“The wave of love and appreciation they have unleashed for “Nashville” has been overwhelming”, said Brian Philips, President of CMT in a statement.
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A Lionsgate spokesperson said it was too early to say which cast members will return, though Beggs had previously said, “We intend to continue the show with them all involved”, and called stars Britton and Panettiere “essential”. “Nashville belongs on CMT”.
For Lionsgate’s part, the independent studio actively started shopping Nashville immediately and has used its Twitter feed to keep the show’s 8 million viewers posted on its efforts to find a new home.
“CMT and Hulu are the ideal combination for our iconic and beloved series Nashville and we want to thank the incredible fans for their unwavering support – #Nashies, you helped make this possible”, said Kevin Beggs, chairman of the Lionsgate Television Group.
The rumours were true: CMT is indeed bringing Nashville back from the dead.
CMT has ordered 22 new episodes of the show, which corresponds to a typical broadcast television season.
Nashville is set against the backdrop of the city’s music scene and follows Rayna Jaymes and Juliette Barnes. Beggs, however, revealed that even if the show wasn’t picked up, they will still adopt a happier ending, something that will make fans appreciate the show more than the cliffhanger state it was on Season 4. ABC originally canceled the show in May after four seasons on the air. “If we didn’t feel that was going to happen, we might have gone a different way”.
Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz (the creators of Thirtysomething) have been brought on as new showrunners for the series, which closed out its run on ABC with a major cliffhanger that left the fate of Hayden Panettiere’s Juliette in question. There’s more story to be told.
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Despite its cult audience, “Nashville” had always been on the bubble for cancellation at ABC.
