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Jane the Virgin Will Feature El Chapo Storyline

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The world was shocked to learn Saturday that Sean Penn had met with Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the wanted Mexican drug lord known as “El Chapo,” while he was on the run from Mexican authorities, for Rolling Stone.

And less than 24 hours after the jaw-dropping revelation, Jane the Virgin showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman is already contemplating how the show will tackle it.

“I’m very interested in like the Hollywood connection,” she told The Hollywood Reporter at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour on Sunday. “I feel like because it just happened yesterday, I’m still processing what it is and what would mean in the Jane world and what that event was, but I feel like we’re going to have some specific reaction to that, certainly.

“Maybe some documentary, somebody interested in the villain of it all,” she added. “That’s pretty funny.”

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Addressing El Chapo, who was recaptured by Mexican authorities on Friday, is a relatively organic move for the sophomore CW comedy, particularly because of the series’ villain, drug lord Sin Rostro, whose storyline was influenced heavily by “El Chapo” in season one.

“Before he escaped the second time, that was the inspiration,” said Urman. “I had seen that article about the escape and about the tunnel system when they got him — that’s why we put the tunnels in the hotel for Sin Rostro, so he looms in our minds, certainly.”

El Chapo’s latest capture comes as Jane the Virgin prepares to bring Sin Rostro back into the fold. “There will be a lot of cards uncovered with Sin Rostro,” Urman teased. “She will show up again and we’ll find out what she’s looking like now.”

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The return of Sin Rostro is one of several big storylines coming up in the second half of the critical darling’s second season, particularly with the impending arrival of Petra’s baby in the “not-too-distant future,” according to Urman, as well as the entrance of “someone surprising” from Petra’s past.

In addition to the launch of Rogelio’s new time-traveling telenovela, he and Xo “reach a crossroads,” said the showrunner.

Other teases included a health crisis amongst someone in the cast, as well as building towards Jane’s wedding, which comes in the wake of the revelation of the identity of Jane’s knight in filthy armor.

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“She took a long time to get over Michael when she made that choice, and that’s why we took that six-month time jump episode. He’s been sitting in her gut,” said Urman. “I think it was a revelation to her, and it’s going to continue to be how that plays out. I don’t think she was as aware that he was so present in her mind still.”

Jane the Virgin airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter

 

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