rodriguez, the series began in 2014 and ran for exactly 100 episodes before fans said goodbye to their favourite characters in July. In the final season, Michael (played by Brett Dier) returned to reconcile with Jane (Rodriguez), but why did he leave in the first place?
Why did Michael leave Jane the Virgin?
Dier played Jane’s long-term boyfriend Michael who, after years of ups and downs, decided they were meant to be.
The pair were enamoured with one another and got married in the season two finale.
To fans’ horror though, Michael was shot on their big day.
He survived the trauma but one season later, Michael supposedly died thanks to complications from his gunshot wound.
However, things got really complicated in the season four finale when we found out Michael didn’t die after all.
It transpired in season five Rose (Bridget Regan), who was earlier revealed as notorious drug lord Sin Rostro, faked his death and gave him amnesia through shock therapy.
He woke up in Montana with no memory of his life and decided to start a new life as bean-eating Jason.
Speaking to Vanity Fair Diet said: “I was so on board. I was so stoked.”
When talking about keeping the big plot twist a secret, he said: “People would come up to me all the time and say, ‘Oh my God, I cried so much when you died’. And I couldn’t say anything!”
When Rodriguez’s character discovered Michael was alive and managed to track him down, she had the almost impossible task of trying to get him to remember her.
However, after weeks of desperately trying to get her true love back, “Jason” finally remembered everything thanks to a fishing pole and some falling insulation.
The only problem was he remembered too late as he already told Jane he was heading back to Montana and she was now in love with Rafael (Justin Baldoni).
Talking about the unexpected plot twist, showrunner Jennie Synder Urman to Variety said: “Amnesia was the thing that first entered us into that space with Rogelio’s telenovela,
“So once we knew Michael/Jason was coming back, amnesia felt like the right move in terms of just how to create so much drama for the finale season — and also the emotional toll of how someone you love looks at you like a stranger felt very exciting but also challenging, in terms of how to ground that.
“It raises interesting questions about the soul and soulmates and what makes a person.
“If we’re a collection of the stories we tell about ourselves, or if we’re actually what’s essentially there — and how experience molds us.”
