Many Fans Disappointed As ‘Shameless’ Ends 11-Year Run With Unsatisfying Finale [SPOILERS]

After 11 years of fights, love, heartbreak and a lot of alcohol consumption, Showtime’s Shameless ended its run Sunday night.

The finale saw the Gallagher patriarch Frank (William H. Macy) die of COVID-19 after being diagnosed with alcoholic dementia earlier in the season and survived an attempted suicide in the penultimate episode.

While the finale did end with a nice bonfire callback to the pilot, it failed to resolve many of its storylines. Frank’s six children had no clue that he died. Was Lip (Jeremy Allen White) able to sell his family house to move into a new home with his girlfriend Tami (Kate Miner) and their son Fred. Will Liam (Christian Isaiah) actually move in with Lip and Tami? Will Ian (Cameron Monaghan) and Mickey (Noel Fisher) adopt kids of their own? Does Debbie (Emma Kenney) actually move to Texas with her new girlfriend and her daughter Franny (Paris Newton)? Does Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) buy the Alibi bar from Kev (Steve Howey) and V (Shanola Hampton) to turn into a cop hangout as they move to Kentucky?

Fans were also disappointed when no old characters came back or at least were mentioned, including Emmy Rossum‘s Fiona, who left the series after season nine. She did not appear in the episode other than a flashback from the pilot when Frank was slowly dying. There was also no update to where she has been since leaving Chicago. “Emmy and I had a lot of conversations about it, trying to make it work,” producer John Wells told Entertainment Weekly. “It just didn’t feel safe or practical for her to come back. So I think it’s with a great deal of regret that we couldn’t do it but it’s just more minor casualty of our year of COVID.”

Despite not being able to return, Rossum tweeted her love of the show and cast ahead of the series finale. “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,” she wrote.

“Never say never, right,” Wells added when asked if the show could ever come back.