‘Nashville’ Star Connie Britton Opens Up About Series-Changing Twist

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the mid season finale of Nashville.

By now, most Nashville fans are in on the events that transpired in the mid-season finale, which brought a permanent end to the character of Rayna Jaymes and frees up actress Connie Britton to move on to greener pastures. Though Britton has previously expressed the joy she derived from starring in Nashville, the actress now reveals that it was her decision to leave the CMT series, following the mid-season finale. While Nashville will go on, it will do so without Britton.

Nashville Writes Off Its Lead And Connie Britton Explains Why

As Bustle shares, Connie Britton has been at the heart of Nashville for five seasons, attracting fans with the personal story of Rayna Jaymes’ struggle to achieve success as a country music artist, while fighting off a passionate rival and managing a complex personal life. The most recent episode brought all of that to an abrupt halt with the sudden demise of Britton’s character and, although there seemed to be no ambiguity about Rayna’s death, Nashville fans are still holding onto a fragile hope that Connie will be coming back.

Ms. Britton dashes those hopes, as she shares that she chose to leave Nashville of her own volition, though not because there was drama behind the scenes or a dislike for the job. Instead, the actress reveals that she wants to do something new. She adds that she had been thinking of leaving Nashville for a while and the mid-season finale seemed like the perfect opportunity.

In speaking about her departure, Connie says she gave the matter a great deal of thought because she wanted to do what was right for Nashville, as well as what she needed to do for herself. Britton says she worked with the CMT show’s producers and writers so that her departure could be written into the series in a believable way. Connie didn’t want to leave her Nashville family in a lurch.

Connie Britton Looks To The Future

In talking with Entertainment Weekly, Ms. Britton dismisses any rumors that money played a factor in her departure, again emphasizing her desire to stretch her creative legs with something new. The actress adds that there were some personal reasons for making the decision to leave Nashville, but she’s quick to add that she won’t publicly share those reasons. Connie simply stresses that her decision was based on a mix of personal and creative issues.

Connie does admit that reading the script for her last episode of Nashville gave her a moment where she was left feeling nervous about the move to leave the series. She describes the moment of reading the script as “surreal and not easy,” even though she knew she was making the right decision.

Britton says she feels very hopeful about her future, though she doesn’t have any new projects in the works as of yet. For her American Horror Story fans, Connie says she’s always open to working with Ryan Murphy again, though there haven’t been any opportunities presented.

When asked what she’ll miss the most about Nashville, Ms. Britton says she’s going to miss the cast and crew, who have all been as close as family to her through the past five seasons. While she won’t be coming back to work on the series, Connie says she will always be a Nashville fan and will keep watching the series, which she feels is in the perfect place to thrive on CMT.

“We never know what the future holds in terms of how a character can make an influence, so I would say, ‘Love this show, love these characters, and keep watching’ — because that spirit is always going to be a part of the show, and these amazing Nashville characters are going to live on,” Connie Britton says of the future of Nashville.

[Featured Image by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images]