Callie Khouri is hopeful ‘Nashville’ will return

Rumors are brewing that the season finale of ABC’s steamy, boot-tapping “Nashville,” which airs May 22, will see two characters killed off. And the deaths will be for real -- no missing bodies or mistaken identities.

We tagged along with show creator Callie Khouri two weeks ago to East Nashville, where she was directing the finale -- her TV directing debut. We did see spoilers, which we won’t reveal here, but suffice it to say the scene we watched was a tear-jerker. Khouri wouldn’t reveal who gets killed off, or if it’s even true that someone will die. All she’ll say is: “You’ll have to tune in to find out.”

She did, however, call the finale a “huge episode. All these story lines coming together!”

Khouri says she’s hopeful the show will get renewed for a second season -- in fact, most of our on-set sources say they feel confident -- but, Khouri says, “you never know.”

Still, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of “Thelma & Louise” -- who also wrote the “Nashville” pilot -- is laying the groundwork, via cliffhangers in the finale, for a second season.

And why not? Production schedules for TV may be “way faster than features,” she says, but it’s also “so much fun. If you’re even the slightest bit ADD, it’s the perfect job.”

ABC will announce its 2013-14 lineup May 14 at upfronts in New York, at which point we’ll know for sure if there will be more rhinestone-studded, backstage catfights and honeyed duets at the Bluebird cafe to come on “Nashville.”

Also coming in Saturday’s Los Angeles Times: Deborah Vankin’s longer feature on Callie Khouri and the women of “Nashville.” No spoilers. But we promise: lots of color from the set of Khouri in action.

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