Jane the Virgin season five, episode one premieres tonight (Wednesday, March 27) on The CW in America. Fans outside of the US are able to watch Jane the Virgin season five from tomorrow morning (Thursday, March 28) on Netflix. Sadly, season five is the last ever series of Jane the Virgin but luckily one favourite cast member has returned. Read on to find out more about Michael Cordero, who is played by Brett Dier.
What happened to Michael Cordero?
WARNING: This article contains spoilers about Jane the Virgin seasons 1 to 4
The season four finale of Jane the Virgin ended on a huge cliffhanger which saw Jane’s (played by Gina Rodriguez) late husband Michael seemingly return from the dead.
Fans were convinced Michael was dead after he collapsed and apparently died after completing his last LSAT exam midway through season three.
Michael had suffered a heart injury after being shot by drug lord Sin Rostro (Clara Ruvelle).
However, at the end of season four someone, who looked just like Michael, turned up at Jane’s boyfriend’s apartment.
Jane came across Michael standing in Rafael’s (Justin Baldoni) living room.
Fans will find out in episode one of season five what actually happened to Michael Cordero.
Speaking to Vulture, Jane the Virgin showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman spoke about Michael’s return, revealing she only decided to bring Michael back shortly after season three came to an end.
She said: “That’s when it all came together. I knew it was a possibility, but I had to calibrate when — as you know I can’t confirm or deny any part of the ending, but I can say that this was a setup for us moving towards the end, and so once things came into focus in that way, I knew the timing of this and what it would be.
“I didn’t tell anyone else except for the writers! When he died, he was dead! I discussed it at length with the writers. There was always a possibility, and we did jump time.
“There were things I was working out in my head, and when I came to the room at the beginning of this season is when I pitched them I knew we were going to be grieving and that he might not come back for a long, long time, but it was a story point that I was toying with.
“I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to be doing. And then a few things came into focus for me, because during hiatus, I get to not just work, but dream about big shapes for the show and what I want to see.
“And a few pieces clicked together for me on a bigger level in terms of the story and the storytelling. I always feel we were saving up a few telenovela tropes. One of them is returning from the dead. Whether it’s him [Michael] or not, that is the trope we’re playing with.
“And then there’s another [trope] that is out there that we’ll be looking at. So those themes were at play in my mind: the telenovela of it all, the opening, putting Jane in a situation where she and Raf were in this great place.
“And it’s that crazy ‘what if this other person that you loved came back’ idea. The fallout of this, having gone through all the grief and all the heartache.
“To explore that became too interesting to resist on an emotional and dramatic level because we like a big, giant, telenovela twist.
“But then we love to deal with the grounded implications of these big, huge things. It clicked for me that this was the way I wanted the story to go.”
Viewers have taken to Reddit to share their conspiracy theories about what happened to Cordero.
Fans have not ruled out the possibility of an evil twin, amnesia or a host of other telenovela tropes.
One theory is that Michael is not actually Michael, and is his long lost brother who Luisa (Yara Martinez) tracked down.
One Reddit user wrote: “My theory is that fake Michael is actually Michael’s s***** brother wearing a mask or having gone through surgery. He suddenly vanished in the series and we know he’s into some illegal doings. So it won’t be a big jump for him to get on board with Sin Rostro.”
Another fan commented: “They were definitely pushing the brother’s trope in the last episode, so surely one of the big twists will involve someone’s brother!”
One theory includes Michael faking his own death to protect Jane or the idea he was working with Sin Rostro the entire time.
Urman, however, has quashed the theory of Michael having an evil twin.
When asked if there will be a new set of identical twins in season five, Urman said: “Yeah, I cannot answer that but it’s not Michael’s identical twin, I can tell you that.
“If it’s Michael, which you know we’ll see what we learn, I think it changes everything. In some ways, it’s the most heroic thing that Rafael could’ve done to bring him back, but also it’s his worst fear that if Michael was still there he would be Jane’s second choice.
“So with the reappearance of this character, I think he’s done the ultimate selfless act, but I think he’s put their relationship in great jeopardy and that will be a giant part of the storytelling when we finally return for season five.”
Jane the Virgin airs Wednesdays on The CW and Thursdays on Netflix.
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