15 Secrets About The Cast Of Nashville True Fans Should Learn Before It Ends
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Fans of the hit TV show Nashville were bummed when it was announced that the series would be ending this season. It has had a rough go of it. First, the cast found out in 2016 that ABC was canceling it after only four seasons. The cast found out the same ways as the rest of the world did, through the headlines. From there, CMT picked it up, but it turned out that it was only to stay on for another two years before it was permanently canceled. As much as fans loved the show, it just didn’t have the ratings that it once had. It didn’t help that one of the lead characters, Connie Britton left the show. Many people believe that the show just wasn’t the same without her and we would have to agree.
Charles Esten, the actor that plays Deacon on the show, recalled how everyone was brought in to be told together that the show was ending. “When I say 'us,' I mean everybody," he says. "Everybody in the production office, transportation, hair and makeup, everybody that wasn't already on that set was brought in. The place was tightly packed. It was emotional in there, and I think you could feel the love in the room." The cast members were obviously like a family together and it can be sad when a dynamic like that ends. We have some secrets about the cast and things that went on behind the scenes. Check out these 24 secrets about the cast of Nashville even true fans would be surprised to learn.
Connie Britton Saw A Sinking Ship
Whether she wants to admit it or not, we think that Connie Britton knew that Nashville was a sinking ship and wanted to get off the show before it came to a head. That way she leaves a show while it’s still successful and not when it’s no longer popular. Everyone was shocked when Britton was killed off at the end of the fifth season. She was one of the main characters and it seemed that most of the storylines followed her life, so how could the show go on without her? She told TV Line,
"It was something that had been percolating over time, and there were lots of different reasons behind it. But my priority was really making sure that the timing was right. My priority has always been Nashville.
When the show was moved [from ABC] to CMT and we got these great new showrunners — Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick— I was [confident] the show would be in a good place. Because one thing we learned over the summer is how passionate the fans are. We would not be on the air right now if it weren’t for the fans." She’s never had a problem getting work that’s for sure, she’s been in everything from American Horror Story, Friday Night Lights and now her new gig 9-1-1. It’s likely that she knew that it was the right time to leave the show for better opportunities.
It May End Hayden Panettiere’s Time In Hollywood
Judging by the actress’s IMDB page, she has nothing on the horizon after Nashville ends. It may have been better for her career had she left the show at the same time that Britton left, while the show was still on a high note. This will be the second TV series that she was on that was eventually canceled, the first being Heroes. She thought that her career was over after Heroes because she had been typecast and we have to wonder what is going through her mind now that she has nothing to fall back on after Nashville ends. Panettiere confessed that it was hard for her to see Britton leave the show. The two shared their own bond as they were rivals on the show who became friends.
"It's hard for me to even talk about it," Panettiere confessed. "That was also the day that, you know, she's lying in the hospital bed, and her daughters are singing this song for her, and as a mother, the idea of seeing two little girls lose their mom, like, it's hard for me to talk about. It really is." We’re not sure what the future holds for this Nashville star.
Clare Bowen Had A Unique Task of Learning An Accent
A Southern accent isn’t the easiest thing to mimic especially if you are from Australia. You couldn’t find two more different accents. But when it came to playing a Nashville star, Clare Bowen knew she had to do what it took. Bowen played the beautiful and talented singer Scarlett O’Connor who came from a long line of singers. She started to learn the southern accents by watching American movies that her pilot father would bring home to her. Now, that’s pretty handy. She would watch the movies that he brought her to perfect her southern accent before it was time to film the first season. Some of the movies that her father brought home to her were Fried Green Tomatoes, Song of the South and Steel Magnolias. Julia Roberts had a great accent in Steel Magnolias so that would have been a good choice for sure. Bowen stated that she could relate to her small town character because she came from a small town in Australia.
“There was a lot of stuff that we were experiencing at the same time. I think one of the biggest things is wanting to make everybody proud and not wanting to let anybody down.
So she tries to hide in the background, doesn't make too much noise, doesn't make a mess, doesn't mess up [so] she doesn't embarrass anybody, but yeah, discovering Nashville is something that we've done [together] at the same time.”
Hayden Panettiere Cheered For Charles Esten Before They Met
Charles Esten auditioned for the role of country singer Deacon and used a Blake Shelton song as well as an original song during the audition. He didn’t know that Jayden Panettiere was out in the waiting room literally listening to his audition with her ear to the door. “One thing about Hayden is Hayden Panettiere was the first person I met on Nashville,” Esten told Us.
“Now, I’d known Eric Close, actually, years before, but at my audition, I was in a room, about this size again, and I did a couple scenes and I played a couple songs and said thank you. I walked out the door and Hayden was right outside the door, with her ear to it, in a very Juliette kind of way.”
He knew that they were destined to work together. “And she was just the nicest person. She said, ‘That was so good,’ and I go, ‘Oh, well, nice to meet you.’ I’m thinking, save the cheerleader, save the world. I knew who she was, she didn’t know who I was. But she couldn’t have been kinder, and afterward, I was sort of blowing smoke, joking around. I said, ‘See you on the set.’ I was nowhere near landing that role yet, but it turned out to be the case. It’s the best, and we’ve been buddies ever since.”
Hayden Panettiere is Known to Be A Prankster
Normally you would think that it’s the guys that usually do this sort of thing. That’s the way that Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon operate when they are on set. But when it came to Nashville, it was Panettiere that was the prankster. Actor Tilky Jones played her onscreen husband during season one and he described her as a “prankster.” You may not remember, but she also hosted an episode of Ashton Kutcher’s Punk’d where she pulled pranks on Snooki, Dianna Agrin, and even Zac Efron. Maybe after the show is over, she can be a host on one of those pranking shows. These days, the actress says her biggest job is keeping her daughter alive.“I can’t say that anything is typical or ‘the norm’ about any day of the week now that I’m the mom of a 2-year-old,” the actress told Parade magazine. “She gets her hands in just about everything, and my biggest job at the moment is keeping her alive!” It’s unlikely she is going to leave the city of Nashville, she loves it there.
“When I first arrived, I remember struggling with the concept of making a place so foreign to me feel like home. I was 22, not a mom [yet] and had no one to answer to but myself. My life was all about having fun, exploring myself and meeting new people. It was filled with late nights, great music, and figuring out where I fit in here in Nashville.
Then I went through a pregnancy and I found out who my true friends were — the ones that were going to stick around and support me. I’ll just say the outcome was slim pickings!”
Lennon and Maisy Are Sisters in Real Life
If you are fans of the young actresses who play sisters, Daphne and Maddie Conrad, then you are going to love this fun fact. The two are actually sisters in real life and we had no idea. Lennon and Maisy Stella had us fooled that’s for sure. It was Maisy who was the one auditioning for the role of Daphne and her sister never had any intention of auditioning. She was there, however, to help Maisy learn her lines for the audition. The casting people had the opportunity of meeting Lennon at the time and they decided that they wanted both girls.
The Stella family got a very important phone call asking if Lennon could come back for an audition as well. They wanted both girls on the show and they both got the part. It must be cool to play sisters onscreen as well as offscreen. These girls were also singing long before they got on Nashville. The two of them covered Erato’s video of the Robyn song Call Your Girlfriend and it went viral in 2012. They got 24 million views on their YouTube video. They performed Lumineers’ song Ho Hey on the show and it’s one of the show’s most downloaded song. Now, that’s pretty incredible.
Lennon and Maisy Didn’t Have Visas to Work In The States
These two girls are Canadian and even though they got the role on the TV show Nashville, producers weren’t sure if they would be able to hire them officially because they didn’t have the proper work visas. It’s not always easy to get young girls work visas especially if they don’t have a lot of experience in the industry. But thanks to their music video that went viral, it changed everything. When they posted the video of Call Your Girlfriend, it went viral and because they got so much press from the video, they were able to get the visas they needed to work on the show. These girls are super popular and they share an Instagram account called @lennonandmaisy and these young girls already have over 485,000 followers. These girls are often live-tweeting episodes on the show for their fans. They definitely know how to get attention in the media. Going viral is all it takes these days to become famous. Maisy Stella has stated she likes acting more than singing.
“I love both, but I probably have to say acting because when you’re singing and you’re on stage, you can make the biggest mistake and it would be live!
With acting, you can just go 'take one, take two, cut'” But both of them just make me so happy — every time I sing, I get so happy, and every time we drive to set, I get so happy.”
Sam Palladio Made An Audition Video At 4 AM
Sometimes, you can make magic in an audition video. Obviously, it’s always best to be in person, but if it’s not possible, then you have to do what you can. Katie Holmes got her role on the hit TV show Dawson’s Creek from an audition video she made in her basement in her home in Toledo, Ohio. Anything can happen. Something similar happened to Sam Palladio when he auditioned for Nashville. At the time he made the video in his bedroom at 4 am, which is probably not the best time to make a video. He figured he didn’t have the best chance at the role, but he decided to give it a shot anyway. The producers absolutely loved him on the video, but they did ask him to re-submit an audition video that was of a higher quality. It obviously worked out for the actor because he got the role of Gunner on the show. He has said there are a lot of comparisons to his real life and Gunner’s life.
“It was very important from the beginning that we [the show] painted the right picture. The Nashville co-writing system is that you have artists signed to publishing deals and they throw you into three writing sessions a day and the songs get churned out and shipped off to artists looking for songs for new albums.
Our process [with Striking Matches] wasn’t writing to get a big country hit — it was writing to get a flavour for how we work together. The whole vibe in Nashville is a very creative one and about having great friendships with musicians.’”
Jonathan Jackson Has Five Emmys
There’s a lot to know about Jonathan Jackson and you may not be aware that his dad recorded an album in Nashville. When Jackson auditioned for his role on the show he sang two U2 songs, One and Desire. He also played guitar. It obviously impressed producers because he got the role of Avery. This actor has been around the block and he actually has five Emmy’s under his belt. It’s not for the show Nashville however, Jackson used to be a soap opera star. He played Lucky Spencer on the show General Hospital between 1993 and 2011. He went back on the show during a farewell episode in 2015. He’s also part of a band called Enation which he tours with sometimes. He was once asked by AL.com whether his fame on Nashville hurt his touring career.
“In this day and age, there's so much media out there, and it's difficult for an artist to have visibility and rise above the fray. Having exposure on the country side of things is a huge blessing for the music. At the same time, music lovers are hesitant to believe that an actor who does music can be a true musician.
It's something extra to overcome. With Enation, we just try to be as authentic as possible. Hopefully, the songs resonate with people.”
Oliver Hudson is Kate Hudson’s Brother
You may not be aware that Oliver Hudson has a much more famous sister in Kate Hudson. She is definitely considered to be an A-list star, but her brother hasn’t had the same success as she has. Not to say he hasn’t been busy in Hollywood. We saw him in Dawson’s Creek, Rules of Engagement, Scream Queens and now of course Nashville. Now he is on the TV show Splitting Up Together which is a good thing since the show is ending. Who would have thought he had such a famous sister?
Oliver posted a funny caption on Instagram about when magazine Star printed rumors that his sister Kate was dating Brad Pitt. He posted the magazine cover with the caption, “Yeah and it's been hell! He's messy! He drinks out of the carton!” He went on, "And this is when he's at my house! He's already calling me brother and has driven a wedge between myself and my real brother Wyatt who now won't speak to me. He insists my kids call him uncle B and lost my youngest at the Santa Monica pier for 2 days. My mom's overtly flirting with him! She's wearing these little nighties around the house now! But all day! Like at 3 pm. And Pa just keeps saying, 'All right! It's Brad Pitt!”
Everyone On The Show Is Actually Singing
We have seen lots of times where actors were put in movies and TV shows and they just faked singing throughout. That’s not the case for the TV show Nashville, everyone on that show sings in real life and that includes Hayden Panettiere. You may not have been aware that every single actor on the show sings on the show. We had no idea that some of these actors were so talented. They definitely had a talented cast involved in the show. Connie Britton even sang her own songs and in the show, she had a successful country music career. She told Jimmy Kimmel that she sort of felt bad for all the success she had in country music.
"I walk around Nashville just apologizing to all the amazing country singers. I'm like, 'I'm sorry, guys! Want a place on my album? You can have it! I'm really sorry.'"
All the original songs on the TV show were written by Nashville-based singer-songwriters. Britton said, "I’m not interested in playing over-the-hill. I’m not interested in playing irrelevant. I want to depict characters who are getting better with age. That sounds like such a cliché, but all the women I know who are in their 40s are awesome and sexy and so smart and have life experience that you cannot duplicate. And this show is really a great opportunity to push back on the idea."
Charles Esten Used to Be A Comedian
Now that’s pretty interesting for sure. It really is hard to picture considering he plays such a serious character on Nashville. He plays a former alcoholic that has had many dramatic episodes on the show as he dealt with personal struggles. There have been many intense scenes in the TV show, so it’s a really intense character that he plays. He was actually on Whose Line Is It Anyway as a comedian and we can hardly believe it. His nickname on the show was Chip. He was a regular on the show for six years, so he obviously had a talent for musical games. You might also recognize him from the hit TV show The Office, he played Josh Porter. “When I first got to Nashville it was like coming home to a place I’d never been before,” Esten told CMT.com.
“And it really felt like that immediately. I think a lot of it is growing up in Virginia and Pennsylvania — the green and the rolling hills — it felt very familiar to me. Then there are the people. They just welcomed us immediately.
We knew more people on our street here in a day a half than we did in 15 years in L.A. And that’s just the nature of Nashville.”
Lennon Stella Went to prom with Charles Esten's son
When Lennon Stella started on the show, she was still a young girl, definitely not at the age to start dating. But she’s practically grown up on the show and she’s a young lady now. It was prom season for the girl in 2016 and she decided to take Charles Esten's real-life son as her date to the prom. The picture of the two of them is super cute. The boy was 17 years old at the time and his name is Chase Puskar. Lennon was homeschooled for the latter part of her high-school years while Chase attended Brentwood High School in Nashville. We’re not sure what the young actress has in store for her career after the TV show ends, there are no future projects listed on her IMDb. Maybe she’ll give her singing career another shot. Lennon loves the cast from Nashville, she said,
“There’s not one cast member on the show that we just don’t adore, we just love everyone here on set.”
“It is the best environment that you could be in. It’s always light and fun and everyone is so, so nice. The people, just learning from them acting-wise, but learning from them as humans. We’re just surrounded by really really awesome cast and really really awesome crew, so we have been extremely fortunate, to say the least.”
Everyone Was Surprised Connie Britton Left
The cast and crew of the TV show Nashville were all heartbroken to lose Connie Britton from the show. They all took to Instagram after her characters death to discuss her leaving the show. Maisy Stella captioned a photo that said,
“Connie has taught me everything I know as an actor. She has been a set mother to me since I was 8. She has been someone I look up to so much. Rayna Jaymes is a character that inspired and changed people's lives. I love you.
RIP Rayna. Thank you Connie for being such an amazing person. Yoby is a lucky boy.” She wasn’t the only fan, however, Charles Esten also mourned the loss of her on the show. “I took this picture almost 5 years ago on my first day of shooting #Nashville with @conniebritton. I was already a fan. Now, after all this time, she's my friend. And I'm an even bigger fan.I'm grateful for every scene, and for every song, and I wish her nothing but the very best.” Britton clearly impacted the lives of a lot of the cast from the show. They were all sad to see her go.
Chris Carmack Had No Idea Who his Character really was until he was hired
For the most part information like that usually don’t bother an actor because after all, it’s just acting. When Chris Carmack auditioned for amateur country music singer Will Lexington, he used the song City Boy by Keb’ Mo’ in his audition. He got the role and show creator Callie Khouri called him up later to inform him that his character was gay. He was offered the role if he was willing to play the character of a man who would eventually come out. Carmack took the role and stated that he was excited to dig into the character. He stated that he was always waiting for the script that would allow his character to come out.
"Each time I'd get the episode, [I'd think], 'Is this the one? Is this the one?'"
He said that there was a lot of pressure involved in playing that character. "This is a part and this is a script that when I get it, I think to myself, 'I want to get this right,'" he said. "So I wasn't nervous because I didn't think I could do the job, I just wanted to do it right. Fortunately, I had Callie Khouri directing that episode, she's the creator of the series, and she really helped me find a nuanced performance."
References: huffingtonpost.ca, cmt.com, cmt.com, thesun.co.uk
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