Shameless' Showrunner Has Some Ideas About Fiona's Future After The Events Of The Show
It seems like only yesterday we were watching our favorite South Side hooligans running lovably amok as they worked themselves into and out of one tricky debacle after another. But "Shameless" has actually been off the air for well over a year now. As solid as the final season of the show was, most fans can agree there was a glaring absence in that final run of episodes, as original cast member Emmy Rossum didn't make it back to reprise her role as Fiona Gallagher.
Of course, we now know that was not the original plan, with "Shameless" creator John Wells remaining adamant that COVID-19 prevented this return from happening. He confirmed the fact in a 2021 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, telling the publication, "We caught it at the wrong moment." He goes on to note that when the shoot was coming together, the prospect of getting Rossum from her New York home to film in Los Angeles wasn't possible because of quarantine protocols. He called that hiccup the biggest disappointment of the series' final season.
Wells did, however, talk a bit about the character's fate, stating that there were several ideas kicking around about what became of Fiona after she left Chicago at the end of Season 9. While the "Shameless" big boss went on to claim nothing was ever written in stone for the character, he still offered a brief tease about what might've been for the eldest Gallagher sibling.
John Wells says Fiona is probably down in Florida doing her own thing these days
Per John Wells' statement to The Hollywood Reporter, he and the "Shameless" writing team came up with several different scenarios for Fiona Gallagher after she left Chicago. Though nothing was ever concrete, the crew had even conjured how they'd bring the character back into the Gallagher fold. "The idea was with Frank's dementia being discovered, there's a call and she comes back to help everyone figure it out and that she would come back and be involved at the end with what to do with the house and all that," Wells said, lamenting again that Emmy Rossum not being able to travel prevented the idea from moving forward.
Wells went on to throw a proverbial bone to the "Shameless" fandom, however, offering his own idea about what Fiona's been up to. "I think she's down in Florida," Wells stated, adding, "We joked in the room that she ended up getting a job at Disney World." Wells hilariously followed that with set up by saying "... probably in Epcot Center, because she would never get a job on the better side." Apparently, the "Shameless" writing team had conjured several such jokes in trying to figure out what Fiona's life looks like outside of the South Side.
He finished the thought with, "But she would have a life and be pursuing her own things. That's how people move on with their lives." And that's about as much as any "Shameless" fan could ever really hope for with Fiona.