Transgender actress Jen Richards has been cast in the upcoming Season 5 of the musical drama TV series “Nashville” on CMT to premiere on January 5, 2017.
Richards, who is known for her work on “I Am Cait” and “Her Story,” shall be taking on the role of Allyson Del Lago, a physical therapist who shall be helping Juliette Barnes, played by Hayden Panettiere, cope with her physical ordeal in the aftermath of the plane crash where she figured into, details the International Business Times.
Allyson Del Lago is described as a tough but understanding physical therapist who helps a series regular through one of their most difficult challenges, based on a previous teaser by CMT.
According to some spoilers, Juliette shall survive the plane crash but she would need someone to lean on and Dr. Del Lago will provide her with such.
It has been already reported that Jen Richards will be playing a significant role in Juliette’s healing process since the country singer’s life would be in shambles after the accident, notes TV Guide.
There are speculations that she might think of not going back to the stage again but Allyson would provide her the needed physical and moral support to recover from her emotional and physical ordeal all the way towards her full recovery.
New characters joining
In addition to Jen Richards, there will be new characters who shall be joining “Nashville” Season 5 including Grammy award-winner Rhiannon Giddens, who shall be playing a social worker with a beautiful voice, and some more.
There are also reports saying that the producers of “Nashville” are also looking for an African-American actor to play Clay, an upcoming musician. In fact, the show is holding an open audition for the character.
Reports also have it that there shall be plenty of singing in Season 5 of “Nashville” and this was confirmed by showrunners Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz, adding that they intend to bring the focus back to the music industry.
This only means that there will be more music in Season 5 of “Nashville” compared to its past four seasons when it was still airing on ABC.
From previously being aired on ABC during its fourth season, “Nashville” Season 5 will be aired on CMT after the network rescued it from cancellation.
Not much alteration
CMT will not be altering much with “Nashville” as Season 5 shall have a full order of 22 episodes too, the same number of episodes per season that the TV series had during its four seasons on ABC.
If any, the only thing that changed, as far as “Nashville” is concerned, is its premiere date. The show normally premieres on ABC during the fall and ends up during spring of the following year.
However for Season 5, “Nashville” will be making a midseason premiere at the start of the year and likely to finish before or around summer, assuming it will have several weeks of break. But if it will not have any break, it could also end Season 5 around late spring too.
Filming has already started for “Nashville” Season 5 and there are now rumors going around that actress Connie Britton, who plays the lead role of Rayna James in the TV series, is only good for 10 of the 22 episodes of Season 5 of “Nashville.”
Apparently, the actress said that it is well stipulated in her contract with the show. However, there are also reports saying that the producers are still in talks with the actress in order to extend her contract and be in more episodes, if not all of the episodes of “Nashville” Season 5.
Many fans of the TV series expressed alarm on the possibility of losing Rayna James in the show, with some of them stating that the show would not be able to survive if the character is written off from “Nashville.”