Jane the Virgin was a definite hit when it ran on the CW. Each season of the show was certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and the endearingly-outrageous telenovela-inspired storylines made it seem like the series could go on for years on end. But much to the disappointment of its fans, Jane the Virgin ended its run after five seasons. Viewers were left wondering it the show ended; however, it did for a specific reason.
Jane the Virgin followed the life of religious and responsible young woman Jane Gloriana Villanueva. The show picks up after Jane is accidentally artificially inseminated, causing her to get pregnant despite still being a virgin. Following the incident, Jane's life is turned upside down. Over the course of five seasons, Jane experiences love triangles, kidnapping plots, amnesic lost loves and sick family members. The Americanized telenovela featured high drama, intense emotion and light-hearted comedy that captivated audiences from the very beginning.
But just like Jane, Executive Producer Jennie Snyder Urman always had a plan. Jane the Virgin wasn't canceled by its network. Instead, Urman made the creative decision to end the show at Season 5. As she told the New York Times, Urman had always planned for Jane the Virgin to last for five years. The show's writers had begun to map out the series finale as early as Season 3. Urman was able to carry out the ending she had in mind from when she pitched the show. While a few details changed over the years, Urman ended Jane the Virgin in the way that she had always imagined. It's an opportunity few showrunners get to have.
As she was given the chance to end the show the way she wanted, Urman made sure Jane the Virgin ended with every loose end tied up and each character's arc complete. Jane's parents both go off to New York to pursue their dreams. Jane submits the perfect ending to her manuscript and she marries her love, Rafael. Jane the Virgin even wraps up the five-season-long mystery of the identity of the show's narrator — it's the grown up version of Jane's son, Mateo. The seeds for this final chapter were sown from the very beginning of Jane the Virgin — Jane is immediately attracted to Rafael, flirts with the idea of becoming a writer, and her estranged parents cannot deny their own attraction for one another. While the story took some telenovela twists and turns along the way, it was always working toward that conclusion.
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Because of that, Jane the Virgin Season 5 was a natural conclusion for the CW show. The story ended exactly where it should have. Not to mention, the ending stayed so true to Jane as a character. She was both full of optimism and a planner down to every second of the day, so Urman gave her a storybook ending with all ends neatly tied up. That ending was created when the show first was, meaning it was as organic as it could be. So often, television series don't get that opportunity. Networks typically don't want to let them go, and therefore, so many shows stay on much longer than they should. When that happens, a good show's reputation can become tarnished. But thanks to Urman's creative decision, Jane the Virgin's reputation will permanently stay intact, and her show ultimately benefitted from it in the long run.