EP John Wells On The Gallaghers’ Goodbye – Deadline

EP John Wells On The Gallaghers’ Goodbye – Deadline

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SPOILER ALERT: This post contains details of tonight’s series finale of Shameless.

After 11 seasons, it was the last call for Frank Gallagher tonight over the final series of the SAG Awards winner Shameless tonight.

After William H. Macy apparently had an overdose in the penultimate installment, he portrayed the elusive patriarch to his frustration with his descendants and extended family. As the boy Lip (Jeremy Allen White) and the woman who loves Tami (Kate Miner) face the prospect of another baby, they barely scratch through and brother Ian (Cameron Monaghan) and husband Mickey (Noel Fisher) moving on the social ladder and thinking of a baby of their own, the dementia that Frank bent on is eventually laid low by another adversary who plagued last season – the coronavirus.

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“So, we had to show that there were consequences,” Shameless showrunner John Wells told me about the decision to eventually kill the nine-year-old Frank at the end of the Showtime drama. “We tried to find a way to make it frank and fun and to hold on to who he always was in the last moments,” says the EP of tonight’s ‘Father Frank, Full Of Grace’ episode which Wells wrote.

In the end, as Frank floats above Chicago with words of departure of wisdom, the rest of the Gallagher tribe gathers once again at the Alibi for a surprise party for the first anniversary of Ian and Mickey. Kevin (Steve Howey) and Veronica (Shanola Hampton) get a low ball in their attempt to sell the old joint, but rookie cop Carl Gallagher (Ethan Cutkosky) and his old school mentor Arthur (Josh Malina) may buy just the place and turn it into a hangout for the best Windy City, or not.

With all this and some political principles, Wells talked to me from the set of his Maid project in British Columbia about the end Shameless, old friends, absent friends and one last goodbye, or not.

Deadline: There was some resolution, some loose ends, and a lot of inclination towards the future for the Gallaghers in the final, but no Fiona? Emmy Rossum tweeted last week about the finale and there is some flashback material, but why does she not appear in the series?

WELL: You know, she really wanted to, and we wanted her to. It just hit the wrong time with the continued shutdown. She lives in New York, and you know, we tried to make it work, but there were quarantine setups that were there when she came to LA. We could not figure out how to do it in a way that would work according to her schedule.

So it was disappointing for everyone, and we would love to get her back, and she wanted to come back, but that was one of the things that could not be done during the pandemic.

Deadline: When I watched the final scene of Bill Macy’s Frank hallucinating Fiona in the hospital, I wondered for a moment if the nurse was in front of him. I was wondering if it would turn out she was Emmy.

WELLS: (LAG) No.

Deadline: In that respect, we all know how difficult series finals can be, even if you have the luxury of planning one out like you did. What was it that you could not do or include? Shameless that you wanted to get in there?

WELL: The original idea was that we would see Kevin Bell leave and that we would also see Carl buy the bar he was going to turn into a police bar, and I never got there, and of course I wanted to do something different with Emmy. , ending with the Fiona character, which we ultimately could not do. So, yes, I wish there was more we could have had there.

Deadline: Is it really over, my friend, for the Gallaghers, or is there perhaps more Gallaghers that could come in a different form?

WELL: I would love to be able to do more of something. We wanted to do more of this for years. But now that we’re done and see all the sets in Warner, I think we’re really done.

Deadline: 100%?

WELL: Well, never say in the world we live in now.

Deadline: It’s definitely never for Frank …

WELL: Yes ..

Deadline: If you’m coming off the apparent OD of the penultimate episode, why did you decide to finally let Frank die of Covid?

WELL: Bill Macy and I have talked about it many times over the years, which would be wrong to let Frank go completely off the hook because he lived the life he lived and did the damage he did to his body. over all the years.

So we had to show that there were consequences. We tried to find a way to make it frank and enjoyable, and let him hold on to who he had always been. But in all that he has been through and all that we have been through over the past year, it was not right to allow someone to simply say, oh, yes, you can lead your life that way and there will be no consequences.

Deadline: As one would expect from a West Wing EP, there has always been a strong political component at Shameless. We saw it in the finale with Ian and Mickey’s confrontation in the furniture store with the saleswoman wearing the Stop The Steal sweatshirt and haunting Trump talk points and with cop Carl fighting in his own way for wealth distribution by beating the wealthy with parking tickets week. for the use of disabled spots. And of course, a mask less Frank dies from coronavirus. Is it a struggle to get that part of the story inside amidst the Gallagher shenanigans that make up so much of the surface of Shameless?

WELL: The only struggle is that I am always scared when I do something that is so palpable, that by the time it utters, it will feel like old news.

So, in terms of the Stop The Steal scene, we turned it in and had to turn it out, and then we’re so, we’re so close when it’s actually airing. If it was still valid and appropriate and the talks were still going on when we were ready to shoot it, we would continue to do it, and that’s what we did.

In some ways, I wish we hadn’t included it because it was no longer an issue. Unfortunately, this is still a conversation in the country, it’s still going on.

Deadline: In addition to the Trojan horse element of Shameless, which is one of my favorite parts of the program, is the alcoholism, the good times and the pain, drug addiction and dysfunction of the family, which sometimes makes it hard to be honest. There is also a family struggling with the socio-economic reality of the American dream, the limits, the slap and then there is a family ..

WELL: Yes.

Deadline: There’s this scene in the finale at The Alibi where Ian and Lip talk about the future and maybe sell the house and defend the sale, and Cameron’s Ian tells Jeremy’s Lip, and of course I’ll paraphrase, he says’ you can share, us $ 15,000, and you do whatever you want to do because you’re just as close to a dad as any of us had. It’s a very powerful moment there, and many of the series are at that moment. I wanted to get an idea from you about it, about writing that particular dialogue and about how it resonates with you.

WELL: Well, thank you for seeing it.

Yes, I think one of the secrets of the program and the reason it resonates with people is that Gallaghers is a family, whatever they are. They look after each other. They care about each other, and you know, especially the way they acted as parents.

The children decided to be parents they did not have. This is what Fiona did as a mother and what Lip did as the true patriarch or father to the family. I think we all hope, wish we had families where someone always has your back and someone is there, and therefore we really wanted to end up with everyone on the street.

Deadline: See how the luxury car burns, baby, burn why?

WELL: Because there are still all their differences of opinion and unhappiness with each other and siblings’ rivalry and the injuries they inflicted on each other. Nevertheless, the love they have for each other and the history they have for caring for each other is far more important than anything else. So it was a very conscious decision to make Lip realize that he is now an adult and that it was a big journey for that character throughout the series, to get to that point.

Deadline: To speak of a huge journey, in a career full of a mountain range of highlights that alone would make up very successful careers, which has 11 seasons of Shameless meant for you?

WELL: Dominic, I’m really going to miss it, because like you said earlier, we can have a kind of Trojan horse in a lot of satirical conversations about what’s really going on in the country.

You know, the writers’ rooms have been very lively over the years. We are certainly looking for outrageous things to do, but we are also trying to comment on the idea that there is not really a meritocracy in this country about income and equality and how difficult it is to just hover around poverty. line. I would miss just being able to go to a room with the writers and talk about these issues, and we will, you know, go through the newspapers and talk to social services experts, and you know, all the things that make up make the show. I’m really going to miss it and talk to those people and feel like we have a way of conveying our messages while you’re still laughing.

Deadline: It seems that the conversation has expanded much wider and more on the small screen since the US version of the US screen Shameless started in 2011?

WELL: There are definitely more opportunities for more shows in the air trying to address the issues of other sections of the population than we have seen before – which is great. Hope it continues. The streamers, the number of shows out there, really helped because there are so many more opportunities to do things, but at the same time the audiences are a little smaller, so that’s the advantage. But look, it was great to be able to make this show, our show and that we could get 11 years out of it. When we started, we could not find anyone to make it for almost seven years. So our run was very gratifying.

Deadline: With all the time, all the work, what is it like to say goodbye, Frank dies, the kids spread out and get on with their lives, for better or worse?

WELL: You know, you’re dealing with different kinds of feelings. Honestly, I’ve been writing these characters for a long time. Love the people you say goodbye to. You know you say goodbye to a lot of friends when you write them, which is why it’s hard not to get emotionally involved. Especially if you are not going to write for them anymore and live with the lives of these characters.

Deadline: Is that why you did not summarize the resolutions other than Frank’s death? Are they selling the house? Is Tami really pregnant with a second child with Lip? Are Ian and Micky going to be parents? Will the Alibi be sold? Is Debs going to move to Lone Star State with her new girlfriend and that long rap sheet?

WELL: Partial. We try to give some tips on what might be next for the characters, but without solving anything. We just wanted people to feel that if you were in Chicago and made a wrong turn, you might end up on the same street and run into one of the Gallaghers. We really did not want to do anything where they win the lottery and they are all going to live in Florida or something.

You try to be faithful to the fans and give them a wonderful ending and at the same time stay true to the world you have written and keep it honest and straight.

Deadline: So, one last shot – do you think you did it with the final shameless finale?

WELL: Yes, I think so, I hope so.

It was a great run. I’m going to miss everyone. Miss to write the program. Many thanks to Showtime for all their support all those years when no one else wanted to make the show when we started, and you know, it was a wonderful experience.

I will miss it.

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