ABC/Mark LevineIt was the Nashville twist we all saw coming, and yet couldn't help gasping over when we found out anyway: Juliette Barnes is pregnant!
After Nashville star Hayden Panettiere revealed that she was expecting her first child with her fiancé Wladimir Klitschko in June, fans of the ABC soap wondered how the show would handle with her real-life pregnancy. Would the show hide her growing baby bump with creatively placed objects, oversized coats and strategic camera angles? Or would the writers use Panettiere's real-life joyous occasion to add more onscreen drama to Juliette's already crazy life?
E! News exclusively revealed last month that Nashville was going with the latter option, and we saw the beginning of that storyline play out in the season three premiere on Wednesday night.
The premiere picked up the morning right after the finale ended, with Juliette literally sick to her stomach over her heartbreaking breakup with Avery (Jonathan Jackson). She refused to let their relationship die so easily, though, so she marched right into Avery's apartment at six in the morning to try and talk things out. (Of course, Avery had been partaking in our personal favorite breakup activity: drinking until you pass out. So he wasn't really all that happy to talk about their relationship with a massive hangover.)
Avery had no patience (or enough caffeine in his system) to deal with a crying Juliette, so he dropped this verbal truth bomb on her: "I'm not trying to be mean, but right now I can't stand the sight of you." Ouch.
This sent Juliette into a complete emotional tailspin right before her big audition for the Patsy Cline biopic that every star in town was clamoring for. She sobbed her way through her audition (but hey, she sounded great!), and when she got home she hacked off her hair with kitchen scissors, Britney Spears-style. Not going to lie, that was a rough scene to watch, as Juliette just kept repeating over and over again, "You're a stupid, stupid girl." Oh honey.
But when her manager got the call letting him know Juliette landed the part—the producers loved the "emotional depth" she brought to the role, go figure—she turned that frown upside down. After a hairstylist made a house call to fix her 'do and a doctor swung by to diagnose her with whatever was making her feel sick, she was ready to take on the world...
...until the doctor pulled her aside to reveal that she actually wasn't sick at all. She's pregnant!
Obviously a bun in Juliette's oven is going to turn her professional and personal life totally upside down, but now the biggest question is: Who's the father? Is it Avery (like she's hoping), or that scumbag Jeff Fordham (Oliver Hudson)?
Our money's on Jeff, because let's be real: Juliette's never had it easy before. Why should she start now?
Are you excited to see how Juliette's pregnancy is going to play out on Nashville? Who do you think is going to be revealed as the father?
Nashville airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on ABC.