While we still have a long way to go before the Jan. 17 premiere of "Shameless," there has been some new scoops revealed about the upcoming sixth season to keep us excited. Season 6 will explore each character as they venture off into their own individual directions and situations that they personally have to deal with. If you think the characters maturing means they'll be any less crazy, then you've lost all hope in the Gallaghers. No matter how much these characters may be growing up, season 6 promises to still give us the close, dysfunctional family we've grown to love.
Season 5 ended with a lot of cliffhangers to keep fans wondering what could possibly happen next. We saw Debbie (Emma Kenney) holding a pregnancy test and smiling, which ironically for her, most likely means she is in fact pregnant; we saw Frank (William H. Macy) lose the first possible true love of his life; and we saw Sammi (Emily Bergl) trying to shoot Mickey (Noel Fisher).
The first episode of the new season will be called "I Only Miss Her When I'm Breathing," according to International Business Times. It will apparently be all about Debbie's future. There are so many possibly situations that could happen in the new season, and luckily for us, Macy has given us a little sneak peek.
"It's an emotional year. It's all about pregnancy, the first part of it," Macy told Deadline. "We're dealing with abortion as only 'Shameless' can deal with it. Frank's position is typically unexpected and right out of left field and his logic is sort of bewildering."
While Macy pretty much just confirmed that Debbie is pregnant, it is unclear whether or not she will keep the baby. Judging by Debbie's change of character in the previous season, she will absolutely want to keep the baby so she can remain close to her boyfriend Derek (Luca Oriel). She did lie to him about being on birth control after all, so it seems as though her big sis Fiona (Emmy Rossum) and maybe even her deadbeat dad Frank will have some say in her decision.
While Frank surprised us last season with his younger lover Bianca (Bojana Novakovic), we sadly had to see her go. "It was so interesting to see a character like Frank Gallagher get the wind taken out of his sails," Macy continued. "He was head over heels in love. It was a very interesting thing to act."
The new and improved Frank was a nice change of pace from the typical drunken father we were used to seeing, but it looks like he'll be back to his old ways sooner than we think. While his relationship with his daughter Sammi was a strange one, Sammi still remained a pretty prominent part of the show, and now we'll get to meet her mother, aka one of Frank's many ex-lovers.
Queen, who has not yet been cast, will be a woman in her late 40s to early 50s, according to E! News. She is being described as "an earthy, sensual, flouncy, flamboyant, sexy and joyous woman" who is a "force of nature." The most interesting part about her, though, is that she owns and operates a cannabis farm, so one can only imagine how Frank is going to react to that. We've seen him do way worse things than rekindle with an ex for a little pot, so the two should make for an interesting reunion.
As for new cast members, we already found out that Chris Brochu would be brought on as someone who gets in a fight with Lip (Jeremy Allen White) and that Will Sasso would be Kev (Steve Howey) and V's (Shanola Hampton) new neighbor that causes a lot of conflict in the neighborhood. Now, executive producer John Wells has revealed that they have brought on Ever Carradine to play Erica, "an exauhsted, nice, suburban mother in her late 30s with terminal cancer," according to The Hollywood Reporter. She will appear in four episodes as we learn about her "secret wild past." It is unclear how she will tie into the Gallaghers' life.
Find out what role Erica will play, if Debbie is going to keep the baby and if Frank and Queen will rekindle the flame when "Shameless" returns to Showtime on Jan. 17.
