Just as season 9 of Showtime’s Shameless is getting ready to premiere on Sunday, September 9th, one of the show’s lead stars has announced she is leaving the series. Emmy Rossum, who plays Fiona on the show, announced through her Facebook page that she will depart the series after the current season.
“The opportunity to play Fiona has been a gift. There are few characters — female or otherwise — as layered and dynamic,” Rossum said in her lengthy post. “She is a mother lion, fierce, flawed and sexually liberated. She is injured, vulnerable, but will never give up. She is living in an economic depression, but refuses to be depressed. She is resourceful. She is loyal. She is brave. I knew it the second I read the pilot script, this was different, this was special. I tirelessly prepped the audition with my coach Terry Knickerbocker. I walked to the appointment in the rain so I looked disheveled. During my third audition, when I got the part IN the room, I literally jumped up and down screaming in joyous relief and disbelief. Quite simply, the last eight years have been the best of my life… I know you will continue on without me, for now. There is much more Gallagher story to be told. I will always be rooting for my family. Try not to think of me as gone, just think of me as moving down the block.”
Season 9 will celebrate the series’ 100th episode with the fourth episode of the season. Unlike previous seasons, Showtime has extended Shameless to 14-episodes but is splitting it up between this fall and Winter 2019. The first seven episodes will begin airing on Sunday, Sept. 9 at 9 p.m., with a midseason finale on Sunday, Oct. 21 at 9 p.m. The second half of season nine will premiere on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019 at 9 p.m.
Shameless also stars Cameron Monaghan, Emma Kenney, Ethan Cutkosky, Jeremy White, Shanola Hampton, Steve Howey and William H. Macy. It was created by Paul Abbott and is produced by Bonanza Productions in association with John Wells Productions and Warner Bros Television.
