The eighth season of '' Shameless'', an American comedy-drama

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

based on the British series of the same name by

Paul Abbott Paul Abbott (born 22 February 1960) is an English screenwriter and producer. He became one of the most successful television writers in Britain following his work on popular series such as '' Cracker'' (1995, 1996, 1999) and ''Coronation Street ...

, was announced on December 19, 2016, a day after the seventh season finale. The season, which premiered on November 5, 2017, consisted of a total of 12 episodes. This is also the last season to feature Isidora Goreshter as series regular, as she announced her departure from the series following the season finale.

Plot

Fiona begins her new role as landlord of a local apartment building; she gets to know several of the apartment tenants, including Nessa (

Jessica Szohr Jessica Szohr (; born March 31, 1985) is an American actress. She started her screen career appearing on television shows such as '' My Wife and Kids'' (2003), ''Joan of Arcadia'' (2004), '' What About Brian'' (2007) and '' CSI: Miami'' (2007). S ...

), a lesbian resident, while regularly facing problems within the neighborhood. Nessa introduces Fiona to Ford ( Richard Flood), a mysterious Irish carpenter with a colorful past. Fiona bonds with Ford, who helps Fiona deal with a family of apartment squatters trying to sue her. The two eventually begin a sexual relationship. At the end of the season, Fiona confronts Ford about the state of their relationship; Ford reveals that he's happy in their relationship, but that he'll never be "madly in love" with her or anyone. Ian has begun regularly helping teens at Trevor's youth center, and he and Trevor plan to convert an abandoned church building in Fiona's neighborhood into a homeless shelter. However, Fiona—wanting to raise the profile of the neighborhood—wants to convert the empty church building into an art gallery. The argument over the church building results in an ongoing feud between the two siblings. Fiona ultimately gets one of her connections to lease a new property to Ian and Trevor. Lip continues to work at Brad's motorcycle shop, though he is forced to find a new sponsor when Brad, stressed from the birth of Cami's new baby, relapses. Lip briefly begins a casual relationship with his female co-worker, Eddie (

Levy Tran Vy Le "Levy" Tran (born April 8, 1983) is a Vietnamese-American actress and model. Early life Vy Le Tran was born in San Jose, California, U.S., to Vietnamese parents. She can speak English and Vietnamese. After graduating from Piedmont Hills ...

), but is turned off by her rough nature. Meanwhile, Professor Youens gets charged with his fifth DUI, and he is sentenced to prison after appearing in court under the influence. Youens later dies in prison from a seizure; at the memorial service, Lip is dispirited upon discovering he was not the only student to have had a mentoring relationship with the professor. Sierra has rekindled with Charlie, who reveals to Lip that he had knocked up another girl during his separation with Sierra. Lip urges Charlie to tell Sierra the truth, but this backfires when Sierra angrily dumps Charlie over the secret baby. Initially finding comfort in Lip, Sierra breaks up with him when he encourages her to give Charlie a second chance. Following his breakup with Sierra, Lip discovers Eddie's young niece, Xan, sitting alone in the motorcycle shop; Brad reveals that Eddie had abandoned Xan, who is estranged from her parents, at the shop. Upon discovering that Eddie had planned for Xan to be picked up by Social Services, Lip takes in Xan and invites her into the Gallagher home. Elsewhere, Frank works towards becoming a reformed man following Monica's death. He successful lands a job at a local store, but quickly regresses to his old ways when the store is shuttered by corporate. Carl begins dating Kassidi (

Sammi Hanratty Samantha Lynn Hanratty (born September 20, 1995) is an American actress. Her first lead was in 2009, portraying Chrissa Maxwell in ''An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong''. In 2011, she played the role Whitney Brown in the film ''The Greenin ...

), who suffers from separation anxiety. Kassidi pressures Carl into marrying her, and the two falsify documents at the courthouse to get married; however, Carl breaks up with her when she goes to obsessive measures to prevent him from attending military school. Debbie becomes a welder and reunites with a newly remerged Derek, who wants joint custody of Franny. Kevin and Veronica take back the Alibi from Svetlana, who agrees to partial ownership of the bar. Kevin and Veronica later help Svetlana marry a senile elderly sugar daddy, after which Svetlana moves out of Kevin and Veronica's house. As the season progresses, Ian stops taking his medication and starts to spiral; he initiates a protest against a homophobic pastor preaching gay conversion. When the protest goes viral online, Ian gains numerous supporters who agree with his message. Reeling from his newfound popularity, Ian is nicknamed "Gay Jesus" by his followers, while Frank takes advantage of the Gay Jesus movement to make a profit. Near the end of the season, Ian provides sanctuary to a runaway teen whose father is trying to harm him for being gay. Ian gets into a confrontation with the teen's father; the confrontation concludes with Ian, in a grand gesture, exploding the father's vehicle. The incident results in a warrant being placed for Ian's arrest. A concerned Trevor consults with Fiona over the warrant, while Ian begins a protest at a community college. The police quickly arrive to the protest and arrest Ian; the family witnesses Ian's arrest via television.

Cast and characters

Main

William H. Macy William Hall Macy Jr. (born March 13, 1950) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer. He is a two-time Emmy Award and four-time Screen Actors Guild Awards, Screen Actors Guild Award winner, and has been nominated for an Acade ...

as Frank Gallagher *

Emmy Rossum Emmanuelle Grey Rossum (born September 12, 1986) is an American actress and singer-songwriter. The accolades she has received include a Saturn Award and Critics' Choice Movie Award, alongside nominations for a Golden Globe Award, an Independ ...

as Fiona Gallagher *

Jeremy Allen White Jeremy Allen White (born February 17, 1991) is an American actor. Raised in New York City, White began his career with minor roles, before his breakthrough role as Phillip "Lip" Gallagher in the comedy-drama series '' Shameless'' from 2011 to ...

as Philip "Lip" Gallagher *

Ethan Cutkosky Ethan Francis Cutkosky (born August 19, 1999) is an American actor and musician. He began his career as a child actor, making his film debut with an uncredited supporting role in ''Fred Claus'' (2007) before his first credited role in the superna ...

as Carl Gallagher * Shanola Hampton as Veronica "V" Fisher * Steve Howey as Kevin "Kev" Ball *

Emma Kenney Emma Rose Kenney (born September 14, 1999) is an American actress known as Debbie Gallagher on '' Shameless'' from 2011-2021, and Harris Conner-Healy in the tenth season of ''Roseanne'' and its spin-off, ''The Conners''. Early life Kenney w ...

as Debbie Gallagher *

Cameron Monaghan Cameron Riley Monaghan (born August 16, 1993) is an American actor and model. The accolades he has received include nominations for a BAFTA Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award. Monaghan is known for his role as Ian Gallagher on the ...

as Ian Gallagher * Isidora Goreshter as Svetlana Yevgenivna Milkovich

Special guests

Dermot Mulroney Dermot Patrick Mulroney (born October 31, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is known for his roles in a wide variety of genres, including romantic comedy, western, and drama films. After making his film debut in ''Sunset'' (1988), Mulro ...

as Sean Pierce * Richard Flood as Ford Kellogg

Recurring

* Christian Isaiah as Liam Gallagher * Scott Michael Campbell as Brad *

Elliot Fletcher Elliot Fletcher (born June 30, 1996) is an American actor. He is best known for his work in the MTV comedy series ''Faking It'', Freeform's drama series ''The Fosters'', and Showtime's series ''Shameless''. Early life Fletcher was born a ...

as Trevor *

Ruby Modine Ruby Wylder Rivera Modine (born June 20, 1991) is an American actress and singer, best known for playing Sierra Morton in '' Shameless''. She also co-starred in the 2017 slasher film ''Happy Death Day'', as well as in its sequel as Lori Spengl ...

as Sierra Morton *

Alan Rosenberg Alan Rosenberg (born October 4, 1950) is an American actor who portrayed the character Eli Levinson in both ''Civil Wars'' and ''L.A. Law''. From 2005 to 2009, Rosenberg was president of the Screen Actors Guild, the principal motion picture indus ...

as Professor Youens *

as Nessa Chabon * Perry Mattfeld as Mel *

as Eddie *

Zack Pearlman Zack Pearlman is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Zack in '' The Virginity Hit''. He has co-starred in short-lived television comedies such as MTV's ''The Inbetweeners'' and on the Fox sitcom '' Mulaney''. Early life Pearlma ...

as Neil *

Alicia Coppola Alicia Coppola (born April 12, 1968) is an American actress. She became known for playing Lorna Devon in the soap opera '' Another World'' from 1991 to 1994. Afterwards, she made regular and guest star appearances in various television series, ...

as Sue *

Chet Hanks Chester Marlon Hanks (born August 4, 1990) is an American model, actor and musician. The son of actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, he has had recurring roles on television series ''Empire'', '' Shameless'' and '' Your Honor'', as well as guest ro ...

as Charlie * Michael Patrick McGill as Tommy * Jim Hoffmaster as Kermit * Jennifer Taylor as Anne Seery * David Brackett as Duran * Peter Banifaz as Farhad * Cooper J. Friedman as Lucas * Juliette Angelo as Geneva * Laura Cerón as Celia Delgado *

Sharon Lawrence Sharon Elizabeth Lawrence (born June 29, 1961) is an American actress. From 1993 to 1999, she starred as Sylvia Costas in the American Broadcasting Company, ABC drama series, ''NYPD Blue''. The role garnered her three Primetime Emmy Award nomina ...

as Margo Mierzejewski * Melissa Paladino as Cami Tamietti *

as Kassidi Gallagher *

Stacey Oristano Stacey Oristano (born May 6, 1979) is an American stage, screen and television actress. She is best known for her role as Mindy Riggins on the television series '' Friday Night Lights'' and for starring on ABC Family's ''Bunheads'' as Truly Ston ...

as Trina * Michael Gambino as Rodney * Billy 'Sly' Williams as Linc * Scarlet Spencer as Alexandra "Xan" Galvez *

Becca Blackwell Becca Blackwell (born 1973/1974) is an American trans actor, performer, and playwright based in New York City. Blackwell's pronoun is the singular they. Their play "They, Themself and Schmerm," has been presented by a number of venues including The ...

as Father Murphy

Guests

Faran Tahir Faran Haroon Tahir is an American actor. Tahir made his film debut as Nathoo in Disney's 1994 film ''The Jungle Book''. He went on to star in a variety of roles, such as Raza in ''Iron Man'' (2008), Captain Robau in ''Star Trek'' (2009), an ...

as Mr. Adeeb *

Lea DeLaria Lea DeLaria (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actress, and jazz singer. She portrayed List of Orange Is the New Black characters#Carrie "Big Boo" Black, Carrie "Big Boo" Black on the Netflix original series ''Orange Is the New Black'' ...

as Barb *

Fiona Dourif Fiona Christianne Dourif (born October 30, 1981) is an American actress and producer. She is best known for her starring role as Nica Pierce in the '' Child's Play'' franchise, including the horror film '' Curse of Chucky'' (2013), its sequel ...

as Tabitha Youens

Episodes

Ratings

References

External links

* * {{Shameless Shameless (American TV series) 2017 American television seasons 2018 American television seasons