Emmy Rossum’s intended return for the Shameless series conclusion was ruined by the pandemic… after the actress left her series lead role in 2018
She was the main headliner of this series alongside Oscar nominee William H. Macy for a full nine seasons.
And in spite of her shock departure in 2018, the showrunners behind the Showtime series Shameless had always intended to bring star Emmy Rossum back for the end of the show – a plan that was unfortunately foiled by last year‘s onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
In a postmortem of the show’s Sunday night series finale published by The Hollywood Reporter, Shameless co-creator John Wells explained how the long-desired reunion between Emmy’s character Fiona and the rest of the Gallagher family became impossible due to travel schedules and planning that was complicated by COVID-19.
In spite of her departure in 2018: Emmy Rossum had always been intended to return for the end of Shameless – a plan that was foiled by last year‘s onset of the coronavirus pandemic
‘We were trying to get Emmy — and Emmy wanted to come back,’ Wells told the outlet.
‘We wanted her to return and had some storylines about her coming back and she wanted to do it.’
But as with most plans last year, things did not work out as intended.
In a postmortem of the show’s Sunday night series finale: Shameless co-creator John Wells explained how the long-desired reunion between Emmy’s character Fiona and the rest of the Gallagher family became impossible due to complications from COVID-19
‘We were trying to get Emmy — and Emmy wanted to come back,’ Wells said; seen in 2018
‘Based on what was going on with the pandemic, when we were planning it… the quarantines went back into effect between New York [where Emmy lives] and Los Angeles [where Shameless was being shot] and it was impossible to figure out how to get her back.’
Wells added that Emmy’s absence was ‘a very minor but sad result of everything that’s happened in the pandemic.’
Although the show beloved by audiences went on for two more seasons, concluding at the end of its 11th season on Sunday night, Emmy departed the series back in 2018 at the close of the show’s ninth season.
Shameless followed the exploits of the Gallagher family in Chicago, Illinois, whose patriarch is a bumbling and inept alcoholic named Frank (played by Macy).
Father and daughter leads: Emmy was the main headliner of the beloved series alongside Oscar nominee William H. Macy for a full nine seasons
Rossum’s Fiona was Frank’s eldest daughter and most able child, who became the de facto parental figure for her messy siblings before the actress quit the show.
Wells had several ideas for the finale of the series, not the least of which was having Frank finally come face to face with the cost of all of his irresponsible ways.
‘The idea was with Frank’s dementia being discovered, there’s a call and [Fiona] comes back to help everyone figure it out and that she would come back and be involved at the end with what to do with the house and all that,’ John said.
‘The travel was such a mess that we never got to the point of my actual writing it. We put it up on the writers’ room board and then took it down a few times.’
Volatile family: Rossum’s Fiona was inept alcoholic Frank’s eldest daughter and most able child, who became the de facto parental figure for her siblings before the actress quit the show
But nonetheless, Wells did share where he thought Fiona ended up at the show’s close.
‘I think she’s down in Florida. We joked in the room that she ended up getting a job at Disney World, probably in Epcot Center because she would never get a job on the better side.
‘We had a lot of jokes for her but we never actually nailed it down,’ he added. ‘But she would have a life and be pursuing her own things. That’s how people move on with their lives.’
‘The travel was such a mess that we never got to the point of my actual writing it,’ Wells said of Fiona’s would-be reunion with her TV family