Justin Baldoni Talks ‘Jane The Virgin’s’ ‘Frozen’ Baby Names, Rafael Meeting His Brother

Rafael recently became a second and third-time
dad on “Jane the Virgin,” welcoming twins Anna and Elsa with his ex-wife Petra.

Anna and Elsa — as Jane noticed — happen to be the names
of the daughters — and main characters — in “Frozen.”

“I thought it was such a funny little kind of [nod to
how] Rafael and Petra are, because Rafael’s not watching ‘Frozen,’ so I just
thought it was great,” Justin Baldoni told Access Hollywood of his
reaction to the names his character and Petra gave their twins. “I can
imagine the writers just dying on the floor laughing when someone pitched that
in the writers room and we all get a kick out of it.”

As for Justin, while his own daughter, Maiya, is probably too young for “Frozen,” he still managed to be much more familiar with the film than his “JTV” character.

“We saw ‘Frozen’ before Maiya was born and it’s also funny because it’s pretty Scandinavian, the whole premise of it, and my wife’s from Sweden, so she loved it,” Justin said, mentioning his spouse, Emily Foxler.

PHOTOS: ‘Jane The Virgin’: Scenes From Season 2, Vol. 2

Justin’s life is filled with little ones. In addition to babies at work and his tot at home, he also has a pregnancy and baby development-documenting app on the way called Belly Bump.

“It’s really cool because I get to play with babies at home and I get to go home and see my beautiful little daughter, [who] is the light of my life,” he said.

This Monday’s “Jane The Virgin” will see Rafael trying to focus on a little bonding time with Petra and the newborn twins, but his criminal mastermind mother, Elena (aka Mutter), is still out there. As for when she might appear again, Justin said he’s not yet in the know.

“Here’s the thing, I can’t tell you because the writers have not told us anything, so I can’t tell you where it’s going and they’re keeping it a secret. That’s all I know,” he said. “But I can tell you that I’m sure there’s going to be something that’s very interesting and unique and I don’t know what’s going to happen. My brother’s obviously back, and I’m meeting my brother for the first time and we don’t know if he’s connected or not. We don’t know if he’s a good guy or a bad guy, so that’s all going to be unfolding over the next five or six episodes.”

READ: ‘Jane The Virgin’ Q&A: Brett Dier

Brett Dier, who plays Michael, recently told Access that he found out his character was getting back together with Jane the day before that scene was shot, so we asked Justin which shocking twist he found out about with very little notice.

“I think probably getting stabbed in the neck by my mom with a needle. That was a big one. I think also probably them getting back together,” Justin said. “That was interesting too… It’s funny because we always tease and joke on set — Brett and I. … We’re very proud of each of our characters’ history with Jane, so we tease each other a lot. And at the table read, whenever they have to kiss, I make these throw-up faces and we joke around like that. But yeah, I think everything’s really a surprise. We don’t get to read the episodes in full oftentimes because we’re working before we do the table read, so a lot of the time, the table read is kind of the element of surprise. And we’ll skim through them and see little things here and there, but it’s really fun to be surprised with everybody.”

Beyond “Jane the Virgin,” Justin is continuing to work on the series “My Last Days,” which he produces and directs, and which is inspiring a foundation he plans to launch.

“We’re going to be starting a foundation to go along with that project and [the series is] all about people that are living with a terminal illness and teaching those of us that don’t have it, how to live,” Justin said. “It’s a really inspiring show that reminds us that we’re mortal and that we have to appreciate life and not take it for granted.”

“Jane the Virgin” airs Mondays at 9/8c on The CW.

— Jolie Lash