Connie Britton To Star In ABCs Nashville

After lengthy negotiations, Friday Night Lights alumna Connie Britton has closed a deal to star in ABCs drama pilot Nashville. Written by Callie Khouri, directed by R.J. Cutler and produced by Lionsgate and ABC Studios, Nashville is described as a family soap about love, country music, family, politics and sex set against the backdrop of the Nashville music scene. It centers on 40-year-old Nashville superstar Rayna James (Britton) who is stunned to find that her star is fading and her label requires her to team up with teen sensation Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) on touror else face the loss of her own tour and the labels promotion of her latest record, whose sales have been underwhelming. Complicating things for Rayna, a married mother of two is the fact that she is the family’s sole breadwinner. This marks Britton’s return to broadcast television after recently starring on the first season of FX’s anthology horror drama American Horror Story. She previously toplined with Kyle Chandler Friday Night Lights, reprising her role from the hit Peter Berg movie of the same name. The drama series, which originated on NBC before migrating to DirecTV, earned Britton two Emmy nominations. On the big screen Britton, repped by WME and Untitled Entertainment, will next be seen in Friend For the End of the World opposite Keira Knightly and Steve Carell.