Through his late wife Monica Gallagher, he was the father of their five children (and other main characters) Fiona Gallagher, Lip Gallagher, Debbie Gallagher, Carl Gallagher, and Liam Gallagher until his death in the series finale. Under the old limits, he was not . Youre going to have fun arguing about it or thinking about it, but it is for you to fill in the rest of the story for the Gallaghers, with the exception of Frank. Lip's story has been compelling, heartbreaking, and wholly frustrating. However, the reason that Emmy Rossum couldn't come back for the finale was the same reason that Frank Gallagher died: the COVID-19 pandemic. For his part, William H. Macy was understandably emotional when Shameless was over, and took to Twitter to reach out to fans when the final episode aired, citing the finale of Shameless and the death of Frank Gallagher as a watershed event. Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) the king? After nine seasons of listening to Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) deliver one of the most long-winded stories in the world on the CBS sitcom, detailing how he met the mother of his children, fans were understandably horrified by the tossed-off way it was revealed that she'd been dead all along and Ted was, in fact, seeking his kid's permission to pursue their aunt Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders). You can follow her on Twitter @HSW3K, Shameless: How Old The Characters Are At The Beginning And End Of The Show, Debbie Gallagher questioning her decision, Carl's cop (and ironically best) storyline, Succession Season 4 Episode 6 Recap: 6 Biggest Story Reveals & WayStar Twists, "I Was Completely Surprised": Big Bang Theory Star Breaks Silence On New Spinoff, Monster Season 2: Netflix & Ryan Murphy Choose Next Subject After Dahmer Success. You really dont get to connect. April 11 2021, 6:59 PM PDT. Trisha Faulkner has been a freelance writer for a decade with a focus on news/reporting for the last three years. Outside of work, V entered the world of politics with hopes of motivating Black voters to fight against gentrification and rising rents at the polls - only to discover that many of the neighborhood's Black residents had already moved away. Moreover, he just didnt want the series to go out on a very sentimental and emotional note when it came to his children. There was a purpose behind it. We originally intended to get a little farther in the story and have Carl buy the bar from Kev and V and turn it into a cop bar and have Debbie work behind the counter. The question of fatherhood is a lot more difficult in the context of their continuing story, though. Ian also tells Lip that the rest of the Gallaghers see him as the closest thing they have to a dad and offers to let Lip take his cut of the house sale in order to get set up in his new life with Tami. TVLINE | Do you have a favorite moment from the finale, something that really stands out for you? You never know when youre trying to shoot things like having the main character die and float up into the air whether itll work, but its all Shameless. Vlada Gelman / Frank can still make you smile even as hes dying. After being hospitalised for (yet another) overdose, Frank Gallagher is diagnosed with Covid-19 and after experiencing the worst symptoms, passes away. So I have nothing but appreciation for all of the things they did for us, but I could have kept doing it. If a spinoff is ever on the table, there are plenty of options to pick the story back up with anyone except Frank. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us. Shameless is obviously outrageously exaggerated, but we tried to ground it in a real world in which you felt like if you turned the right corner of Chicago, you could run across some Gallaghers and their whole world. Millions of people have been going through this experience this past year. The party made its way outside, the gang singing Spoons The Way We Get By as an expensive car went up in flames. We never fleshed it all out. CAMDEN, N.J. No one thought Frank Talarico Jr. was going to live. COVID-19 played a major role on the final season of Shameless, both onscreen and off-screenserving as the primary reason that Emmy Rossum, who starred as Fiona Gallagher on the series for nine. Related: Shameless: How Old The Characters Are At The Beginning And End Of The Show. InShamelessSeason 11 Episode 11, Franks son Liam (Christian Isaiah) is tasked with taking care of him. While Franks story came to a close, the rest of the characters futures were up in the air at end of the finale: Lip was contemplating a (much lower) offer on the house; Tami was possibly pregnant; Ian reassured Mickey that he would be a good father, so kids might soon be in the cards for them; Carl expressed an interest in buying Kev and Vs bar; and Debbies new convict girlfriend invited Debs to come with her to Texas. Entertainment Television, LLC A Division of NBCUniversal. We all want a place to go home to where we know everybody has our back. Here's what happened to Frank Gallagher and his kids in the end. All articles, images, product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners. I just think its true to life, and just as a viewer, I always feel that I like that feeling. Just walking away from the ER [on ER], or theres a new administration starting in Washington when Bartlets flying off and Santos was going to be president [on The West Wing]. And, it was one he stood by. Although Fiona may not have returned for the finale, Frank's final stumbling journey through Chicago was nevertheless a tribute to her memory. Yet, at the end of the series, Ian and Mickey seem to be closest to a secure and settled life. Yes, absolutely. It's unclear as to whether he dies from his alcoholic dementia, from COVID-19 complications, or as a result of his recent overdose. Eventually, in his dream (or maybe as a spirit), he floated up on his barstool above his family. Many wonderful novels end and youre still thinking about the characters and what they do. But she would have a life and be pursuing her own things. WARNING: Spoilers for the Shameless series finale are ahead! Unlike Ian, she was unable to get on a consistent medication schedule, and as such, ended up being largely absent from her children's lives as she flitted from one adventure to the next. What's more, Tami reveals that she may be pregnant again, and she and Lip discuss the necessity of getting an abortion since they can barely support the child they already have. In what world?! All rights reserved. Bill [Macy] and I had always made deal that there would have to be consequences for all of Franks abuse to his body, between the drugs and alcohol. Frank is (despite appearances) Liam's biological father, and Liam defaulted to him in his search for a parent figure since Frank is technically his father even if he has no other qualifications. "I think she's down in Florida. "You remind me of your mother, and not in a good way," he says ominously. ", Wells noted that, to him, "not being able to work that out"was the "biggest disappointment" of the series finale because "we all wanted it to happen." Not only does this most likely mean that this is the last that fans will ever see the Gallagher family (unless a spinoff unexpectedly comes to fruition), it most certainly will be the last that fans will see of Frank Gallagher, as the patriarch of the family died during the finale. However, old footage of her wasincluded inshort family flashbacksexperienced by Frank. They round out the celebrations by singing Spoon's "The Way We Get By," which played at the end of the pilot episode. Find out more about how we use your personal data in our privacy policy and cookie policy. Were so invested as writers and audience members in their lives that you want to fill in some blanks and not run the American Graffiti end crawl. In Shameless, Frank encounters many near-misses with death, and fans didn't expect the season finale. Shameless may be over, but it ended on a fittingly dramatic note. Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) embraces a new position in the police department that will allow him to stay true to himself. Not applicable Download Map Data Globally, as of 12:37am CEST, 26 April 2023, there have been 763,740,140 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 6,908,554 deaths, reported to WHO. From the outside, the ending of Lip's story in Shameless might not look like a success, but his final conversation with Ian pushes aside his relentless string of bad luck and bad decisions to assuredly point out everything good that Lip has done. I would have been interested in seeing the plight of this family without Frank and all that he brings hovering over their heads. Then he pledges to use his position to help the poorest in his neighborhood and hold the wealthy to account but is quickly slapped down for trying to rock the boat. ", "We were trying to get Emmy --and Emmy wanted to come backWe wanted her to return and had some storylines about her coming back and she wanted to do it," he said. When the show was revived in 2018 after 21 years, it forgot all about its controversial ending. Although it was a very Frank way to die, fans still werent sure if the Shameless series finale meant the Gallagher patriarch was actually dead. If we never tell another story with them, I think we did a lot that Im proud of and that were all proud of. Because it was so hard to work out, we never got to the point [of] actually writing it and then having to ditch it, but that was the intent. Proceed at your own risk! They agreed, It would be unrealistic to not have anybody in this community actually suffer severe consequences of the pandemic. And Frank seemed like the logical choice. Rossum left the show in 2018 after nine seasons. All Rights Reserved. Five simple words are all we need to explain why this iconic CW drama's finale missed the mark: Dan Humphrey was Gossip Girl. In her spare time, she enjoys raising awareness about autism and spending time with her two children. Shameless was never intended as an instruction manual on how to escape poverty, however. We hit the second or third time everything shut down with two-week quarantines. John Wells reveals he lost a very close family member to COVID-19. In the penultimate episode of Shameless, Ian and Mickey agree to a compromise between trying to have a better life and staying true to their South Side heritage, with a prime example being that Mickey is allowed to pee in the pool but isn't allowed to steal from their neighbors. We put it up on the writers room board and then took it down a few times. It was his own personal experience that catapulted the inspiration for Frank Gallagher's death. To make you appalled and make you smile at the same time. Ultimately, Franks (William H. Macy) past catches up with him as a combination of COVID-19 and the effects of alcoholic dementia prove to be more than he can handle and the character dies alone in a hospital. Showtime felt that Shameless had run its course with 11 seasons and that it was best to end on a high note. [Debbie is] crazy, genuinely out of her mind. The patriarch of the Gallagher clan even goes as far as to get "DO NOT RESUSCITATE" tattooed in bold letters on his chest, leading to confusion among the hospital staff about whether the instructions are legally binding. This video is unavailable because we were unable to load a message from our sponsors. Theyre just hilarious. So we were trying to balance some humor with character work with heartwarming [scenes], seeing all the family together again just like they were in the pilot episode that we shot 11 years ago. He eventually returned positive for COVID-19 and died in the ER after the nurses and doctors discovered the "DNR" instruction on his chest. Talk to me about what you wanted to convey in that final moment. But I dont know. Original star Rossum departed Shameless in season nine, with barely a mention of her character since. The Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. Share your thoughts with us in the comments. The characters of Shameless have been fighting a losing battle against the South Side's gentrification for years, and Kevin and Veronica are two such personas that hold out until the end. At least that means William H. Macy will get a break, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. TVLINE | The final image of a show is so important, and you get a couple different ones because you have the montage with the family singing, you have Frank floating up, you have his letter being read out loud. By the end of the show, his estimation of her has changed. What If a Whole Stand-up Special Were About Peanut Butter? The travel was such a mess that we never got to the point of my actually writing it. Turns out, Frank Gallagher dying alone in the hospital was very much intentional. And even Frank feels that. She lives in New York with her husband, and we managed to time it just at the wrong time, unfortunately. While Fiona was shown in flashbacks during all the Frank Gallagher series finale moments, it was still weird not having her around. Created by John Wells, the Showtime series debuted in 2011, following the Gallagher clan growing up (more or less) into responsible adults with jobs, families, and extensive criminal records of their own. We were writing about a community that would be really impacted, economically and health-wise, by the pandemic. Frank, who has the idea the piece is about him, feeds him some seemingly bogus facts about his family's history, including, outrageously, that he was part of the "Chicago 8," and that the. Shes that person in your family who, like, just does that. Not saying we should start prepping but we should start prepping. A minor inconvenience given the major tragedy of the pandemic, but sad for all of us, nonetheless. It was, uh, a choice. The episode followed immediately on the penultimate episode's final moments, with Frank (William H. Macy) having overdosed on the family sofa and not one member of the household even slightly. The comedian Gallagher, best known for smashing watermelons with a sledgehammer, has. The idea was with Franks dementia being discovered, theres a call and she 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. Despite being treated terribly by Terry, Mickey went out of his way to make sure his father was cared for after being paralyzed and mourned him after he was dead. As the COVID-19 Asymptomatic Testing Program Coordinator, I work closely with the University's Health Services department and other stakeholders to provide ongoing COVID-19 testing to nearly . Frank gets a suitably undignified end as a pair of morgue attendants push his body into the cremation chamber while complaining about the smell. Former Braves baseball player and Hall of Famer Hank Aaron died Jan. 22, almost three weeks after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination. After 134 episodes, the Shameless series finale left troublemaking patriarch Frank Gallagher dying in a hospital from the virus he called a hoax in a previous episode. ", 'Shameless' Cast Shares Their Goodbyes Amid Series Finale, 'Shameless': Shanola Hampton on Saying Goodbye After 11 Seasons, By signing up, you agree to our This password will be used to sign into all, a Vulture news blogger covering TV, movies and music, AI Singers Are Unnervingly Good and Already Ubiquitous, Liveblogging the 2023 Met Gala Red Carpet. Ive been involved in a number of long-running shows. The showrunner and executive producer John Wells weighed in on the plans for Franks ending. Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day, Inside the business of TV with breaking news, expert analysis and showrunner interviews. Resigned to death and wanting to go out on his own terms, the ridiculous Frank Gallagher injects himself with a massive overdose of heroin in the penultimate episode of the series, leaving a letter for his family that goes unnoticed by everyone except Franny, who simply draws all over it with her crayons. Showrunner John Wells admitted to being disappointed by this decision, but he's also touchingly affirmed that Shameless will never really end: "It's a family, and the thing that has worked best about the show beyond being able to satirize things and have some laughs and have some dramatic moments is that these people care about each other and depend upon each other. Oh, itd be a bunch of them. You really dont get to connect. Privacy Policy and There were a lot of stories we could have continued to tell. Yellowjackets' Tawny Cypress Talks Episode 4's Tai/Van Reunion: 'We're All Worried About Taissa' This vacuum may have been why Liam ended up getting closer to Frank in the final season of Shameless. If the rest of the year keeps up at this pace, podcasting will be in a good creative place. So they bring out all of his medical records, they talk about how terrible his health is, and then in the little tag, he has so much alcohol in his body that he blows up the crematorium. In my mind, Lip gets a motorcycle shop and settles in and loses the neighborhood and becomes the new patriarch for that crazy family. [Featured Image: Paul Sarkis/SHOWTIME for PRESS USE], Tags: Frank Gallagher, John Wells, Shameless, Showtime, William H. Macy, Your email address will not be published. Honestly, probably not too long ago, maybe after Christmas. It's fitting that Shameless ended on such a Frank-centric note. Yeah, and she very much wanted to [come back], and we worked and worked on it. As for what Rossum's return would've looked like, Wells said he and the other writers "had about 20" ideas to get her back onscreen. Frank Gallagher is loyal to no-one like he is to illegal substances. In your mind, do you know how it ends for these characters? If you do not want us and our partners to use cookies and personal data for these additional purposes, click 'Reject all'. I think shes down in Florida. The idea that they were all going to be teary around trying to figure out what to do with Franks ashes didnt feel very Shameless-ly to me. Keep reading, well explain. The U.S. Centers for . And just like that, Frank Gallagherhas shamelessly risen above it all. I like keeping it with the audiences imagination of who would react and how when they finally discover that hes gone.. The reality in that family and in many families is that the older siblings end up being the ones who are the mom and the dad when the mom and the dad arent really capable of being adults. And NO. Knowing you didnt want to end Shameless, do you have any desire to do a spinoff? The first place Frank visits is Patsy's Pies, the diner where Emmy Rossum's Fiona used to work, and, with his memory failing, his first instinct is to seek out Fiona. 2023 E! Ian (Cameron Monaghan) and Mickey (Noel Fisher) accept theirnew yuppie lifestyle. In Shameless season 11, Debbie shows warning signs of being a similarly poor mother to Franny leaving her alone without any confirmed childcare to go off on a drink and drugs binge, and starting a relationship with Heidi, a violent ex-con who greeted Debbie by pointing a gun and threatening to shoot her daughter if she didn't cooperate. We thought we were kind of doing a little bit of all the above. After the long ride this character had, did he really deserve to be all alone on his death bed? She enjoys writing about the Showtime series Shameless, CBSs Survivor, Netflix, TOWIE, and some entertainment/celebrity news. How to Watch King Charles' Coronation Live in the U.S. Save Up to 70% on Rugs for Every Room at Wayfair's Sale, 'Shameless': Watch Emmy Rossum Slay in This Season 9 Deleted Scene (Exclusive). After 11 seasons and 134 episodes, Showtimes Shameless wrapped its run Sunday with a series finale that was directly impacted by the global coronavirus pandemic in two key ways. Gallagher had numerous heart attacks over the years, including one right before a scheduled show in Texas in 2012. No, not really. You cant be wrong about what you think happens next. That hasn't stopped people from linking his death to the Covid-19 vaccine. The finale doesnt offer any resolution about whether Lip sold the house, what happened with Debs (Emma Kenney) and Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) and Liam (Christian Isaiah) or if Kev and Vee sell the Alibi and move to Louisville. As Frank puts it in his farewell letter: "Good luck in life. Here's how Shameless ends for each of the Gallaghers and where they appear to be headed now Shameless is over.