CMT has announced that music industry soap Nashville is set to wrap its run following its upcoming sixth season.
“After more than 120 episodes of unforgettable television, we believe that creatively it is time for the series to come to its triumphant close at the end of the upcoming season,” said Kevin Beggs, chairman of the Lionsgate Television Group. “We’re very proud of our incredibly talented cast and crew, the creative brilliance of our showrunners, and the loyal support of our great partners at CMT, Hulu and ABC Studios. Most importantly, we owe a special debt of thanks to the Nashville fans who propelled the series to an incredible run. We owe it to them to make the sixth season the most exciting and memorable of all.”
From Callie Khouri (Thelma & Louise) and showran for its final two seasons by Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick (thirtysomething), Nashville followed the intertwined lives of three female figures in country music – veteran superstar Rayna James (Connie Britton), troubled young gun Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere), and upcoming singer-songwriter Scarlett O’Connor (Clare Bowen). The series infamously killed off James during its fifth season and brought aboard the likes of Kaitlin Doubleday (Empire) and Rachel Bilson (Hart of Dixie) since its move to CMT.
The move to conclude Nashville is part of Viacom’s restructuring in the wake of ratings declines, as its ending will get CMT out of the scripted business it only briefly dabbled in. The conglomerate has also excised the scripted content from VH1 and MTV, as well as paring down TV Land’s presence in order to prepare for Spike’s impending rebrand to Paramount Network.
The sixth and final season of Nashville is set to premiere Thursday, January 4th on CMT.
