Fans of the long-running Showtime series Shameless were shocked when its star Emmy Rossum announced she was leaving the show after nine seasons. But, according to her costar (and TV dad) William H. Macy, she has an excellent reason for doing so – an executive producer position on a new show.
Macy managed to distinguish himself from his self-serving Shameless counterpart in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly in which he voiced his support for Rossum’s decision. He also revealed that Rossum has a lot going on in her life that may have contributed to her departure — including a role on a TV show that could be giving her a lot more agency.
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“She’s young and I think she’s made the right choice,” Macy told EW. “She’s got another show that she’s an executive producer on, so she’s going right into something and she wants to branch out. Plus, she just got married. I wish her well. I can’t wait to see what she’s going to do next.”
No official announcement has been made on Rossum’s next project, and, so far, nothing is listed on her IMDb page. Refinery29 has reached out to Rossum’s representatives for information and will update this post as it becomes available.
In any case, this isn’t the first time Macy has spoken out in support of his TV daughter. In 2016, Rossum fought (and won) to be paid more than Macy on Shameless to make up for previous seasons in which she was paid significantly less. Macy had her back there, too.
“It’s a no-brainer,” he told People in 2017. “It’s just sort of obvious. Emmy is in most of the scenes, she works harder than anybody else, she’s a brilliant actress. She’s the glue of the cast.”
So, it looks as though Macy will always support Rossum, whether she’s playing his daughter on TV or not. As for Frank’s reaction to Fiona’s exit from the Gallagher family? We’ll just have to wait to find out how that goes.
Shameless’ ninth season premieres on September 9.