The final season of "Shameless" kicks off Sunday with an episode called "This is Chicago!" The title is not quite accurate since the cast of the Showtime series did not film in Chicago this season because of the coronavirus pandemic — much to the chagrin of fans who travel here each year to spot a Gallagher.
"Shameless," which follows the exploits of a poor and dysfunctional Chicago family led by an alcoholic patriarch, is mostly filmed on a Warner Bros. back lot. But for a decade, cast members have braved the elements — including a particularly brutal winter in 2011 — to shoot exterior scenes here to make the series more authentically Chicago.
Crowds at the Chicago filming sites, especially the West Side house that represents the Gallagher home on the show, have grown since the series became available to stream on Netflix in 2016. Some fans made it their mission to track down cast members such as William H. Macy (Frank) and Emma Kenney (Debbie) while they were in town for a week or two each season.
Andrea Szkwarko, who lives in the Bridgeport neighborhood, said she and a friend drove around looking for white crew vans and followed them to "Shameless" sets. Later, they used sightings and film permit information posted to social media to aid their search. Szkwarko, 44, said she formed lifelong friendships with other "Shameless" fans as they tried to piece together clues they gleaned from Chicago set visits and speculate about plot lines.
"People who were complete strangers stalking a film set one minute ended up being people who all went on vacations together later on," she told the Tribune. "I'm sad that the show is coming to an end and there will be no more opportunities like these to mingle with other fans, but there was some kind of magic that happened on those sets that will stay with me forever."
One of the friends Szkwarko made through "Shameless" is Erika Nutting, who said she twice traveled from Iowa to Chicago to watch filming. She said she met and chatted with Noel Fisher, who plays bad boy Mickey Milkovich. Last season, Milkovich married Ian Gallagher (played by Cameron Monaghan). That love story is what Nutting enjoys most about the show. "I never know what to expect from them, and I think that's the surprise that keeps me interested," said Nutting, 37. "I feel like I can go escape in the world of 'Shameless.' I made some good friends and had a lot of fun. It's a shame it's got to come to an end."
Even Chicago businesses got into the excitement. Beatrix, a mini-chain of local coffeehouse-restaurants, named a pastry for "favorite guest" Emmy Rossum, who played Fiona Gallagher. Executive partner and divisional president Marc Jacobs said in a statement that it was "a no-brainer and truly an honor" to name the gluten-free cream cheese coffee cake for Rossum.
The hoopla surrounding the show — which was adapted from a British series with the same name — surprised "Shameless" executive producer John Wells. He wrote the season 11 premiere episode, which is scheduled to air at 8 p.m. Sunday. Wells, a veteran of Chicago filming also through his time as executive producer of the long-running medical drama "ER," talked to the Tribune by phone about the final "Shameless" season and the show's die-hard fans. The following transcript has been edited for clarity and condensed for space.
