'Nashville' season 5 air date, news, spoilers: Showrunner discusses transgender character's storyline; show to highlight 'more emotions'

After being canceled by ABC, "Nashville" will return next year on its new home network, CMT. It was also recently announced that season 5 will introduce the show's first transgender character, played by openly trans actress Jen Richards.

Aside from exploring the country music scene, "Nashville" is also known for its LGBT-themed storylines. Details of Richards' character are still being kept under wraps, but most reports claim that she is heavily involved with Juliette Barnes' (Hayden Panettiere) storyline as she recovers from season 4's plane crash.

In a recent interview with TV Guide, co-showrunner Marshall Herskovitz talked about the show's latest addition and why her storyline is very timely. "My guess is most people will have no idea that she's trans until we talk about it. We don't talk about it in the first episode, and I think that's, in some way, part of what the conversation has to be in our country," Herskovitz explained. "I think so many people don't really understand what it's about, and I think Jen has been great that way. She's great in the show."

Given that "Nashville" fans are expecting more from the series after its move, Herskovitz, along with new co-showrunner Ed Zwick, promises to focus more on storytelling. Although the program is centered on the music scene, the showrunner hints that they will delve deeper into the characters and the relationships between them.

"The tradeoff is less adrenaline, more emotion," Herskovitz told TV Line. "We have longer scenes, deeper scenes, more opportunity for true relationships between these people to fulfill themselves, to play themselves out. And I think it's much more emotionally satisfying this way," the showrunner went on to say.

On another note, it was previously reported that lead actress Connie Britton will leave the series after the season's 10th episode. Herskovitz declined to comment on the storyline for Britton's character Rayna but confirmed that Will Chase will return for season 5.

The fifth season of "Nashville" premieres on Thursday, Jan. 5, at 9 p.m. ET on CMT.