About a week before the season nine premiere of Shameless, Fiona Gallagher’s Emmy Rossum announced that there would soon be no more Fiona. Don’t worry though, she’s finishing up season nine and it has been announced that the crew is working hard on a season finale that will say farewell to Fiona in the most honorable, Gallagher way possible. The show simply won’t be the same without her– and the Gallagher family is sure to completely fall apart, (for real this time.)
Here are some of Rossum’s best ‘Fiona’ moments over the years.
*Some spoiler’s may be ahead* Season 1, Episode 9
One of Rossum’s best moments was at the end of season one when Monica (the kids’ mom who abandoned them when they were young) showed up with her girlfriend to take Liam (the youngest Gallagher.) Fiona put her foot down and told Monica how she really felt.
Season 4, Episode 3
Okay, maybe this isn’t one of Fiona’s best moments, but it’s definitely a testament to how strong she is. This was the beginning of Fiona’s short-lived sexual relationship with Robbie, her current boyfriend’s brother. This relationship got Fiona into a lot of trouble, but she picked up the pieces and kept herself and her family intact, per usual.
Season 6, Episode 4
Despite pawning her ex-husband’s ring to save the family home after getting an eviction notice, the Gallaghers lose the house in an auction. In the last moments of the episode, Fiona is seen heartbroken and homeless. This is the start of yet another series of episodes where Fiona works feverishly to hold her family together (and of course she succeeds, yet again.)
End of Season 7, Beginning of Season 8
After Monica’s sudden death, the Gallagher family is in shock. Fiona makes it clear that her only concern is getting her dead mother into the ground as soon as possible. She doesn’t shed a tear. Kind of hard to be sad when your own mother left you to raise 5 kids, plus your drunken father at age 7.
All of Season 9
This is one of the first times that we see Fiona actually focusing on bettering herself and not the kids. She buys an apartment complex and starts trying to make a living like a normal, responsible adult. She starts living on her own. She pursues a relationship that actually isn’t bad for her. But, of course, Fiona wouldn’t be Fiona if she still wasn’t holding the Gallagher’s together, even if she isn’t living with them.
Shameless definitely won’t be the same without the oldest Gallagher, but if it wasn’t for Fiona the family probably wouldn’t have lived this long to begin with.