10 Heartbreaking Times Lead Characters Left TV Shows
7. Rayna James - Nashville
This exit was motivated by behind the scenes dealings, but that didn’t make the impact of it any smaller. In fact, given Nashville’s themes, you could even argue it was quite fitting.
When the show moved from ABC to CMT, Connie Britton (who played Rayna and also served as co-executive producer) decided to leave, resulting in her character being killed off. The quality of Nashville had always risen and fallen, but her final episode - Fire And Rain - was one of their strongest in years.
The decision to kill Rayna off came when Britton and the rest of the creative team realised there was no way to have her leave without it. After her cast iron marriage had survived so much turbulence and with her love for her children so strong, death was simply the only way to get her off screen.
With such strong connections to everyone involved, her death was obviously quite tough to take. Along with Hayden Pannetierre’s Juliette Barnes, Rayna had been the star of the show since day one. Though the show wasn’t universally popular, for fans who’d stuck with it, losing Rayna was hard to take.