‘Shameless’: Cameron Monaghan Reveals Why He Returned Just Months After Leaving Show

Cameron Monaghan opened up about his decision to return to Shameless less than four months after leaving the series.

As his other role on Fox drama Gotham wraps up this season, it appears the decision to return turned out to be about money, with the hit Showtime series also losing Emmy Rossum at the end of the current ninth season. The series was recently renewed for Season 10.

“I’ve renewed [my contract] a number of times and it got to a point where I wanted to step away for creative reasons as well as business, which many other actors had done on the show years earlier,” Monaghan told reporters Wednesday at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “I took some time away and talked to showrunner John Wells about possible things we could do with the character in the future and we got to a place both creatively and financially where I felt comfortable coming back. Much of that had to do with what we are going to do with the story. I’m excited to go back and do that.”

Monaghan has starred as middle child Ian Gallagher since the first episode of Shameless. He was recently written out toward the end of the first half of the Season 9 when Ian was sentenced to time in prison.

Also during his “final” episode, writers gave Ian a rather happy ending when it was revealed that his ex-boyfriend Mickey (Noel Fisher) was his new cellmate.

When he announced his exit from the series back in October, Monaghan said he had known since 2017 that he would be leaving the series. At the time, however, he left the door open to return later in the show.

Along with the Season 10 renewal, Showtime announced at the end of January that Monaghan would return full time. He later confirmed to the outlet Wednesday that he signed a one-year series regular contract and would be returning to Chicago as Ian when the series returns in fall 2019.

Monaghan did not reveal if he would return at the end of Season 9 to have a proper goodbye with sister Fiona (Rossum) or if fans should consider Ian’s return as a sign for more Mickey cameos.

The actor did open up he hopes the show will explore Ian after he lost everything, his latest relationship and his career as an EMT.

“Now that we’ve torn him down… [and] instead of just looking for a relationship or resolving relationship conflict [it would be interesting] to instead [to see him] be working on himself,” he told reporters. “It’s interesting that Ian worked his way up, got his life on track and completely wrecked it… Seeing him learn to lead the family and take care of himself and be on the straight and narrow… would be an interesting arc for him. I’d like to see something outside of just him searching and being single and hooking up with people.”