After 10 Seasons, ‘Shameless’ Finally Replaces The Iconic Opening Credits

With the Season 10 premiere of Shameless airing on Sunday, November 10, one of the many questions creeping up in fan groups and pages on social media is whether the new episodes would still feature the same iconic opening credits. According to a recent post on the official Shameless Instagram page, the opening will be fresh as the hit Showtime series enters its 10th season.

As those who have watched all nine seasons of the series know, it has featured the same opening sequence the entire time (with the exception of some small variations early on due to cast changes). The opening kicks off with Frank (William H. Macy) passed out on the floor of the bathroom, a pantless Fiona (Emmy Rossum) entering. Viewers watch Fiona kick her father in the backside several times before picking up his beer, setting it on the back of the toilet. She then grabs his legs and drags him out. Fiona then returns to use the toilet.

After she exits, the young Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) enters. Carl sits on the toilet and proceeds to drink the remainder of the beer can left behind. The opening gets a little awkward as Ian (Cameron Monaghan) is sitting on the toilet while engaging in self-intimacy when another member of the family walks in.

Viewers then watch as Debbie (Emma Kenney) wraps her younger brother Liam (Christian Isaiah) up as a toilet paper mummy.

With faces being out of the frame for some of the scenes of the opening credits, “who is who” has always been a popular question asked among Shameless fans.

For example, the original opening featured Lip (Jeremy Allen White) and Karen (Laura Slade Wiggins) entering the bathroom. Lip used the toilet while Karen sat on the edge of the tub. When Karen exited the series, this scene was replaced with two males entering the bathroom. One used the toilet and the other used the sink. Some fans speculated it was Ian and Mickey (Noel Fisher) using the bathroom. The pants, however, weren’t right for Mickey’s character.

During the video posted on Instagram, Noel Fisher also confirmed he was never in the original opening. However, he did suggest that he would be in the new one.

So, with Mickey out, most fans agreed it was likely Lip and Ian entering to use the bathroom at the same time.

Despite not officially being Gallaghers, Kevin (Steve Howey) and Veronica (Shanola Hampton) also enter the bathroom. Veronica sits down on the toilet while Kevin sits on the step stool so that she can tend to his bloody nose.

The opening credits feature several more quick scenes with a few members of the cast, and conclude with one more scene featuring Emmy Rossum and a mysterious bare bottom.

It appears that showrunners plan to recreate the opening credits for Season 10, while still keeping them largely similar. According to the post on the official Shameless Instagram page, the creators of the series hope to trick some viewers into not even realizing they are watching a new opening.

The biggest obstacle with recreating the opening credits was the fact that the production team did not save the original bathroom set.

According to the set designers, they were presented with pictures and asked to create a duplicate. The Shameless creators jested near the end of the video clip that they were not going to make the mistake of tossing the set again, “just in case.”