The New Year will bring new “Nashville” episodes. CMT revealed that the country music drama will make its cable debut this winter after airing on ABC for four seasons.

“Nashville” Season 5 will premiere on CMT on Thursday, Jan. 5, at 9 p.m. EDT. This contradicts reports about a December premiere date. Star Charles Esten previously hinted at a 2015 release, but execs likely wanted to avoid putting it on holiday hiatus so soon after the premiere. CMT is making up for the long wait with an extended episode. The network announced that fans can expect Season 5, episode 1 to be two hours.

There could be even more for “Nashville” fans to watch. TVLine reports that the network is considering an after show, but no official plans have been made yet.

The Season 5 premiere date reveals that the drama’s new network has chosen a new night and time. Longtime Nashies know that the show always occupied the 10 p.m. EDT slot on Wednesdays, but it looks like that’s one of many changes that have been made since ABC canceled the show and CMT renewed it.

Entertainment Weekly reports that Connie Britton, who plays Rayna Jaymes, is only signed on for 10 episodes right now. CMT is trying to get her to sign on for the full 22, but if she doesn’t, viewers could be seeing a lot less Rayna in 2017. Will Chase, who played Luke Wheeler, and Aubrey Peeples, who played Layla, will not return for the fifth year.

Hayden Panettiere, however, has signed on for the full season. That’s good news since her character Juliette was left in trouble. In the Season 4 finale cliffhanger, her plane went missing after ditching the Academy Awards. If she’s in 22 episodes, it seems like she survived the incident.

Those looking to catch up on “Nashville” can do so online via Hulu or on TV via AXS TV. The latter announced that reruns of Season 4 will start Saturday, Oct. 1, at 9 p.m. EDT.

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