Originally, we were thinking he would take his own life in an overdose. We wanted her to return and had some storylines about her coming back and she wanted to do it. Despite much hope among fans, Emmy Rossum, who left the show in season nine in 2019, did not return forthe finale to reprise her role of Fiona Gallagher. Covid-19 is a mild infection for eight out of 10 people who get it and the core symptoms are a fever and a cough. After waking from his overdose, the Gallagher patriarch eventually ended up in the hospital, where he died of COVID. See TV's most controversial series finales: The series ended its 11-season run on April 11, 2021. And then went out with a bang. I really didnt want to play the more sentimental version of them having to react to his death. The rest of the Gallagher kids, seemingly oblivious to the death of their dad, prepare to finally sell their longtime family home and start new, more independent lives. I was also interested in Arthur (guest star Josh Malina) and Carl running the Alibi, it could have been funny as a cop bar story. We have a massive legion of fans for Ian and Mickey (Noel Fisher), so seeing where their life goes. Frank has so many possible comorbidities Covid is just the thing that finally pushed him over the edge. Season 11 of the American show, Shameless, has just aired on Netflix, and fans of the show, who didnt watch the Showtime series live when it first aired, are wondering if the shows lead, Frank Gallagher, dies in the latest chapter. Frank "facing his mortality" seemingly clues audiences in that if Frank isn't quite dead by the end of Episode 11, he will be by the end of Episode 12. Shamelessis over but available for streaming on Showtime if you want to see for yourself how Frank dies. 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. Try and walk in other peoples shoes. Before he created Shameless, the long-running family drama that ended Sunday night on Showtime, John Wells was the showrunner of ER and later seasons of The West Wing, both on NBC. Offers may be subject to change without notice. #Shameless. There have been plenty of Covid-19 subplots on TV but I cant think of another lead character who actually died from it. You really dont get to connect. We could have used two more seasons to explore that. And NO. David Chase's game-changing HBO mob drama ushered in modern day's golden age of television. You rewrote the first half of the season after COVID hit. Then there was the Lip of it all. This was a series finale and Frank had come close to meeting his maker many times before, after all, and there were other stories to follow. It seemed unrealistic to do something about the south side of Chicago and people living barely above the poverty line and not have anybody succumb to this horrible pandemic.. We arrived at alcoholic dementia and had written more than half the season when we shut down., Showrunner John Wells spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the ways the pandemic changed the series finale and how travel challenges prevented one long-awaited reunion from happening https://t.co/SFV6EpPZoC. Having all these stories out there reminds people that the things that they might be ashamed of and feel need to be hidden, nah weve got to talk about it. Below, we break down the latest. It was, uh, a choice. Or was that a way to get Emmy Rossum back onscreen, even for a second? Thank you for 11 incredible seasons. "People say you can't drink your troubles away," Frank muses. Seeing Kevin and Vee in Louisville was a great window into a whole other world, too. Showrunner, John Wells, previously announced that they would have loved to welcome Fiona, and her actor Emmy Rossum, back into the narrative for the finale season if the pandemic didnt rear its ugly head. 1,110,364. 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. I lost a close family member who had been ill in December of COVID, despite following the COVID protocols. Frank Gallagher has lived through more than 10 seasons of Shameless as a drug-addicted miscreant who had no desire to ever turn his life around. The answer was only $75,000 (a far cry from the $200,000 he could have received from the developer), but Ian offered to give Lip his share if the deal closed. **Warning Spoilers ahead for Shameless**. Frank faces his mortality.". Could Carl from Shameless Secure a Spinoff Series? And then went out with a bang. The Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. In the post-credits, his body, saturated with ingested alcohol, is cremated, with explosive results. Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. No, and I watched them bulldoze the sets into a dumpster, so I dont think anybodys anticipating it, Wells told the outlet. However, she did tweet last week, "I'm so proud of this cast and am immensely honored to have been a part of a show as unique and impactful as Shameless. Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Season 11 of Shameless. Since the initial diagnosis, his health has only declined. Then, as he floated up out of the bar, over the streets below and eventually over the city itself, the remaining characters broke out into a rendition of The Way We Get By while a luxury car went up in flames. This is all most people will experience. Saved by the bell: Contestant ordered to keep mask on, in historic 'Masked Singer first, Chris Pine admits 'it does look' like Harry Styles spit on him but this is what actually happened, Rebel Wilson 'collapsed' after Ramona Agruma proposal: 'I was so overwhelmed', Amy Grant recalls being 'so scared' to return to touring following serious bike accident, Travis Scott being sought by NYPD after alleged nightclub assault. In the early days, we had a lot of conversations about Frank choosing to sleep with Lips girlfriend Karen (Laura Slade Wiggins). Body aches, sore throat and . Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) embraces a new position in the police department that will allow him to stay true to himself. Was the goal to show that no matter what happens with the house, theyll always come together? Covid is just the thing that finally pushed him over the edge.. All of the Spoilers You Could Ever Want for 'Shameless' Season 10. Showtime expressed concern about various things that then they ultimately supported, like Frank sending Carl to cancer camp. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. FX Drops Trailer for 'Pose' Final Season (TV News Roundup), 'Shameless' Retrospective Series 'Hall of Shame' Ordered at Showtime, 'Shameless' Boss on Why It Would Have Felt 'Criminal' Not to Address COVID-19 in Final Season. We all want a place to go home to where we know everybody has our back. We planned on alcoholic dementia when we were only a few days from shooting when everything shut down in March [2020]. Of course there were plenty of big life decisions to be made in the meantime, so when Frank woke up and wandered off, no one other than Liam took note. A very minor but sad result of everything thats happened in the pandemic. Does she wind up with anyone romantically? The travel was such a mess that we never got to the point of my actually writing it. As news headlines about the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease continue to increase, so has concern over its potential to affect employee welfare, disrupt global supply chains and slow business operations. Despite much hope among fans, Emmy Rossum, who left the show in season nine in 2019, did not return forthe finaleto reprise her role of Frank's eldest daughter Fiona Gallagher. Their lives continue. Not much left to say really. Daenerys (Emilia Clark) suddenly a fascist villain? Taken to the hospital for one final time, Frank spent his final moments alone, remembering his family (including Fiona, a.k.a. We didnt want Frank to get off scot-free for all his lifestyle choices. The final episode of the series featured all that hard living catching up with Frank for the last time.. Debbie never explicitly made a decision as to her future by the end of the episode, but it seemed clear that she was willing to follow this newfound love interest to whatever sad end it would bring her and her daughter. David Chase's game-changing HBO mob drama ushered in modern day's golden age of television. Frank continues wandering around the city in a daze, revisiting old haunts like Patsy's Pies and a church where he believes he's an altar boy. The character, who rarely wore a mask, was initially hospitalizedafter displaying more severe symptoms of his alcohol-related dementia and after suffering a suspected suicide attempt by overdose. In typical Gallagher fashion, things came to an end in a darkly comedic way, as the series said goodbye to one of its main characters while setting the rest of the family on new paths for their future. Aside fromhis final accession, the finale also lefteven moreup in the air: Lip (Jeremy Allen White) gets an offer tosell the family's home and hopes to start a new life with Tami (Kate Miner), their son Freddie and his brother Liam (Christian Isaiah). The events towards the end of season 11 hint that Frank does not intend to live any longer and might prefer to leave the world on his terms rather than suffering more. It could have been one of many things; it was the last thing that pushed him over the cliff, but he was barely hanging on. In what world?! Many people wanted to write off Shameless as a sex comedy. By the time the iconic HBO series reached its denouement in May 2019, a lot of fans were left wondering how this could've possibly been the best ending after eight epic seasons. The current 7-day average of new deaths (453) decreased 9.7% compared with the previous 7-day average (502). And did Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) ever finish parallel parking? Not only does Frank die, but he does so alone and the series ends without his family knowing about it. So much for all of the internal work she did last week to understand why she just cant find a good relationship, huh? Lip was on the verge of actually figuring things out and succeeding. Hopefully people enjoyed it, saw some of their own hardships in it, or have a little more empathy for the tens of millions of people in America who live at the poverty level that the Gallaghers lived at in the show. Original star Rossum departed Shameless in season nine, with barely a mention of her character since. Fans were stunned when ABC's groundbreaking sitcom signed off after nine seasons with the titular heroine (played by Roseanne Barr) revealing that the entire final season had been a figment of her imagination, with her beloved husband Dan (John Goodman) having not actually survived his heart attack in the season prior. Knowing you didnt want to end Shameless, do you have any desire to do a spinoff? Millions of people have been going through this experience this past year. After 11 seasons of debauchery, drinking, and downright denial, Shameless and the Gallagher crew said farewell in the April 11 series finale, Father Frank, Full of Grace with an expected ending and more than a few lingering questions about the surviving characters. Never has a series finale more nakedly telegraphed the idea "We like this character and may want to do more with him some day" before. 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). However, there's no denying that his relationships with his children have grown over the last season, which is why this scene is decidedly painful. 2023 E! In an interview with TVLine, Wells added that there isnt any hope of aShamelessspinoff for Frank or the rest of the Gallaghers. After 134. Entertainment Television, LLC A Division of NBCUniversal. After suffering from memory lapses, he was diagnosed with early-stage alcoholic dementia. Previously, Wells had expressed his keenness on having Emmy Rossum reprise her role as Fiona. Anyone can have mild to severe symptoms. 423 followers . What's Coming to Disney Plus in April 2021, Everything Coming to Netflix in April 2021. Five simple words are all we need to explain why this iconic CW drama's finale missed the mark: Dan Humphrey was Gossip Girl. The house is in Fionas name, and she remains Liams legal guardian. You may have COVID-19, but tested before the virus was detectable, or you may have another illness. [double heart emoji]". He eventually stumbled into a church and insisted on lighting the candles like an altar boy. I want to see the Alibi cop-bar story, and what happens with Carl and Arthur (Joshua Malina) as police officers. Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) the king? If you hated the way Lena Dunham's HBO comedy ended, with a half-hour that focused merely on Hannah Horvath with a bit of Allison Williams' Marnie thrown in, helping to raise Hannah's baby, may we suggest you think of it as merely an ill-advised epilogue and allow the penultimate episodewhich saw Hannah saying goodbye to all of the titular girls in a truly emotionally effective half-hourto act as the show's true finale. Theyre just hilarious. WARNING: Spoilers for the Shameless series finale are ahead! Despite much hope among fans, Emmy Rossum, who left the show in season nine in 2019, did not return forthe finaleto reprise her role of Frank's eldest daughter Fiona Gallagher. In the eleventh episode of the final season, we see that Frank seems to have overdosed on drugs and tries to leave a note for his family. You and many other people! You find out later about them. He writes things on his fathers arms to help him remember that he has dementia and who to call if he gets lost. Taking incidents like this into consideration, it seems that the man insists on living on his terms and possibly have control over his death too. Copyright 2023 ComicBook.com. I think thats more fun, personally. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. While Wells had to rewrite the entire first half of the final season after production was stalled because of the pandemic, the prolific writer-producer (ER, The West Wing) added in Franks COVID-19 demise in a bid to accurately reflect the struggles of an economically challenged community like the South Side of Chicago. The finale begins with Franks overdose, brought about during the last episode, and he is later taken into hospital where it was revealed that he had Covid-19. Fans Can Visit the 'Shameless' House in Chicago But, the Gallagher Family Won't be There! The priest called an ambulance, and later Frank woke up in the hospital during the Shameless series finale. Frank visited a church, at which he seemed to think he was an altar boy, and the priest called an ambulance for him. Would any of Fionas storylines have filled in what the character is doing now? So I thought, We should make a comment on that. We tried to make a comment all season on the particular difficulties that the pandemic has presented in low-income communities, and still make it kind of funny. Lip settles for a new job. You may remember that in season 4, he needs a liver transplant but ends up losing a kidney instead, in an illegal procedure. By Charlie Ridgely People say you cant drink your troubles away, Frank said in the letter. In the final moments of the episode, we see Frank at the Alibi and hear what he wrote in a note to. Not only does Frank die, but he does so alone and the series ends without his family knowing about it. Or perhaps not. Frank began to understand what was going on with his body. Carl finds his calling on the force. Guess that's it. We want to pretend that the country is egalitarian, that its a meritocracy, that everybody has the same opportunities, and its just not true. That's what we do, at least. While the previous weeks episode dedicated ample time to their new living situation, this week introduced their future (off-screen) plans by posing the question of kids. Those fates are obviously up to the audiences to decide. Thats how people move on with their lives. What do you hope viewers take away from those scenes? People would stop me on the street and tell me that Frank was like their dad. My family can relate to that experience of not being able to say goodbye and not being there when it happened. When the show was revived in 2018 after 21 years, it forgot all about its controversial ending. Those who want to imagine the Alibi wont fall to the fate of Patsys Pies can certainly do so, and doing so may also imagine a better future for Carl, who became an unexpected positive force for the family in the later seasons. COVID-19 has done what a failing liver, alcoholism, drug abuse, dementia, being tossed in the Chicago River in the winter, and a suicide attempt could not do: kill Frank Gallagher. In a phone interview from Victoria, British Columbia, where hes working on a new series for Netflix, Wells discussed the inspiration for Franks death, Fionas near-return and the legacy of Shameless. These are edited excerpts from the conversation. Did Showtime ever veto any other ideas or voice other concerns? But we get to tell a lot of great stories with these people and wonderful actors, writers and directors. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. In other news, Why is Gina Carano not in The Mandalorian season 3 as Cara Dune? You could argue that Frank was already meant to die when he had liver disease or countless other physical ailments. In the first season, we are introduced to Frank, a single father who can barely look after himself, let alone his kids. Liam tells Lip that he's "sort of gone," with Lip believing Frank has died. A parade of returning guest stars testified about all the horrible things that had befallen them as a result of Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld), Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), George (Jason Alexander), and Kramer's (Michael Richards) extreme selfishness and, in the end, a judge threw them in jail for a full year as a result of it. This is all most people will experience. I havent really given it any thought.. All Rights Reserved. Be a little more understanding with the person who delivers your package. Although theres no direct explanation for his death, viewers can surmise that he died from complications of COVID-19 and excessive drug and alcohol abuse. 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 Sundays series finale, Frank died of Covid. We all search for community, and the Gallagher world was a community of kids who cared about each other. Everything is getting a revival these days. Instead, his poor sister Debra (Jennifer Carpenter) met her demise and he escaped Miami to restart asa lumberjack in Oregon?! How much did the Black Lives Matter protests and the ongoing national conversation about racial inequality influence what you had originally planned? As the episode wrapped up, his family was celebrating at the Alibi while he was dying in the hospital. The idea was that every kid should be able to go to camp. SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched Father Frank, Full of Grace, the series finale of Showtime, available on-demand now. We were also trying to address things about lack of housing. 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. Or your body . The pandemic also prevented Rossums return to reprise her role as former leading lady Fiona Gallagher when travel bans amid a COVID surge eliminated that possibility. With all the comorbidity that Frank had, Bill and I both talked about it and said, 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. Franks final words were observations about and advice to his children, including that Lip all-too-often gets in his own way. 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