After four seasons on-air, ABC announced Thursday they are cancelling their country music soap Nashville. The show, which stars Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere as rival country songstresses Rayna Jaymes and Juliette Barnes, will wrap up on May 25 in the series finale.
Even though the show has a pretty big following, it’s been on the bubble every season since it first aired. The drama consistently ranked third in its 10 p.m time slot. This season, it’s been averaging nearly 6.7 million viewers and has a 1.8 rating in adults 18-49, according to Nielsen’s “live plus-7” estimates.
Duo executive producers, Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick of My So-Called Life and Once and Again fame, were expected to take over the series if it got picked up for a fifth season, but unfortunately for fans of the show that won’t be happening now.
When news of the upcoming cancellation hit the Twitterverse, fans tweeted their silent cries.
ABC messed up big time. Can't believe they cancelled Nashville 😔😖 It was my favorite.
— Bailey Clark (@_BaileyAshton) May 12, 2016
So sad that Nashville was cancelled. I feel like the least @ABCNetwork can do is send Peter Krause over to spoon me. Please dm for address.
— Allie Mac Kay (@alliemackay) May 12, 2016
Some fans are hoping CMT picks the show up in the future — maybe the stars will align and they will get their wish. Time will tell.
@CMT There's an amazing show called #Nashville that needs a new home!! Let's keep this show going!!!
— Emily Johnston (@ej315) May 12, 2016
Outside of Britton and Panettiere, the show also starred Clare Bowen, Chris Carmack, Will Chase, Charles Esten, Jonathan Jackson, Sam Palladio, Aubrey Peeples, Lennon Stella and Maisy Stella.
(Via Variety)