You didn’t think Will Lexington’s coming out at the end of Nashville last season would end with the sexy country singer living happily ever after, did you?

When the new season premieres tonight on ABC, it’s been a month since Will (Chris Carmack) revealed publicly he was gay, and the poor guy’s feeling blue.

After the brouhaha of his coming out, he’s been yanked from touring with megastar Luke Wheeler (Will Chase), nixed from doing press and basically laying low until things calm down.

And what about Kevin, Will’s songwriter boyfriend? The good news is they’re still together but, alas, things are not perfect.

“I think Kevin is being as supportive as he can [and] trying to lovingly nudge Will to come out of his depression," Kyle Dean Massey, who plays Kevin, told NewNowNext. "But at the same time I think he’s being sensitive to what [Will has] gone through and how it affects him.”

The out Broadway performer added, “I think it’s just the continuation of what happens when you are a country star and you come out. The repercussions of that... affect everything.”

When asked if the Will-Kevin relationship will stay solid, though, viewers know not to hold our breaths.

“This is Nashville, so no one wants to watch things that are happy or without conflict,” Massey said with a laugh.

One other noticeable change in the new season is that depressed Will grew more than a little facial hair.

“Chris described it as a ‘glorious beard’ or something like that," Massey revealed with a chuckle. "He looked like a mountain man.”

Massey, who has appeared on Broadway in Wicked, Pippin and Next To Normal, hopes Will’s story will help real-life country stars staying in the closet for fear of how the conservative community might handle it.

“That’s the power of television—that it reaches so many people,” he explained. “It has the power to change people’s ideas and perceptions of what a country artist is. Just like how I believe gay people on TV in the past made an impact on society at large and their acceptance of gay people in general.”

The Arkansas native said he's only gotten positive response about his role on the ABC hit, save for a few negative tweets. “They’re so ridiculous that I just laugh at them,” Massey told us.

While he's spending a lot of time in Nashville these days, he’s also keeping busy performing live: His cabaret show comes to San Francisco next week at Feinstein’s at the Nikko, followed by some dates at the Copa in Palm Springs.

Will he stay in character and sing country?

“If I have any kind of recognition it’s from Broadway so I’m going to be doing a lot of Broadway music. But I’m also going to sing some country music and some other favorite songs of mine.”

Nashville airs Wednesdays at 10pm on ABC. For more on Kyle Dean Massey, visit his website