Former ABC drama Nashville has been picked up for a sixth season at its new U.S. network CMT, TVWise has learned. The show’s sixth season – its second on CMT – will consist of 16 episodes.
The network originally picked up the show for a 22 episode fifth season in June 2016, after prolonged talks between CMT, ABC Studios, Lionsgate Television and U.S. SVOD partner Hulu to resurrect the music industry drama following ABC’s decision to axe it several week prior.
Since it’s relocation the show has thrived on the cable network, which has slowly been making a push into scripted originals with the likes of Still The King and Sun Records. Nashville now ranks as the highest rated show in CMT’s history, with an L7 audience of 2.1 million viewers.
Created by Callie Khouri and RJ Cutler Nashville is a soap set in Nashville which follows the careers of two musicians. The drama series is produced by ABC Studios and Lionsgate Television and stars Hayden Panettiere, Charles Esten, Clare Bowen, Sam Palladio, Jonathan Jackson, Chris Carmack, Lennon Stella and Maisy Stella.
Nashville initially aired in the UK on Channel 4’s digi-net More4, who aired the show’s first two seasons. It was then relocated to E4, where season three aired, before Sky ultimately swooped in and poached the rights to in a deal with international distributor Lionsgate Television. The satcaster recently extended that deal with Lionsgate and picked up future seasons of the show, but they have yet to set a premiere date for Nashville season 5.
