Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Jane the Virgin's series finale
The CW's popular romantic comedy drama Jane the Virgin has come to an end, but not before the series finale, "Chapter 100," resolved one of the show's biggest mysteries: the identity of Jane the Virgin's narrator. As many fans have theorized over the years, Jane's story has been told by none other than her son, Mateo, whose unlikely conception marked the start of the show and a radical change in Jane's life.
The reveal came after Mateo gave a reading during Jane's wedding to Rafael, and Jane praised her young son for his public speaking skills. Mateo explained that he had been practising with his "Great Glam-ma" Liliana, who told him that he would be great at voiceover work. At that point the narrator (who is voiced by Anthony Mendez) drops his accent to say, "And for the record, I am." This confirms not only that the narrator has been a grown Mateo all along, but that he grew up to have a career as a voice actor and voiced a telenovela about his mother's life story.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Jane the Virgin creator Jennie Snyder Urman said that Mateo "was always going to be the narrator." While the big reveal was held off until the season 5 finale, Jane the Virgin has offered plenty of hints that fans have picked up on over the years, which is why the fan theory about Mateo being the narrator was so popular. Urman explained:
“Throughout the whole series there have been clues peppered, and there’s things that are specific about the way the narrator is relating to people in the world—the things that he says. There’s always the feeling of the narrator being in control of the story. There’s a constant reminder that this is a telenovela.... We’ve known it in our heads, which has made it easy to track those things throughout.”
Mateo is the son of Jane the Virgin's protagonist, Jane Villanueva, and her now-husband Rafael Solano. Mateo was conceived when Jane was accidentally artificially inseminated by Rafael's sister, Luisa, instead of being given the pap smear she was booked in for. Five seasons and a lot of twists and turns later, Jane and Rafael are now married and Jane has successfully landed a $500,000 publishing offer for a book based on her romantic life. At the very end of Jane the Virgin's season finale, Rafael asks Jane what happens at the end of her book, and she replies, "They make it into a telenovela." Rafael asks who would want to watch that, and Jane just looks at the camera and winks.
Fans can fill in the rest of the gaps themselves. Jane's book was indeed turned into a telenovela, and her son grew up to be the narrator for it. It's a sweet ending to a show that has captured so many people's hearts since its debut in 2014, and a fun reveal that Mateo has been in the show all along - even before he was born.