Nashville is returning to its roots. Recently, new showrunners Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick spoke to the LA Times about the upcoming fifth season of the CMT TV series.
The network picked up the country music drama last year after ABC cancelled it. Regular cast members Hayden Panettiere, Connie Britton, Charles Esten, Clare Bowen, Sam Palladio, Chris Carmack, Jonathan Jackson, Lennon Stella, and Maisy Stella are all returning.
In the interview, Herskovitz said the new season will focus on the characters again instead of the soap opera-like storylines that drove the last few seasons on ABC:
We’re betting that a deep, emotional connection to the characters will be a stronger pull for the audience than the OMG effect.”
He later added that the show will also feature more music and get back to its songwriting roots:
I can say that we’ll play more music and for longer this year than ever before in the show. … We have an entire episode [of ‘Nashville’] where we play out a relationship between two people in the writing of songs. That’s not something you usually see on television.”
Season five of Nashville debuts on Thursday, January 5th, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CMT.
Watch a preview below:
What do you think? Are you a fan of Nashville? Are you looking forward to the new season?
Glad “Nashville ‘s” back. The absence of Connie Britton won’t stop me from watching. More cast members can be added for less than what she was being paid. “Nashville” will do just fine. They for sure are going to keep “Rayna” alive thru flashbacks.
Glad they are coming back on!!!!!!#
Cant wait!!!