‘Nashville’ Season 4 Spoilers: Eric Close Won’t Be A Series Regular; What Does This Mean For Teddy's Future?

“Nashville” Season 4 will have less politics and more music. Eric Close, who plays Nashville mayor Teddy Conrad, will not return as a series regular when the music drama comes back to ABC in the fall. Based on where Season 3 left off, that means Teddy is in major trouble.

Not being a regular doesn’t mean audiences won’t see Teddy. However, viewers will see significantly less of Rayna’s (Connie Britton) ex-husband. TV Line reports that the decision “is part of a larger creative effort to place the focus of the show squarely on the music business.” Teddy has had his own separate storyline for quite some time now.

During Season 3, he started seeing an expensive prostitute, Natasha (Moniqua Plante) and used government funds to try and pay her off. However, he ended up getting arrested in the finale after he decided that he couldn’t spy on his Rayna’s sister Tandy (Judith Hoag) for the FBI. While many fans might expect Teddy to make some sort of plea bargain or shady deal with someone in power, showrunner Dee Johnson warned “Nashville” fans that Teddy was finally accepting the consequences of his actions.

“We wanted to get him to a point where he took responsibility for all those missteps,” Johnson told the Hollywood Reporter after the “Nashville” Season 3 finale. That's where we wanted to land him at the end of this season. ‘I'm not going to keep protecting myself at the expense of Rayna, Rayna's company and my family. I'm just going to take my medicine.’”

If Teddy is actually taking responsibility, that’s going to keep him in prison for a while. “Nashville” writer Ben St. John told viewers during the finale that the mayor wasn’t going to get off easy.

Teddy is going to find out the hard way prison style. That doesn't sound right #Nashville
— Ben St. John (@_benstjohn) May 14, 2015

However, as Daphne’s (Maisy Stella) father, he can’t be completely gone. Even if he is only shown in an occasional phone call, it doesn’t seem like Teddy will disappear for good. It's likely that Close will still be a guest star during “Nashville” Season 4.

“Nashville” Season 4 will return in the fall on ABC, but a premiere date has not been announced yet. Do you think less Teddy is a good thing or are you upset to be losing a major character? Sound off in the comments section below!