For five seasons now, we've somehow grown to love the crazy family that is the Gallaghers. Between arrests, broken relationships, a drunken father, plenty of illegal activities, and more "oh my god" moments than you can count, "Shameless" never fails to make us cringe, laugh and cry in every single episode. Everyone their own family is pretty much as crazy as it gets, until they really see the Gallaghers in action. You haven't seen crazy until you watch this show...and you'll be instantly hooked as they bring true meaning to the phrase, "No Shame."
With season 5 ending with a ton of cliffhangers, as the finale always does, we can't help but wonder what could possibly be in store for them now. Fiona (Emmy Rossum) was left wondering whether she wanted to be with her husband Gus (Steve Kazee) or her on-and-off again fling Sean (Dermot Mulroney). Just as we watched Jimmy/Steve (Justin Chatwin), or whatever his name really may be, possibly leave the show for good, we can't help but wonder if he'll be back once again. With executive producer John Wells confirming that Sean will be back this season, and Jimmy/Steve's future unknown, could it be Sean that she's finally choosing?
"We've watched her grow up a bit, and she's a woman now," Wells told The Hollywood Reporter about Fiona's maturity. "She presents herself as a woman, and so we have to start addressing that. We care deeply about her as a character, so we really want to watch her make that transition into maturity, which is a lot of what Dermot has been doing on the show. He's pointing out the things she does have real world consequences on the people around her now."
As for Jimmy/Steve's return, all Wells has to say was, "We never want to say never."
As if Fiona's relationships aren't hard enough to keep up with, we couldn't all help but be absolutely heartbroken when Ian (Cameron Monaghan) and Mickey (Noel Fisher), who we've grown to love beyond control, ended things in the finale. With Ian's bipolar disorder taking over his life-and even going as far as kidnapping Svetlana's (Isidora Goreshter) baby at one point-and Mickey only wanting what's best for him, the finale ended with bad boy Mickey in tears.
Monaghan has sadly confirmed to TVLine that Mickey will be "noticeably absent in the upcoming installment," leaving us all in tears, according to International Business Times. Apparently, Mickey goes to prison for attempted murder, so it "will be hard to keep him heavily involved." As sad as this may be for viewers, Ian has bigger things to deal with, and Mickey's absence will force him to "find some stability in his life."
"It also may be an interesting time for Ian to discover how important Mickey was in his life," Wells said on their breakup. "It's that thing that often happens when you're younger: you have a relationship that's really difficult and passionate and messy, and then you go away from it and you discover the rest of the world, and sometimes you come back to that first person anyway."
Someone who seems to be following in Mickey's law-breaking footsteps is the younger Gallagher, Carl (Ethan Cutkosky), who is now in juvie. The season premiere's storyline will take a time jump, leaving it to be a few months after the events of the finale, according to International Business Times. Could the time jump leave Carl done serving his time? The answer is unclear, but we're excited to see how his time behind bars may have changed him (even though, knowing Carl, it probably just made him worse).
Another person Carl unfortunately takes after: the one and only Frank Gallagher.
Even though Frank (William H. Macy) is typically useless, and quite possibly the worst father in the world, we got to see a different side of him in season 5. With his younger lover, Bianca (Bojana Novakovic), bringing out the best in him, we couldn't help but wonder if there was a good guy underneath the rough surface. But with Bianca passing away from her illness in the finale, that can only mean one thing: Frank is returning to South Side. But will he be a changed man for good? Probably not.
"You hope so, but he's such a narcissist because he's such an addict, and he's so focused on his own stuff," Wells said of his return to the family. "It's hard to say yet if he'll use it as an example to others on how he's opened up, or if he's actually at a point where he can change any of his behaviors. But we also want to make sure his shift isn't something that just disappears from the landscape."
With so many characters maturing, there's one who is trying too hard to mature too fast and that's Debbie (Emma Kenney). The end of the season showed her wanting a baby so she could stay in her boyfriend's life forever, without even considering what he thought of all this. After she lied about being on birth control, the finale ended with her holding up a pregnancy test, smiling, which for Debbie's twisted mind only means one thing: she most likely is pregnant.
Walls could not confirm or deny that Debbie was pregnant, so we'll just have to wait and see for ourselves.
The synopsis of season 6 has been released, hinting that there is going to be some change for sure, as we can expect based on the finale, but it's still unclear which characters will be experiencing in what ways.
"Season six of Shameless picks up a few months after last year's finale, leaving the Gallaghers to prepare for yet another long Chicago winter," the synopsis reads, according to Den of Geek. "This season will see more than just the arctic Lake Michigan winds whipping through the Southside. Change is hard and the Gallaghers are as surprised as anyone at how life is turning out for them. But the question remains, as they come into their own and find out who they are, is it really possible that the Gallaghers could grow apart for good?"
Based on this, it seems as though Lip's (Jeremy Allen White) journey may take him even further away from home as he continues to stand out from the rest of the Gallaghers as he strives in college. Season 5 ended with him being in love with his professor Helene (Sasha Alexander), even though Walls doesn't think he's ever really been in love.
"I don't think he really knows what it is," Walls admits. "It's something we'll start to explore this coming season."
All might not go so well for Lip, though, as actor Chris Brochu from "The Vampire Diaries" has been casted, according to The Wrap. Brochu will be playing Dylan, a 20-year-old wrestler who gets into a fight with Lip over god knows what. Another new character, Yanis, will be played by Will Sasso, according to Deadline. He will bring some conflict into the neighborhood as Kev (Steve Howey) and V's (Shanola Hampton) new neighbor. He is a "big and imposing blue-collar" man who "deliberately spends most of the day revving his motorcycle and making sexual threats." You could only imagine how Kev and V are going to handle that one.
The Gallaghers may be venturing off into their own individual directions and situations to deal with, but they'll still be that close, dysfunctional family we know and love.
"They're all growing up," Walls said. "Those are the things we all have to adjust to and address all of the time. They do leave; they grow up; they have their own experiences. And they want those experiences and their additional maturity to be recognized by the family. And they aren't always, and that's funny and also dramatic."
See what's in store for each of the Gallaghers when season 6 premiers on Showtime on January 17. Check out some behind the scenes looks at filming so far!
