American comedy-drama series Shameless has been a smash amongst viewers. The dysfunctional Gallagher family is at the center of Showtime's long-running series. He has six kids, but he's a bad dad since he drinks too much and has a drug problem.
The show's portrayal of a family that was almost too real won over viewers, and the show ran for 11 seasons to widespread acclaim. Now that Ferris has ended, viewers are likely wondering what happened to the patriarch of the Gallagher family.
The showrunner has given a more in-depth explanation, revealing that they have been working on the conclusion for quite some time. The creators worked hard to make the ending feel authentic while still satisfying fans of the long-running series.
Let's examine all the evidence, including the tidbits most people overlook, to find out Does Frank die in Shameless. Keep reading till the end.
Does Frank Die in Shameless?
Even though Frank died in a manner that was fairly fitting for him, fans of the series Shameless were still uncertain if the death of the Gallagher patriarch was represented in the show's climax.
He woke up in the ER, but in his dream he was in the Alibi bar, chugging a few beers. Perhaps in a dream or as a ghost, he floated above his loved ones as he sat on the bar stool.
John Wells, the show's lead writer, confirmed Frank's death in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. In March 2020, when everything was about to begin filming, “we intended on alcoholic dementia,” Wells said.
As the director put it, “We were just a few days away from shooting when everything shut down.” When it came to Frank's drug and alcohol abuse, Bill (Macy) and I had always agreed that he would pay a price.
We both felt that his acts deserved some sort of consequence. By the time we decided to call it quits, we had written well over halfway through the season and were so inebriated that we couldn't remember why.
However, when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the showrunner decided to make significant changes to the plot. He continued, “With all the comorbidities that Frank had, Bill and I both talked about it.”
It was decided that “‘It would be unrealistic for nobody in this town to truly suffer significant consequences of the epidemic.' And Frank made the most sense, it seemed. Several circumstances could have contributed to his decision to jump from the cliff, but it was the final straw.
At that moment, he was barely hanging on. We didn't pick the sickest individual you've ever seen just to get rid of them. It seemed quite unlikely that the south side of Chicago, where many people live just beyond the poverty line, would see any improvement in their circumstances and yet experience no fatalities as a result of this dreadful pandemic.
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How Did Frank Gallagher Die In ‘Shameless’?
In the eleventh season of Shameless, viewers saw Frank Gallagher's memory start to go. It started out mildly enough, but quickly became so severe that he was diagnosed with alcoholic dementia. Despite this, he persistently forgot that he had dementia.
Frank's son Liam (Christian Isaiah) is assigned the job of caring for his father in the eleventh episode of Season 11 of Shameless. The son tattoos information about his father's dementia and emergency contacts into his father's arms.
He also emphasizes that his father is his caretaker. And when he's feeling down, Liam tries to cheer him up by doing “Frank things” with him, like robbing strangers. The physical changes Frank was experiencing began to make more sense to him.
Therefore, he inked the words “Do not resuscitate” over his chest. A while later, he tried to overdose on heroin after writing a letter to his loved ones detailing his decision to end his life. In the season finale of Shameless, he awoke in the South Side of Chicago with no idea.
Eventually, he entered a church, where he insisted on performing the duties of an altar boy, including lighting the candles. After the priest summoned an ambulance in the series finale of Shameless, Frank regained consciousness in the hospital.
His COVID-19 test came back positive, and he died in the ER when medical staff discovered the “DNR” order inscribed on his chest. Even if no cause of death is explicitly stated, viewers can make an educated assumption that he died as a result of COVID-19 complications and severe substance abuse.
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