Shameless ' 11th and Final Season Premiere Date Is Revealed
Brian Bowen Smith/SHOWTIME
Shameless fans, mark your calendars!
On Tuesday, Showtime announced the premiere date for the show's 11th and final season: It will return on Sunday, Dec. 6, at 9 p.m. ET.
The Paul Abbott-created series, which first premiered in winter 2011 and is an adaptation of a British show, is Showtime's longest-running show and no. 1 comedy. Its upcoming premiere comes almost a year after the season 10 finale aired on Jan. 26.
It stars William H. Macy, Jeremy Allen White, Shanola Hampton, Ethan Cutkosky, Steve Howey, Emma Kenney, Noel Fisher, Kate Miner, Cameron Monaghan and Christian Isaiah.
When season 11 returns, viewers will find the "Gallagher family and the South Side at a crossroads, with changes caused by the COVID pandemic, gentrification and aging to reconcile," according to a press release. "As Frank (Macy) confronts his own mortality and family ties in his alcoholic and drug induced twilight years, Lip (White) struggles with the prospect of becoming the family’s new patriarch."
"Newlyweds Ian (Monaghan) and Mickey (Fisher) are figuring out the rules and responsibilities of being in a committed relationship while Deb (Kenney) embraces her individuality and single motherhood. Carl (Cutkosky) finds an unlikely new career in law enforcement and Kevin (Steve Howey) and V (Hampton) struggle to decide whether a hard life on the South Side is worth fighting for," it continues.
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News of the show's final season was announced in January, which came almost a year and a half after Emmy Rossum, who starred as Fiona Gallagher, announced her departure after nine seasons.
“It’s hard thing to put into words, feelings,” she wrote in a lengthy Facebook post at the time. “But I’m going to try. This business is always an adventure, full of travel and opportunities to tell stories. Usually as an actor, every few months, you travel to a new place, start a new project, build a new character, learn new rhythms, new inside jokes with your crew, make new friends.”
“Until ‘Shameless’ came into my life 8 years ago, I led that kind of transient wonderful life of an actor. And I never realized how much I actually craved the kind of continuity that this show has given me. And given all of us in the crew. Season after season I’m amazed that our same crew comes back. And it’s not just because it’s a wonderfully written, wonderfully layered show. There are these real connections, real friendships that bring us back season after season after season,” she added. “See, in real life, unlike Fiona, I’m an only child. I never had a big family. Being ensconced in that messy Gallagher family love is something I’d always dreamed of. But even off set, it feels real. We’ve watched the kids grow up into the strong, talented, independent human beings that they are.”
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In 2016, Rossum, 34, made headlines when she refused to sign on for the Showtime drama’s eighth season unless she was offered more than Macy, 70, to make up for the seven years she was paid significantly less. Days later, the Golden Globe-nominated actress and Warner Bros. came to terms on a new contract.
As to whether Rossum will return for the series finale?
“I’ll certainly ask her,” showrunner John Wells told Entertainment Weekly in January. “She’s very busy and she does a lot of other things. We all love each other and we’ve been through wonderful things together, so I’ll ask her and hopefully, she’ll be available at the time that we do it.”
“But we’re so far from knowing what that would be and when that would be, and she’s just started on her new project for the Peacock, Angelyne, so I’m going to leave her to that for quite some time … until I start bugging her.”
