It’s only been a little over one year since beloved fans of the television show Nashville (“Nashies” as they like to call themselves), were heartbroken when the ABC network cancelled the series, but the Nashville-based cable network, CMT, came to the rescue for the drama after fans took over the Internet with their hashtag, #BringBackNashville in hopes to save the show.

Now we have already seen all of season 5 and fans were guaranteed to see a Season 6 this January in 2018, but unfortunately this fall it was announced that the next season, would be its last. Just a little over a year ago, The CMBeat wrote an article about The Reality Of Nashville Season 5, so in light of the new season being less than a week away from its premiere date, we thought we would do a recap of what all has happened this past season and what everyone could expect from Season 6. (Spoiler Alert! If you don’t want to know what happens in Season 5, might be best to stop reading now!)

The biggest rumor that surrounded the cherished show last year is if the main character Rayna Jaymes played by Connie Britton, would be leaving the show in Season 5, even though Britton never confirmed if the actress would be making her exit from the show. Unfortunately, all Nashies worst dream came true in Episode 10 of Season 5, when the queen of country music, Rayna Jaymes passed away. Leaving the rest of the season to see how her husband, Deacon, her daughters, Maddie and Daphne, her family, friends and co-workers mourn her and go on to continue without her in life.

We see Deacon Claybourne, played by Charles Esten, try to carry on the legacy Rayna left behind with Highway 65 and the challenges the label has faced. Along with Deacon trying to raise both of the girls on his own becoming a single father, and fighting with the feelings of a possible new love interest with a new character during the season, a singer/songwriter Jessie Caine, played by Kaitlin Doubleday.

One other thing we get to see is how Rayna’s daughters are doing, as they are struggling and trying to cope with the loss of their mother in the public eye and at home, as Maddie is starting her solo music career, and Daphne getting in with the wrong crowd of people. Plus, the girl’s mixed feelings about Deacon’s possible new love interest, Jessie.

What happened to Juliette? If you watched the finale of season 4, you’ll remember the show ended on a cliffhanger with Juliette Barnes, played by Hayden Panettiere, being in a plane crash and fans were left wondering if she lived or died, but thanks to CMT, fans might have never known! Thankfully, Juliette was saved by an angel, Hallie, in the opening episode, and though she was told she might never walk again, Juliette eventually gains the ability to walk after time through the season. Of course, Juliette and Avery have their ups and downs during the season as well, but they are still in a relationship raising their baby girl, Cadence, as of the end of season 5.

All Scunnar Fans (aka Gunnar and Scarlett) were pleased with the way Season 4 ended, with them getting back together at one of the couple’s shows, but might not have been as happy as the couple parted ways for the time being in the last season finale. The couple endured a lot this season, for when Scarlett had a brief relationship with The Exes’ video director Damien George, played by Christian Coulson, and got pregnant by him. Also with Scarlett having a fan get upset with her for not having the perfect life. The show also recognized the important cause of miscarriage, when Scarlett loses the child, a girl, she was carrying.

Nashies also got to see Will Lexington going through some relationship trouble, starting out the season with Kevin Bicks, played by Kyle Dean Massey, but ends up finding a new love interest with Zack Welles. Will finds himself being stuck in the middle between Zack and his friends, ending up having to pick sides by the finale which leads things to go south with the relationship. He did have a few exciting moments in the season including show performances and landing a Budweiser commercial!

Who did we lose, who did we gain and what about guest appearances? Of course, we lost some few key characters this season, Rayna Jaymes played by Connie Britton, and Rayna’s manager because Zack wanted him out, Bucky Dawes played by David Alford. There was two characters we knew before Season 5 aired that would not be returning, Aubrey Peeples who played Layla Grant, and Will Chase as Luke Wheeler, even though Luke Wheeler did make one brief appearance in the season in an episode to sell his record label, Wheelin’ Dealin’ Records to Rayna.

There was a few guest appearances by some of our favorite Nashville cast including Glenn Goodman played by Ed Amatrudo who plays Juliette’s longtime manager/friend, Emily who is Juliette’s assistant/friend/babysitter played by Kourtney Hansen and in episode 10 by Chaley Rose, who plays Scarlett’s hometown friend, Zoey Dalton that not only was in a relationship with Gunnar, but was briefly in a band with Avery and Gunnar. We can’t forget to mention some of Rayna’s relatives we saw this season, Tandy Hampton, Rayna’s sister played by Judith Hoag, and Rayna’s ex-husband, Teddy Conrad played by Eric Close.

What about these new characters? There was a lot of new faces this season, for instance Clayton (Clay) Carter played by Joseph David-Jones, who played Maddie’s boyfriend until the couple ran into some trouble and decided to part ways. We had Zack Welles played by Cameron Scoggins, a investor at Highway 65 that also ends up dating Will Lexington, and another familiar face to Chris Carmack was added to the cast to play a strategist for Highway 65, Alyssa Greene played by Rachel Bilson, which her and Carmack were cast mates on The O.C. Another new character was Juliette’s angel, Hanna Lee “Hallie” Jordan played by Rhiannon Giddens. Last but not least, Jessie Caine played by Kaitlin Doubleday, that is Deacon’s new friend. Some guest star appearances featured Pam Tillis, Cassadee Pope, Lauren Alaina and more.

So what could this mean from Season 6? The show has many storylines to finish telling before it comes to a close. Will Deacon pursue the new love interest with Jessie? How will Maddie and Daphne continue in their life’s and how will they handle Deacon possibly liking Jessie? What will happen to Highway 65? Will Scarlett and Gunnar get back together one more time? Could there be new music brewing for Will Lexington? Will Juliette and Avery continue with their happy life’s as she continues to get her strength back? Will we see brief appearances by old characters? Of course, let’s not forget the biggest question of all… Will we somehow see a return of Rayna Jaymes before saying goodbye?

Before publishing this article, we asked YOU the fans, what you would like to see happen in the final season of Nashville on our Twitter. See what a few fans said below:

Will Nashville finally get the proper and well deserved ending that all Nashies have waited and hoped for? I guess we will all just have to wait and watch the final season!

Be sure to catch the ending of an era, Season 6, the final season of Nashville On CMT, Thursday’s at 9/8c, starting with the premiere next Thursday, January 4th, and follow the show to catch up on all things Nashville on their social media pages including, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

What did you think of Season 5 of Nashville? What would you like to see in the final season? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so leave a comment below or on social media!