Where Is the ‘Nashville’ Cast Now? Inside Their Lives 13 Years Later

Connie Britton as Rayna Jaymes

Britton was already a television icon when she took on the role of Rayna, Nashville’s Queen of Country. Before playing the established singer, devoted mother and wife on ABC’s hit series, she had starred in Friday Night Lights, The West Wing and American Horror Story.

After her emotional exit from Nashville in season 5, Britton went on to star in Dirty John and appear in the first season of The White Lotus. Speaking with Today in 2025, she admitted she’d “absolutely” consider a return to The White Lotus — with one caveat: she doesn’t want to spend too much time away from her son.

She adopted her son, Yoby, from Ethiopia as a single mother in 2011. Fourteen years later, with her son entering his teenage years, Britton described him to PEOPLE as “such a sweet boy.”

The actress began dating her long-time boyfriend, producer David Windsor, in 2019. In May 2025, he attended the premiere of Britton’s Hallmark reality series, The Motherhood, which follows the journey of several single mothers who have their lives transformed by Britton and a team of experts.

A few months earlier, the actress opened up about how she knew Windsor was the one, telling Parade that the two offer each other “constant growth.”

“I found somebody who I can walk on a journey with that is going to be constantly ever-changing,” she said.

Hayden Panettiere as Juliette Barnes

Panettiere played ambitious country singer Juliette, who often clashed with Rayna. Looking back, she admitted to Entertainment Weekly in September 2025 that she “kept apologizing” to Britton after their tense first scene together.

“Because that was our first experience together, and I didn’t want to step on toes. Sometimes it gets real, very real, you know?” she said.

Off-screen, Panettiere was navigating her own struggles. She welcomed daughter Kaya in 2014 with her then-fiancé, Wladimir Klitschko. Her pregnancy was written into Nashville, leading to a major storyline about Juliette’s battle with postpartum depression — something Panettiere later revealed was deeply personal.

“It was very difficult to go on set and to act out these feelings about these things that I was truly going through in my real life,” she told Women’s Health in 2023.

The actress, who has spoken openly about her addictions to alcohol and opioids, gave Klitschko full custody of Kaya in 2018. She later returned to acting in Scream 6 before facing another personal tragedy: the sudden loss of her younger brother, Jansen, to an undiagnosed heart condition in 2023.

“He was my only sibling, and it was my job to protect him,” she told PEOPLE in a 2024 cover story. “When I lost him, I felt like I lost half of my soul.”

Following his death, Panettiere turned to fitness for healing. “When something that massive has happened to you, you really learn to pick your fights and just not let the little things upset you,” she said.

Panettiere acted in Amber Alert in September 2024 and now, she is starring in the psychological thriller Sleepwalker. The actress is also working on a memoir.

Clare Bowen as Scarlett O’Connor

Clare Bowen got hooked on Nashville, opting to stay in the music capital after playing the poet turned songwriter, Scarlett O’Connor, in the show.

Originally from Australia, Bowen told Building Our Own Nashville in 2018 that she was excited to live in the “real place” after wrapping the show.

“I found my voice here (Nashville) I wrote my album here, I found the love of my life here, I found my home here. Nashville is a real place and I am sticking to it like glue,” she said.

The singer and actress married fellow musician Brandon Robert Young in 2017 and continues to perform the music from the show around the world with members of the Nashville cast, including Esten, Jonathan Jackson and Sam Palladio.

Eric Close as Teddy Conrad

After playing the first husband of Rayna and the father of their two daughters, Maddie and Daphne, on Nashville, Eric Close went on to act in a number of TV movies, including A Christmas Love Story and To Have and to Holiday on Hallmark, as well as Average Joe.

Off-screen, the actor has been married to designer Keri Close since 1995. The couple share two daughters.

Charles Esten as Deacon Claybourne

Esten embraced the Nashville lifestyle both on-screen and off, building his own music career while the show was still on the air and he was playing Deacon Claybourne, Rayna’s guitarist.

In 2016, the star began a project where he launched one single per week for an entire year, after realizing he had a backlog of music and a whole new audience thanks to the show’s fans.

The project even earned him a Guinness World Record. Esten then released his debut album, Love Ain’t Pretty, in January 2024 and continues to perform songs from the show on Nashville reunion tours.

He credits Nashville with opening the door for him to pursue music. “Music was always my first love and I never stopped playing it and I never stopped writing it. But the character of Deacon Claybourne opened up this opportunity to jump back in and I did fully and instantly,” Esten told PEOPLE in August 2023.

Following the show, he has continued to land roles on hit series like Netflix’s Outer Banks, where he played Madelyn Cline‘s on-screen father, Ward Cameron.

Esten has been married to his wife, Patty, since 1991. The pair share three children.

Jonathan Jackson as Lucky Spencer

Jackson brought depth and charm to Nashville as brooding singer-songwriter Avery Barkley, and he’s continued to balance his acting career with his passion for music off-screen.

The General Hospital alum, who played Lucky Spencer from 1993 to 1999 and then 2009 to 2011, earning him five Daytime Emmy Awards, returned to the show in 2024 after exiting to star in Nashville.

While Jackson left GH again less than a year later, he has stayed busy as a regular member of the Nashville reunion tours. He also starred in the 2024 film, Unsung Hero.

Jackson shares three children with his former General Hospital costar, Lisa Vultaggio.

Sam Palladio as Gunnar Scott

Palladio also pursued a musical career after his time on Nashville, where he starred as Gunnar Scott, an aspiring musician. The English actor released his debut album, titled The Perfect Summer’s Day, Before We Lost The Light, in September 2024 and headlined the British Country Music Festival a year later.

Now, Palladio tours with the Nashville cast in addition to acting in the Starz show, The Couple Next Door.

Palladio was also a proud dog-father to River the whippet, who even had his own Instagram where the actor posted their adventures. River died in May 2025.

Chris Carmack as Will Lexington

Chris Carmack credits Nashville for more than just his music career — it’s also where he met his wife.

Erin Slaver, who played violin on the show in addition to acting as one of Panettiere’s back-up singers, hit it off with Carmack on a night out. The pair tied the knot in 2018 and share two daughters, Cielle and Kai. The family regularly vlogs, sharing daily life and pranks on Instagram.

Carmack has also starred on Grey’s Anatomy since 2018, playing Dr. Atticus “Link” Lincoln, the love interest of Jo Wilson, played by Camilla Luddington.

Lennon Stella as Maddie Conrad

Lennon Stella played Maddie, one half of the Conrad sister duo, alongside her real-life sister, Maisy Stella, who portrayed Daphne. The two played the musically gifted children of Rayna and Teddy, who were born into country music royalty.

Both sisters have continued to pursue their musical talent, with Lennon releasing her debut album, Three. Two. One., in 2020.

Like many of her Nashville castmates, Lennon set down permanent roots in the music city, taking PEOPLE inside her home in 2018.

“This is it for me,” she said. “I’m from Canada, but we’ve literally lived here since 2009, this is totally home.”

Maisy Stella as Daphne Conrad

Maisy, who starred alongside her real-life sister Lennon on Nashville, has been building her own acting career, including a 2024 role opposite Aubrey Plaza in My Old Ass. Maisy told PEOPLE that returning to acting for the movie was “nerve-racking.”

“Oh my gosh, returning to acting was the most thrilling and nerve-racking and exciting thing,” she said. “I felt such comfort in knowing what I was walking into because I was so attached, like emotionally attached, to the project that I was walking into.”

However, it seems she overcame her nerves. Maisy appeared in Poetic License (2025), Maude Apatow’s directorial debut, starring Leslie Mann, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and is set to star in the 2026 film Flowervale Street.

The actress has been romantically linked to The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey since she posted a photo of Ramsey kissing her cheek in September 2024. Maisy shared a sweet caption with the photo calling Ramsey, “the coolest comfiest most wonderful human imaginable.”

Oliver Hudson as Jeff Fordham

Oliver Hudson played the savvy and scheming music executive Jeff Fordham on Nashville. The actor is the son of Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell and the “ride-or-die” brother of Kate Hudson.

After Nashville, he went on to star in the cult-favorite TV show Scream Queens and later, Happy Gilmore 2.

He has been married to Erinn Hudson since 2009, and the couple share three children: sons Wilder Brooks and Bodhi Hawn, and daughter Rio Laura.