Showtime has announced that veteran family dramedy Shameless has been renewed for a tenth season, which should debut later this year.
βThe Gallaghers are a force of nature, and they are coming back,β said Gary Levine, President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks. βShameless, with its ever-growing fan base, is like no other show on television. We are thrilled it will live on with its unique blend of love and larceny on Showtime.β
Season ten will be the first without series lead Emmy Rossum, who will be exiting the series upon the conclusion of its current ninth season. There’s no word yet on how Rossum’s Fiona will be written out of Shameless, but the indication from showrunner John Wells is that there’s an open invitation for her to return at any point, meaning that whatever end (and subsequent new beginning) that her character faces later this year will be open ended enough for her to return to the family’s orbit once again.
The same invitation was extended to Cameron Monaghan after he left the series, as well, and Showtime revealed today that his Ian will be seen again in season ten. The last time Ian was on the series, he faced a jail sentence and found out that his cellmate was none other than longtime love Mickey.
Already Showtime’s longest running series, Shameless is still one of the top hour-longs on cable despite some recent Live + Same Day ratings declines. It’s important enough to the pay cabler’s ecosystem that they’ve split the ninth season into two parts in order to use its ratings power and media attention on more shows. This fall, Shameless aired alongside Kidding, while the winter finds the series paired with Black Monday and SMILF.
Shameless airs Sundays at 9:00 on Showtime.
