Courtesy of Mark Levine/ABC
The actress, who is also a producer on the country music drama, has only signed on for 10 episodes.
It was a bit of good news/bad news for Nashville viewers Wednesday.
While CMT finally announced a season five premiere date for the country music drama, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that star Connie Britton has only signed for 10 episodes (so far) of the 22-episode season.
Sources tell THR that negotiations are ongoing with the actress, who also serves as a producer on the series. The news was first reported by EW.
ABC pulled the plug on Nashville, which is co-produced by Lionsgate and ABC Studios, in May after four seasons. The following month CMT and Hulu revived the series, with Hulu set to stream new episodes the day after they air on CMT. Before the show was revived, Britton appeared on Late Night With Seth Meyers and called the show's cancelation "the end of an era."
"It's bittersweet – I always feel like, to have four years on anything – you can never take that for granted."
Shortly after the Hulu-CMT deal was formalized, nine of the show's stars, including Britton and Hayden Panettiere signed on to return. All nine at the time were confirmed for 22 episodes, though now it appears Britton may not be on board for the full return on the little-watched network.
The news of Britton's potential reduced role comes after stars Will Chase and Aubrey Peeples were dismissed for the fifth season, which also marks the first for new showrunners Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick (My So-Called Life, thirtysomething). They replace longtime showrunner Dee Johnson.
Britton's potential reduced role also comes as star Calista Flockhart reduced her role on Supergirl after the DC Comics show moved from CBS to The CW. The former series regular will recur on the Greg Berlanti drama after the series also moved from filming in Los Angeles, where Flockhart lives, to Vancouver.
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