Nashville season 5 is happening, fan petition saves show from cancellation

Fans have united and saved the country music series from an untimely chop

It was reported last month that country music series Nashville had been cancelled by ABC after four seasons.

Naturally, fans - known as "Nashies" - were up in arms, enhanced further after discovering the season four finale - which aired last month - didn't lead to a satisfactory resolution for many of its main characters.

A petition to revive the series began circulating, and it seems to have accumulated the right number of signatures; it's been announced that US channel CMT will bring the show back for season five.

The channel's president Brian Philips told Variety: "CMT heard the fans. The wave of love and appreciation they have unleashed for Nashville has been overwhelming.

"[It's] is a perfect addition to our evolving line-up of big music specials, documentaries, and original series; we see our fans and ourselves in this show and we will treasure it like no other network."

Not many details are currently known about the upcoming season, which will also continue to air on Hulu, but Britton is expected to return as country singer Rayna Jaymes for another 22 episodes.

Just look at how happy the fans are:

The series which began in 2012 was created by Callie Khouri, the Oscar-winning screenwriter ofThelma & Louise. Upon its cancellation in May, up to five different platforms lobbied for the series which will be overseen by Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz.

Nashville season five is expected to air in 2017.