Nashville‘s infuriating finale cliffhanger could mean the show will be back

Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from Wednesday night’sNashvilleSeason 4 finale.

Nashville fans shook their collective fist at television screens on Wednesday night, after the finale left everyone reeling with the uncertainty of Juliette’s fate. A death is always hard to swallow, but we’re not even sure where Juliette’s plane is right now, which seems like a serious series finale no-no.

But before you lose any more sleep over whether Juliette is alive or dead, consider this: That infuriating cliffhanger was most likely a carefully plotted maneuver to bring the canceled show back in the not-so-distant future.

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That’s right, ABC might have called uncle on the popular series, but Lionsgate, the studio that produces the show, is not yet ready to give up. According to a Variety source, Lionsgate is actively shopping the show around to other platforms and “remaining optimistic” that it will be picked up.

Lionsgate’s head of TV, Kevin Beggs, confirmed that the studio does indeed have a long-term plan for Nashville‘s future.

“The fans and everyone else is clamoring for many more seasons,” Beggs told Variety. “We kind of go one season at a time in our thinking. Our near-term plan is to get another full season… these kinds of shows can go forever and ever — obviously that’s our hope and expectation, but we’ve to to do it one season at a time. So right now, we’re all about Season 5. So we hope to land Season 5 and keep talking about this show for years to come.”

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Lionsgate also tweeted a little tidbit that really got fans’ hopes soaring on Thursday.

https://<a href="https://oto.diwarta.com/tags/twitter/" id="auto-tag_twitter_1" data-tag="twitter">twitter</a>.com/LionsgateTV/status/735666775627468800
Getting picked up by another platform like Netflix or Hulu is definitly not far-fetched, considering The Mindy Project was similarly saved by Hulu after it was axed by Fox.

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And it seems like the cast is still on board, as well. Beggs confirmed that Lionsgate has long-term deals with the actors, and Nashville stars Sam Palladio and Chris Carmack both tweeted their hopefulness for a revival.

We love you #Nashies. Me and @aubreypeeples are sad for #NashvilleFinale. But there's still hope…. pic.twitter.com/VRBn6j2dRY

— Sam Palladio (@SamPalladio) May 26, 2016

And thank you to all the #Nashies !!! Last check 140k tweets for #BringBackNashville … So much love!

— Chris Carmack (@RealCarmack) May 26, 2016

So fret not, Nashies, it isn’t over quite yet.

Would you keep watching Nashville if it got picked up by another platform?