‘Nashville’ Death Odds: Ranking the Characters Most Likely to Die on Wednesday’s Episode

The tease at the end of last week’s episode of Nashville gave the ultimate serialized drama promise:

“ONE [dramatic scenes flashing quickly] OF THESE PEOPLE [dammit they’re flashing too quickly and everyone looks distressed] WILL DIE!” [AHH it’s gonna be Scarlett or Deacon or Avery or Gunnar!] [No, there’s no way it could be Scarlett or Deacon or Avery or Gunnar. It’s gonna be someone though!] [Emotions]

…And the viewers are invariably whipped into a frenzy because as Deputy Travis Junior from Reno 911! says, it’s “like gettin’ two tickets to NASCAR except you know Jeff Gordon’s gonna die”.

This week promises the death of a character on ABC’s Nashville, so it’s time to rank the cast in terms of likelihood of character death, from least likely to most likely.

NO CHANCE:

Juliette Barnes, Rayna James, Scarlett O’Connor, Deacon Claybourne, Teddy Conrad

All of these characters are either too vital to the show, or in the specific cases of Juliette and Rayna, we’d have read months ago that one of the two lead actresses was leaving the show. Damn internet ruins everything.

SLIM TO NO CHANCE:

Maddie Conrad

Lennon Stella has been given some extra shine recently, they even sent her little sister (whom she’s typically inseparable from) on a DC trip just to give Maddie an episode to spread her wings a bit. She’s far too integral to a fairly new storyline (her blossoming relationship with Deacon, her biological father) to be in danger here.

Peggy Kenter

It’s funny that Kimberly Williams-Paisley, the wife of an actual country singer, plays the wife of the only male character on the show who isn’t a country singer.

Peggy Kenter is the new wife of Teddy Conrad, and while somewhat dispensable compared to the other characters, she still has that mega-secret that is sure to rock poor Teddy’s world one day soon.

Will Lexington

While he’s established himself as somewhat self-destructive, there’s  far too much going on here to kill him so abruptly.

Layla Grant

When Nashville premiered, I felt like the Juliette Barnes character was cast in the Taylor Swift mold (younger, super popular country star with pop crossover appeal), but as the series has progressed it seems less so, and I now get a distinct “Swift” vibe from Layla Grant’s character. Last week when Juliette derogatorily remarked “She’s from Connecticut”, it reminded me of the army of Swift detractors whose Exhibit A-F is that she’s a “country singer” originally from Pennsylvania. Layla Grant serves a purpose though: to show the cyclical nature of the business, in which last year’s hot new “it” girl is quickly and easily replaced, juxtaposing Barnes as the seasoned country music “veteran” from this angle. Regardless, that story is too new for anything to happen to Grant this soon.

Avery Barkley

The genuine friendship and slightly implied sexual tension between Juliette and Avery keeps Barkley alive Wednesday night (and beyond).

Gunnar Scott

If we were to compare Nashville to a 1980s WWF event (because why wouldn’t we?), the Rayna and Juliette storylines would be the Hulk Hogan match, Deacon and Scarlett’s arcs would be Randy ‘Macho Man” Savage (sometimes crossing paths or teaming up with Hogan, but able to do some heavy lifting of their own), and Gunnar Scott would be a Ricky ‘The Dragon” Steamboat/Jimmy Snuka/Junkyard Dog type. He’s firmly entrenched in the show’s second tier, capable of main eventing, and just waiting for his chance. Long story short (too late), he lives.

TOTALLY COULD BE:

Daphne Conrad

No. NO. The DC trip! BUS CRASH! As badly as the out-of-nowhere “DC trip” reeks of a quick way to set up a means to write a character off, I can’t see this happening. Killing off one of the main character’s young children would set the tone for the entire remainder of the show’s run, and this doesn’t seem like a direction they need to go in right now.

Lamar Wyatt

Killing off the main character’s father who has a ton of secrets that could unfold slowly over the course of multiple seasons on the other hand…

Tandy Hampton

We’ve seen many more Tandy/Rayna one-on-ones in season 2 than ever before, and it’s clear Tandy still has a full crop of secrets that need to be harvested. Her death wouldn’t be a major shock but the smart money’s not on Tandy. (People are betting on this right?)

Jeff Fordham

Oliver Hudson’s character is a cutthroat record exec that plays an excellent nemesis for Rayna. It would be a shame to kill him off, but it’s possible that they’ve probed every angle they care to with his character and removing him as an obstacle was always the plan.

Personally, I’d prefer to keep Rayna and Jeff’s antagonistic relationship alive if for nothing else than Britton’s trademark snappy one-liners.

Zoe Dalton

Gunnar’s secret sweetie is still a very minor character on the show, which puts her on high death watch here. Her friend Scarlett just discovered their secret at the end of the last episode, so it seems like she should be safe as they haven’t gotten to flesh that storyline out yet, but wouldn’t it just be SO Scarlett if her friend died before she got to reconcile with her?

Liam McGuiness/Luke Wheeler

Liam and Luke are somewhat interchangeable love interests for Rayna at this point (both in the music industry, both in a position of power, neither are Deacon), so one of the two dying here would not be terribly surprising.

PROBABLY WILL BE:

Brent

The character doesn’t even have a last name and you have to click ‘See full cast–>’ on IMDB to even find his credit. He’s totally gonna bite it, and Will Lexington will somehow (albeit accidentally) be involved, igniting a scandal for Edgehill Records. Did someone say Scandal? Crossover event!