Production for "Nashville" season 5 is already underway. The upcoming installment, the first to air on CMT after being canceled by ABC, is said to have "more diversity in the music."

TVLine released a behind-the-scenes look at the production of the fifth season of the musical drama series. Smiles were abound as cast members, old and new, joined together and shot episodes for the new season. The publication also spoke with new co-showrunner Marshall Herskovitz, who will be calling the shots with Ed Zwick.

Herskovitz spoke about the beauty and heart of the show, which is "the relationships and the love that these people have for each other, and to play out the depth and the complexity of the relationships instead of just feeling you needed to have incident piling on incident." This certainly was the case in previous seasons, as evidenced by some dramatic twists and events. However, it looks like the new season will be more character-driven and focused on developing character relationships.

The new season is also going to have more music. "First thing we mandated was shorter scripts, so there's time for the music to play out," Herskovitz shared. He explained that music is also significant to the show. And it's not all going to be country music. The upcoming season will also touch on a more diverse offering of music and explore other styles. And with these new styles comes the introduction of other stories, too.

Apart from that, season 5 is also going to introduce new characters. It was previously reported that Disney Channel alum Bridgit Mendler had been cast as Ashley Wilkenson. Ashley's fame was brought about via YouTube and the beautiful starlet is set to record her debut album. 

Jen Richards had also been tapped to play physical therapist Allyson Del Lago. She will be helping a main character, who is speculated to be Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere). Fans can recall that Juliette boarded a plane that subsequently disappeared. It has been rumored that the plane may have crash-landed and that Juliette may need a physical therapist after suffering injuries.

"Nashville" season 5 premieres on Jan. 5, Thursday, at 9 p.m. on CMT.