Nashville *may* not be as dead as it first appeared to be…
I stress, this is very much a maybe, but it’s possible Nashville might not be quite as dead in the water as some other cancelled shows. The final episode aired last night on US tv, and, much like other ABC show Castle, the rumour was they shot 2 possible endings. One which wrapped up the series, and one which ended on a cliffhanger.
They chose to air the cliffhanger ending.
Nashville is produced by Lionsgate TV, and aired on ABC in the US, who cancelled it after 4 seasons. However, Lionsgate, and the show’s creator Callie Khouri are extremely optimistic they can sell the series to a new network or streaming service, with Khouri saying “We have stories left to tell and songs left to sing.” That lead to the decision not to air the ‘wrap up’ version, and stick with the cliffhanger ending. New showrunners Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick apparently have season 5 all mapped out, and have been working with a writers room on stories for the next season.
Lionsgate have said they are “getting a lot of inbound inquiries” about the show, and with Khouri adding “Nashville fans are the absolute best, and support for the #BringBackNashville campaign has been amazing, We are so grateful for our extremely loyal following.” There is also a campaign on change.org which currently has over 120,000 signatures.
So it’s not entirely clear how close Lionsgate might be to getting a new home of Nashville, but ending on a cliffhanger, when you had the option to wrap the show up, is a pretty ballsy move. It has apparently already been pitched to various networks and streaming services including Hulu, Lifetime, CMT & E!, with Hulu thought to be a strong possibility, as it currently runs the previous seasons in the US. Whether that would alter the UK airing if it does go to another network remains to be seen. Lionsgate also co-owns a couple of cable networks in the US, so that is also a possibility.
We’ll let you know if it does make a dramatic comeback, so watch this space…
