SPOILER ALERT: If you missed the most recent episode of “Nashville,” you’re going to want to stop reading, sign out of all social media, and take cover until you have time to catch up. You aren’t ready for this twist. It’s been an emotional ride for fans of “Nashville” this past year. In May 2016, ABC announced it would be cancelling the show just at the end of its fourth season. Soon enough, however, CMT came to the rescue — reviving the fan favorite in January 2017. Last night’s episode threw fans for another shocking spin: killing off Connie Britton’s lead character, Rayna, leaving many to wonder how the show could possibly go on. Better yet, wondering why they even bothered to bring it back? “Nashville’s” creator/executive producer Callie Khouri toldDeadline, “It was an agonizing decision. We started the season knowing Connie had wanted to leave for a number of personal and professional reasons, having to do with the tremendous opportunities that are are out there for her.” The actual decision to have Rayna die, however, was something that the producers and Britton put a lot of thought into. It was realized that Rayna, the country music superstar and one of the main characters, could not simply run off. She would never leave her family, and a kidnapping just did not feel like enough. Thus, she had to be killed, but the stalker storyline could not the reason. So, that’s where the random car crash came in. “It’s just something about that that appealed to all of us in the room, not seeing it coming, having a setup for thinking it was going to be one thing, having the relief of having gotten away with your life and then something else completely unconnected happened,” Khouri added. Still, the show will go on. Khouri plans to utilize the grieving as a way of connecting fans with the actual characters on the show. But Twitter users did not seem to be so sure:
They are pulling a Shonda Fricken Rhimes on Nashville and let me tell you I’m not about it at all ?? #NashvilleCMT
— Cassidy Charron (@CassidyCn) February 24, 2017
Now I’m just angry that we saved #NashvilleCMT because I would have been much happier if Rayna and Deacon lived happily ever after.
— KrystieEpperson (@KrystieEpperson) February 24, 2017
It’s 11:11.
I wish that this episode of Nashville never happened.#NashvilleCMT— Ashleigh Minter (@ashleighhh04) February 24, 2017
PSA: TONIGHTS EPISODE OF #NashvilleCMT WILL RUIN YOUR LIFE pic.twitter.com/4Y1HNKVyXO
— olivia brutto (@livbrutto) February 24, 2017
#NashvilleCMT Y’all did WHAT to Rayna? pic.twitter.com/KKSHjxpfXU
— rodrigo santana (@rodrigo1993) February 24, 2017
YALL WHAT JUST HAPPENED THIS COULDNT HAPPEN. OH MY GOSH IM SO DONE RIGHT NOW. #NashvilleCMT WHAT ARE YOU DOING.
— Hannah Keith (@HannahKeith19) February 24, 2017
We guess fans will just have to wait and see.
