Why Wasn’t Emmy Rossum In The ‘Shameless’ Series Finale?

We should’ve seen this coming. Or not coming, as it were. Although seen in flashbacks, Emmy Rossum’s Fiona did not make one final return to the Gallagher home in Chicago for the series finale of Showtime’s Shameless, which ended the show’s 11-season run last night (April 11). So why wasn’t Emmy Rossum in the Shameless finale?

Emmy Rossum telegraphed her non-appearance last week on Twitter, writing, “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. I will miss you this Sunday!”

The replies in her timeline were all sad and/or mad about it, wishing for some way to incorporate Fiona one more time into the Gallagher family onscreen. But sadly, it was not meant to be… And it turns out it was a matter of logistics, not Rossum avoiding the finale.

Showrunner John Wells told Deadline, “You know, she very much wanted to, and we wanted her to. It just hit at just the wrong time with the continuing shutdown. She lives in New York, and you know, we were trying to make it work, but there were quarantine setups that were in there if she came out to LA. We couldn’t figure out how to do it in a way that would work with her schedule. So, it was disappointing for everybody, and we would’ve loved to have her back, and she wanted to come back, but it was one of those things that couldn’t get done during the pandemic.”

The finale found Frank (William H. Macy) attempting to cheat death not once, but twice, and even mistakenly confused a health-care worker for his Fiona. So where did Fiona go, anyhow?

Fiona left the show in March 2019 after season nine, getting her own act together, attending AA meetings, and selling her stake in a South Side neighborhood gentrification project for $100,000 on her way out. In the Season 9 finale, she left half the money for Debbie and took the rest with her on a plane to… who knows where. Shameless never revealed where Fiona would be going. Perhaps on a tropical beach sipping frozen margs with Jimmy Steve.

That explains Fiona, but where did Rossum go?

Why did Emmy Rossum leave Shameless?

“The opportunity to play Fiona has been a gift. There are few characters — female or otherwise — as layered and dynamic,” wrote Rossum on Facebook back in August 2018. “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 … Quite simply, the last eight years have been the best of my life.”

“I know you will continue on without me, for now,” she continued. “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.”

If you’re in Los Angeles, perhaps you’ve seen Rossum, as she filmed an upcoming Peacock limited series about Hollywood’s ubiquitous billboard icon, Angelyne.

Where to stream Shameless