"CMT heard the fans. The wave of love and appreciation they have unleashed for Nashville has been overwhelming," said CMT President Brian Philips

The fans have spoken: Nashville will live on!

CMT officially added season 5 of Nashville to their broadcast network and Hulu on Thursday – just under a month after its abrupt cancellation in May.

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“CMT heard the fans. The wave of love and appreciation they have unleashed for Nashville has been overwhelming,” said CMT President Brian Philips in a statement. “Nashville is a perfect addition to our evolving lineup of big music specials, documentaries, and original series. We see our fans and ourselves in this show and we will treasure it like no other network. Nashville belongs on CMT.”

Craig Erwich, Hulu’s Senior Vice President and Head of Content, added, “Nashville has long been a fan-favorite show on Hulu and we are so proud to continue to make new episodes available for fans to stream the day after they air. We look forward to bringing even more episodes of this acclaimed series to its passionate and devoted audience.”

Fans are surely breathing a sigh of relief after the season 4’s finale left a few loose ends that need to be tied up, including whether Hayden Panettiere‘s character, Juliette Barnes, will return to Music City.

One of Nashville‘s stars Charles Esten, who plays Deacon Claybourne, shared new details regarding the show’s return.

“We actually have a whole new writing staff that is something that happened near the very end of this last season before ABC made their decision,” he told SiriusXM The Highway’s Jessica Wade on Friday. “We have new showrunners and a new writing staff and they are absolutely going to be hitting it hard and quick, I have no idea of the schedule but I know they have a lot of great ideas up their sleeve and places to take these characters, I can’t wait to find out where they are.”

Another performer who confirmed he would be set to return is star Chris Carmack.

“I would love to come back as Will Lexington, or rather pick up where we left off,” he told PEOPLE on Thursday before the CMT pickup became official.

After describing the show’s ABC finale “bittersweet” and his openly gay character “inspirational,” the 35-year-old singer-songwriter said that “this job was far and away the most special job that I’ve had in my career. I’ve made very close friends, we’ve had incredible adventures and journeys, we’ve gone on tours across the United States with the music. I’m playing at the Grand Ole Opry this Saturday, and I’ve had the honor and pleasure to play there many times in the past. It’s been an incredible journey, so saying goodbye to it is gonna be hard.”

And, indeed, now Carmack will be saying hello as Nashville finds its new home on CMT later this year.