Nashville wraps final season with major cliffhanger as Hayden Panettiere goes missing after plane crash

Nashville finished its fourth and final season with a huge cliffhanger as star singer Juliette Barnes was seemingly involved in a plane crash.

ABC cancelled the show on May 12 but producers Lionsgate Television have hinted that it may live on elsewhere.

If the episode titled Maybe You'll Appreciate Me Someday was indeed the end for the country-music soap then fans may never know what happened to country pop singer Juliette, played by Hayden Panettiere.

Series finale: Hayden Panettiere is shown as pop country singer Juliette Barnes in the series finale of Nashville on Wednesday on ABC

The show ended as her ex-husband Avery Barkley received news that the airport had lost contact with her jet 90 miles outside of Nashville as she flew home to be reunited with him.

Elsewhere there were happy endings for Gunnar and Scarlett who rekindled their love affair and Rayna, who was reunited with estranged daughter Maddie after she was rescued from the clutches of a sexual predator producer.

The show kicked off with Avery deciding that he wanted to take his daughter to Los Angeles to be supportive of ex-wife Juliette and denied to Layla that she still wanted to control him.

Scarlett finally came to terms with her feelings for Gunnar and decided to tell him that she was in love with him when he arrived for their show.

So close: Avery Barkley at the end of the show learned that Juliette's plane went missing just 90 miles outside of Nashville as she flew home to be reunited with him

But with typically poor timing between the pair Autumn Chase arrived and made it clear to Scarlett that she and Gunnar were now together.

Rayna then discovered that daughter Maddie, who was in New York recording, would be working with producer Vince Pierce, much to her horror.

'This guy is the worst, when I was Maddie's age he practically tried to force himself on me,' she said.

The worst: Rayna James learned that her daughter Maddie was going to work with sleazy producer Vince Pierece

Rayna recounted her sleazy experiences with Vince by admitting he pulled her onto a couch after a night recording.

'I told my manager and he said ''That's what happens hon. And nothing really happened, right?' she recalled, noting that she fired her manager.

Rayna insisted there was no way she could let Maddie work with Pierce and vowed to stop it.

Tough time: Juliette was still dealing from the fall out of Jeff Fordham's death and was sued by his sister

Juliette continued to deal with the fallout from Jeff Fordham's death, as she was sued by his sister for wrongful death.

She was confronted by a cameraman who knew that she had been on the roof the night Jeff fell to his death.

Juliette explained to Glenn what had happened and they tried to work out how it had been leaked to the press.

Trusted advisor: Glenn helped Juliette navigate the press

Avery insisted that it must be gossip and that he needed proof of her involvement before he would take any action.

Layla then contacted Jeff's sister and told her that he needed to talk to Colt, who had seen the whole thing go down.

Will Lexington then decided to fight back against Cynthia Davis and her constant attacks on his sexuality.

Fighting back: Cynthia Davis kept up her media campaign against Will Lexington

When she refused to have him on her show and bashed him for spreading a 'gay agenda' Will organized a protest and played a concert right outside her studios.

The stunt was enough to get Will an invite onto the show.

In New York, Vince invited Maddie and her friend to his home studio in Williamsburg as Rayna tried to get in touch with her daughter and get her away from the 'inappropriate' producer.

Free concert: Will got Cynthia's attention with a concert outside her studios

An angry Rayna was denied a phone number by a female record executive and was prevented from contacting her daughter.

'I am going to go old school and write a letter,' said Rayna.

Gunnar then confronted Scarlett to ask her if she was emotionally manipulating him and she urged him to forget what she had said and the pair decided to break-up their band.

Good point: Cynthia was told by Will that she was just scared

Glenn then put two and two together and confronted Layla for leaking news of Juliette before he dropped her.

'Whatever, I already have everything I need,' she told him.

Rayna's powerful letter about being made to feel 'vulnerable and ashamed' as a young artist was sent out to the media for publication.

Found out: Layla was confronted about leaking the news of Juliette

Layla told Avery that she had fired Glenn, but he confronted her about her 'sick game' and accused her of lying to him about Juliette.

Layla admitted she had wanted to hurt Juliette by being with Avery and tried to convince him that her feelings were genuine as he realized she was behind the leaking of the story.

'You are crazy and we are done,' he told her as he walked out.

Walked out: Avery walked out on Layla after learning of her deceit

Juliette's PR team continued to try and cover up Juliette being on the roof when Jeff fell to his death and even suggested paying off his sister.

But Juliette decided to come clean and wanted to speak to the press about how she had been trying to commit suicide and how Jeff had been a hero who had saved her life.

'I am a horrible person and these people worship me because they don't know that,' said Juliette before arriving at the Oscars.

Awards show: Juliette felt bad about herself while arriving at the Oscars

She then gave a tell-all TV interview and admitted she had not called the police because she was high on drugs and alcohol and had not remembered what happened.

Scarlett then again confronted Gunnar and retold him how she loved him and that 'scared the hell' out of her and he demanded to know how he could be sure she would not change her mind.

The pair took to the stage for one last show together, during which they reached out to each other and kissed passionately.

Coming clean: The country star came clean in a tell-all interview

While Rayna played a show, Maddie found the letter her mother had published that urged young women not to be tricked or pressured into a sexual situation by people they thought they could trust.

Maddie then told Vince she wanted to leave and had never been interested in him as he grabbed her arm and stopped her leaving.

Deacon arrived just in time to rescue his daughter and get her out of Pierce's clutches.

Sleazy producer: Vince of course made a move on Maddie

Sleazy producer: Gunnar and Scarlett finally got together

Happy family: Rayna was glad to be reunited with her family

Juliette then took a call from Avery and she told him that her problems were not his fault.

'It is time for me to take responsibility and if that means losing everything then so be it,' she told her ex-husband who urged her to return to Nashville to be with them.

So she skipped the Oscars and got on her private jet.

'I had somewhere more important to be,' she said before the jet disappeared evoking remembrances of The Day The Music Died.

Skipped it: Juliette at the last moment decided to skip the Oscars and fly back to Nashville