Shameless is a family comedy-drama that revolves around Frank Gallagher and his dysfunctional family of six kids. The priest calls an ambulance for Frank as he's sent off to the hospital for a final time. We did what we set out to do. Did he meet his maker while feasting on a bowl of onion rings with his family? We will never know. Ian (Cameron Monaghan) and Mickey (Noel Fisher) were the opposite of that, as they pieced together the furniture for their new lives outside of the Gallagher residence. The West Wing is about how government works. And then went out with a bang. 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. Liam also tries to make him happy by doing Frank things with him, like scamming strangers for money. We planned on alcoholic dementia when we were only a few days from shooting when everything shut down in March [2020]. The series ends with a scene of everyone getting together to celebrate Ian and Mickeys wedding anniversary. You really dont get to connect. 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. I want to think what I want to think about the characters, where they end up and what happens with them and have the audience have those conversations with others over drinks. And even Frank feels that. ER is about how medicine works. 453. It hasn't been confirmed just yet, but if Frank dies, Fiona could make her return to the show at his funeral, bringing all of the Gallaghers together one final time. The final episode of the series featured all that hard living catching up with Frank for the last time.. 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. And NO. So, here is everything you need to know! When ABC decided it was time to end this family-friendly sitcom starring puppet dinosaurs after four seasons, the creators decided to do it in the most depressing way possible by having its main character, Sinclair family patriarch Earl, trigger a catastrophic extinction event that would not only kill every main character, but his entire species. But no, we never worked it out. Right?! Thats about how the system doesnt really work for families living near the poverty line, Wells said. It sadly certainly seems that Frank is dead. We could have used two more seasons to explore that. Original star Rossum departed Shameless in season nine, with barely a mention of her character since. Except times precious. And then Fiona opened the box! But right now, with the end in sight, his future could go either way. Another hint that Frank is dead comes from the title and synopsis of the last episode, "Father Frank, Full of Grace." We will never know. No one does #Shameless like @WilliamHMacy. He eventually returned positive for COVID-19 and died in the ER after the nurses and doctors discovered the "DNR" instruction on his chest. [Laughs.] After suffering from memory lapses, he was diagnosed with early-stage alcoholic dementia. While suffering from Covid symptoms, Franks starts to hallucinate and believes that his nurse is Fiona Franks eldest daughter who left in season 9. But you can fill in the blanks however you want to fill in the blanks as a viewer. But we get to tell a lot of great stories with these people and wonderful actors, writers and directors. #Shameless. It challenges our sense of who we are. So, the island was purgatory, right? His eyes drift closed after writing a letter to the Gallagher family. Not much left to say really. Could Carl from Shameless Secure a Spinoff Series? Franks final words were observations about and advice to his children, including that Lip all-too-often gets in his own way. Shameless Showrunner Says Goodbye to the Gallaghers, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/11/arts/television/shameless-series-finale.html. 2023 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. I like keeping it with the audiences imagination of who would react and how when they finally discover that hes gone. And Ian (Cameron Monaghan) and Mickey (Noel Fisher) have a kid. But it remains to be seen if the Frank chapter of 'Shameless' will end with the series . We tried to find some way to make it Frank-like and fun and let him hold onto who he always was in the last moments," he continuted. With Season 11 as the final season overall, does Frank still make it out alive? Those fates are obviously up to the audiences to decide. 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. Instead, Fiona appears during the finale in a series of flashbacks as Frank is dying. The showrunner and executive producer John Wells weighed in on the plans for Franks ending. When Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse decided to end the mind-bending ABC mystery by getting metaphysical rather than giving some, you know, concrete answers about what had been going on for the last six seasons, not everyone was exactly thrilled. 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. 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. The idea was that every kid should be able to go to camp. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. Frank can still make you smile even as hes dying. Many people wanted to write off Shameless as a sex comedy. You may have COVID-19, but tested before the virus was detectable, or you may have another illness. On Sunday, April 11, the hit Showtime dramedy series Shamelesscame to an end after 11 seasons. Would any of Fionas storylines have filled in what the character is doing now? It was a callback to the character's desire in the early seasons to become a writer by having Roseanne sitting at a typewriter, writing a different ending to her story, but it left viewers feeling like their time had been wasted in the worst way. Debs (Emma Kenney) plans on moving to Texas with her daughter Franny (Paris Newton)and a new girlfriend. The Iron Throne melted down?! In Episode 10.10, Frank agreed to take her to the coast, so she could view the Irish coast from the horizon. It's a question we've asked about William H. Macy's character more times than we'd like to admit, as his rambunctious behavior has left him with plenty of hospital stays and even at the bottom of a lake. 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. Frank Gallagher(William H. Macy) is diagnosed with the coronavirus in a hospital and soon dies while on a ventilatora most harrowing cautionary scene amid the current pandemic. The penultimate episode gave us some pretty strong clues as to how the Showtime series would wrap up, but one major cliffhanger had us wondering: does Frank die? Copyright 2023 ComicBook.com. 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. Patty Croker: Was revealed to be dying of cancer late in Series 10. And that makes me feel good as a viewer and a reader. In what world?! 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. DuringShamelessSeason 11, viewers watched as Frank Gallagher began forgetting things. And just like that, Frank Gallagherhas shamelessly risen above it all. "People say you can't drink your troubles away," Frank muses. 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. Carls story line became far more topical. Guess that's it. Lip settles for a new job. Somehow, though, he stayed alive. I will miss you this Sunday! Below, Wells talks with THR about Franks fate, why he loves open-ended finales, what would have happened with Fiona and, yes, the mandatory spinoff question. 1,110,364. Yes, Frank Gallagher dies during the Shameless finale, season 11 episode 12, titled 'Father Frank, Full of Grace.' The finale begins with Frank's overdose, brought about during the last. Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Season 11 of Shameless. We didnt want Frank to get off scot-free for all his lifestyle choices. In the 10th episode of the season, Frank opts to get a "do not resuscitate" tattoo across his chest, seemingly trying to take the burden of making that decision off of his children. The episode followed immediately on the penultimate episodes final moments, with Frank (William H. Macy) having overdosed on the family sofa and not one member of the household even slightly concerned that the patriarch may have finally exited this world. That's what we do, at least. Except time's precious. 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. It's hard to believe that the Gallagher family has been a part of our lives for the past 10 years we've literally watched the actors and their respective characters grow up right before our eyes every Sunday night. Gallagher's experts are here to support you in the development and implementation of risk management policies and procedures during a pandemic. The 43-year-old actress will take on the role of June George, the . That was biggest disappointment: not being able to make that work out, because we all wanted it to happen. By Charlie Ridgely It was a callback to the character's desire in the early seasons to become a writer by having Roseanne sitting at a typewriter, writing a different ending to her story, but it left viewers feeling like their time had been wasted in the worst way. As of February 8, 2023, a total of 1,110,364 COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the United States. And NO. A very minor but sad result of everything thats happened in the pandemic. Then three days before shooting began on a season in which the mostly grown-up Gallaghers finally disperse, production was shut down for months. Now, as the group packs up their bags, their hula lamps, and moves on from the South Side of Chicago, Shameless fans prepare to say goodbye ahead of the series finale on April 11. 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