Shameless Season 8 is still months away, but possible spoilers for the highly anticipated upcoming season are already pouring in. The Emmy Rossum and William H. Macy starrer will return for its next season sometime this year, with principal photography set to commence in May.
The future of the Showtime comedy-drama seemed to be in peril after news broke last year that Rossum was renegotiating her contract. Fortunately, Variety confirmed in December that the popular series is, indeed, continuing on with an eighth — and hopefully not final — season.
The new season is expected to pick up right where Shameless Season 7 left off. The previous season was capped by a stunning finale that centered on the funeral of Monica (Chloe Webb), the mother of the Gallagher children, and how her death became a turning point for the brood.
In the season ender, Lip (Jeremy Allen White) revealed that he wants to go back to school, Debbie (Emma Kenney) gained some control over her life, Ian (Cameron Monaghan) came clean about his encounter with Mickey (Noel Fisher), and Fiona (Rossum) became the owner of a building.
Fiona’s business woes in Shameless Season 7 reflected Rossum’s salary dispute with Shameless producers last year. The actress was asking to earn parity to Macy, who had been making more than she had over the course of the show. The situation was eventually resolved and Rossum announced that she is returning for Shameless Season 8.
With Rossum’s participation in the next season of Shameless in the bag, the question now is what new challenges could the show’s producers throw Fiona’s way? Shameless Season 8 spoilers indicate that the character is due for another serious romantic relationship after her devastating split with Sean (Dermot Mulroney) in Season 6 and a foray into casual dating in Season 7.
Last year, Shameless executive producer Krista Vernoff explained the rationale behind Fiona’s seemingly endless string of love interests.
“We have just found, probably selfishly as writers, that there’s great material in Fiona’s relationships. Also, there’s a lot of women in our writers’ room and none of us took breaks from dating in our early twenties. We didn’t [think], ‘Maybe I should spend some time alone,’ until we were older than Fiona.”
It’s probably safe to say that there are more lovers in Fiona’s future. But could the Shameless writers make things more complicated by bringing back one of the character’s former flames? There’s a bunch of them to choose from, including Gus (Steve Kazee) and Steve/Jimmy (Justin Chatwin). But bringing back Sean, who apparently left for good after their almost-wedding in Season 6, might actually be in the cards.
In an April 2016 interview with TVLine , Shameless EP Nancy Pimental said that they are not closing the door on the possibility of Fiona and Sean reuniting at some point in the future.
“Again, we’ve barely talked about anything and what the future holds. Has there been a conversation of them getting back together [and] what would that look like? Yeah, absolutely.”
Meanwhile, Ian’s relationship with his boyfriend Trevor (Elliot Fletcher) may have been permanently marred by his confession about Mickey. In Shameless Season 7, Ian and Mickey briefly reunited before the latter fled to Mexico. While Mickey was only in Season 7 for two episodes, the former lovers’ quickie reunion was enough to establish that they had genuine love for each other.
Now, Shameless Season 8 spoilers suggest that Ian and Trevor’s relationship could be threatened by Mickey’s impending return. Speaking with TV Guide , Fisher hinted that as long as Mickey is alive, there’s always a chance that he and Ian will rekindle their romance.
“It’s definitely not something that has to be a permanent end. He broke out of prison, so he can definitely find his way into [the country]. He can 007 his way into wherever he feels like. I don’t know what the future holds.”
The next season of Shameless is currently without an official release date. It should go without saying that these potential Shameless Season 8 spoilers are speculative and must thus be taken with a grain of salt.
[Featured Image by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]