5 Touching Moments From 'Jane the Virgin's' PaleyFest Panel
Sunday night’s PaleyFest LA panel for Jane the Virgin was filled with two different kinds of LOLs: the “laughing out loud” variety, as well as “lots of love.”
The hour-long session for the acclaimed CW series was basically just one giant heart emoji — from cast members to each other, to showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman, and to the adoring fans.
Stars Gina Rodriguez (Jane), Justin Baldoni (Rafael), Jaime Camil (Rogelio), Andrea Navedo (Xiomara), Ivonne Coll (Alba), Brett Dier (Michael), and Yael Grobglas (Petra), plus executive producers Urman and Ben Silverman, fielded questions from moderator Jarett Wieselman of Buzzfeed and audience members. And a lot of tears were shed, as the cast gushed about each other and the writers’ beautiful balance between drama and comedy.
Here are five of the most touching, heartfelt moments from the panel:
1. The actors love working with each other so much, and some would relish an opportunity to have more scenes together. “I want to see what Petra and Rogelio would be like,” Urman mused. Grobglas gave her thumbs-up: “The world would explode!”
2. If the show had an alternate title, it’d be Everybody Loves Gina, because the actress is clearly beloved by her colleagues. “When you’re in a scene with Gina, she makes you better,” Baldoni said.
3. And if there was a second alternate title, it’d be Everybody Loves Rogelio, because most of the actors would want to play the outsized character if they weren’t already playing their own. As Grobglas noted, “I feel like there are just no limits. He can do anything.”
Related: ’Jane the Virgin’s’ Jaime Camil Drops Big Hints About Rogelio’s Next Act
Coll piped up that she wanted to play Rogelio, too. And as Camil joked, so would he. As for the star of the show, Rodriguez chose Rafael’s sister Luisa. “I don’t know if I want to play her; I just want to be in her mind,” she said with a laugh. There was a noticeable gasp from the audience when Urman teased, “She does come back with a bang!”
4. Life imitates art, it seems, for Baldoni, who is expecting a baby in real life with his wife. “I feel like the show is magic,” he said. “My life is currently 24/7 pregnancy!”
5. The last fan question of the evening came from a woman who described herself as “Jane’s biggest fan.” She wanted to know how Urman, who isn’t Latina, did such a wonderful job with writing characters of color. Urman replied that she starts with the specifics of each character. Then Rodriguez stepped in, clearly emotional. “We’re all human beings.” she said.
Jane the Virgin airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on The CW.
