Who Will Juliette End Up With On 'Nashville'? The Series Finale Doesn't Leave Many Options

Season 4 will be Nashville's last, unless its production company Lionsgate manages to shop it out to another network for a fifth season. And considering the cancellation was announced after the Season 4 finale had already been shot, it's possible the ending will not give fans all the closure they were hoping for. One of the loose ends we aren't hearing much about is Juliette's fate. Who will Juliette end up with on Nashville?

Her return this season after a stint in treatment for postpartum depression (both on the show and in real life for Hayden Panettiere) showed us a gentler, more vulnerable Juliette. With her ability to be more truthful about her emotions and in her motivations, the season seemed to be driving towards her and Avery finally getting back together. She experienced a deep longing to be back with her family, and, in spite of an attempted romance with her Shenandoah Girl co-star Noah West, it seems like Juliette only wants Avery.

Avery is trying to move on, too, via a fling with Layla Grant, but his heart doesn't seem to be in it either. The problem with a potential relationship with Juliette, though, is Avery's intense (and totally valid) trust issues. Juliette failed him and her daughter in some pretty fundamental ways, and even though she's trying her best to recover, that trust still needs to be rebuilt.

In a recent interview with TVLine, Jonathan Jackson said of his character:

"I don’t think he’s ever loved anyone as much as he loved her, so even though they’re not together at the moment, Avery deeply loves her. It’s just one of those things that no matter what happens, when they’re in the room together, they both feel that connection and it’s a really painful thing, but there are a lot of deep trust issues there. So he’s trying to get his life back together and move on, and yet he’s still constantly feeling that tension and that pull towards her."

The other option, of course, is that Juliette may end up alone at the end of the series. And truthfully, would that be so bad? Some relationship mistakes are so painful that not even complete honesty can fix them. It's possible that Avery, while he can successfully coparent with Juliette and remain friends, will never be able to trust Juliette again as a partner. It would be heartbreaking for Juliette to endure, sure. But relationship grief like that can be really motivating — it can serve as a reminder to never behave in the same way, or make the same mistakes, ever again to avoid repeating the same painful breakup.

It seems like Juliette has genuinely learned emotional honesty from her time in treatment, and her frequent therapy scenes show that she's committed to self-care. It's a tough pill to swallow, but maybe Juliette's best ending is to learn from the worst heartbreak of her life, and start on a new journey towards being her more authentic self.