- Emmy Rossum performed Fiona Gallagher on Shameless.
- Emmy left the present after season 9.
- Fiona was written out of the present after season 9.
Emmy Rossum, 36, was a staple on Shameless earlier than she made the large resolution to go away the present. Emmy performed Fiona Gallagher, the mom determine to her troubled household, for the primary 9 seasons of the hit Showtime collection. The actress left the present earlier than the ultimate two seasons, which fully shocked followers. Fiona was a fan-favorite and the present wasn’t the identical after she left.
So, why did Emmy actually depart Shameless? Hold studying to be taught extra in regards to the reality behind her game-changing exit from the collection.
Emmy Rossum Performed Fiona Gallagher On Shameless
Emmy was one of many unique fundamental solid members on Shameless when the present premiered January 2011. The collection adopted the poor, dysfunctional household lifetime of Frank Gallagher (William H. Macy), and his six kids: Fiona (Emmy), Lip (Jeremy Allen White), Ian (Cameron Monaghan), Debbie (Emma Kenney), Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) and Liam (Christian Isaiah). Fiona helps elevate her youthful siblings however offers with alcohol dependancy and drug abuse. For her efficiency within the present, Emmy was nominated for 2 Critics’ Selection Awards. The collection itself gained 4 Emmy Awards from 16 nominations all through its 11-season run.
Why Fiona Left The Present
Emmy made her remaining look as Fiona within the season 9 finale which aired March 2019. Emmy announced she was leaving Shameless in August 2018, one month earlier than season 9 started airing. Fiona was written out of the collection after season 9, the place she hits all-time low coping with dependancy and relationship points. Lip helps Fiona to get sober and begin going to AA assembly. She will get a job at a comfort retailer once more and learns she’s getting $100k from an actual property deal. She leaves half the cash for her household, and takes the opposite half and strikes out of Chicago to start out a brand new life. Fiona doesn’t seem in seasons 10 or 11.
Why Emmy Rossum Left The Present
Emmy confirmed her exit from Shameless on social media on August 30, 2018. “The chance to play Fiona has been a present. There are few characters — feminine or in any other case — as layered and dynamic. She is a mom lion, fierce, flawed and sexually liberated. She is injured, weak, however won’t ever quit,” Emmy wrote in her prolonged announcement. “Fairly merely, the final eight years have been the most effective of my life,” she additionally mentioned.
Emmy spoke to Entertainment Weekly about saying goodbye to the present that made her well-known after she broke the information of her exit. “My Shameless household is actually my second household and I’ve spent a lot time with them — 10,000 hours — that it actually appears like we’ve all grown up collectively. I began on the present once I was 23 and now I’m not,” she mentioned. “And it’s a beautiful, fantastic period of time and I really feel extremely pleased with the whole lot we now have created. I’m simply stuffed with gratitude for everybody’s laborious work.”
To today, Emmy’s by no means given an official motive why she stop Shameless early. In 2016, Variety reported that Emmy was asking to make more cash for season 8, after she was paid lower than her co-star William H. Macy for the primary seven seasons. Emmy reportedly wished to start out making greater than William to make up for the alleged previous unequal pay. Emmy ultimately agreed to a deal to star in season 8 and season 9, but it surely’s believed additional failed wage negotiations triggered Emmy to go away the present.
Emmy moved onto new tasks after exiting Shameless. She was the lead begin and govt producer of the 2022 Peacock miniseries Angelyne. She additionally has a lead function within the new Apple TV+ collection The Crowded Room with Tom Holland and Amanda Seyfried. In her private life, Emmy and her husband Sam Esmail have welcomed two kids collectively since she left Shameless.
The Present After Fiona
Shameless continued on for 2 extra seasons with out Fiona. The present was dramatically completely different in her absence. In late 2021, months after the present wrapped, Emmy’s former on-screen sister Emma Kenney referred to as the actress out on the Call Her Daddy podcast. Emma mentioned the present “turned extra of a constructive place” after Emmy was gone. “I’d go to set some days and I’d be very anxious about having a scene together with her as a result of if she had a nasty day, she made it a nasty day for everyone,” Emma mentioned. However Emma did notice that she has nothing however love for Emmy now. “I’ve recognized her for thus lengthy. We haven’t spoken in years. However that’s okay. I’ve loads of love for her, and I hope she finds her happiness,” she mentioned.
Fiona was really purported to be within the remaining episode however Emmy was unable to return because of COVID-19 journey restrictions. “Emmy and I had loads of conversations about it, attempting to make it work,” showrunner John Wells informed EW in April 2021. “She’s been in New York with Sam, the place they dwell, and proper in regards to the time the place we had been speaking about placing all of it collectively was when the extra lockdowns type of hit once more, and it simply didn’t really feel protected or sensible for her to come back again. So I feel it’s with a substantial amount of remorse that we couldn’t do it but it surely’s simply extra minor casualty of our yr of COVID.”
Whereas Fiona couldn’t come again for the ultimate season, the Shameless boss nonetheless had an thought of what Fiona was as much as. “I feel she’s down in Florida,” John informed The Hollywood Reporter after the collection finale aired. “We joked within the room that she ended up getting a job at Disney World, in all probability in Epcot Middle as a result of she would by no means get a job on the higher aspect. We had loads of jokes for her however we by no means really nailed it down. However she would have a life and be pursuing her personal issues. That’s how individuals transfer on with their lives.”
