Elias Janssen is added as a series regular, portraying a recast version of Jane's son Mateo Solano Villanueva.

[5] When the promotional poster for the season was first released, it was revealed that the character of Mateo was recast with Elias Janssen due to previous child actor Joseph Sanders being too busy with school to commit to the role.

[9][10] The back-half of the season also saw Brooke Shields in a multi-episode arc as River Fields, Rogelio's (Jaime Camil) nemesis and a spoof of the real-life actress.

[11] On January 9, 2018, series star Gina Rodriguez announced via Instagram that she would be making her directorial debut this season, posting a photo of herself holding a Jane the Virgin clapperboard with her name next to the director slot, alongside costars Yael Grobglas and Rosario Dawson.

The episode was specially selected by showrunner Jennie Snyder-Urman as it featured the characters of Jane (Gina Rodriguez) and Rafael (Justin Baldoni) having sex for the first time.

[49] As noted by Alanna Bennett of Buzzfeed News, it later becomes apparent that this one-off story was just setting some representational ground work for an even bigger storyline in the back-half of the season, featuring Petra (Yael Grobglas) developing feelings for her female lawyer, Jane Ramos (Rosario Dawson).

"[50] TVLine awarded Andrea Navedo as "Performer of the Week" for her role in the fourteenth episode of the season, "Chapter Seventy-Eight", praising the actress for her portrayal of Xiomara post-discovery that she has breast cancer and left with the decision of whether or not to have a double mastectomy.

"[51] The storyline involving Xiomara's cancer as well as Navedo's performance of the character received additional praise in the sixteenth episode of the season, "Chapter Eighty".