Emmy Rossum’s ‘Angelyne’ Transformation Is First Big Step of Her Post-‘Shameless’ Plan

Now that Emmy Rossum is no longer working on Shameless, she is finally working on her long-gestating project Angelyne. The limited series has been in development since at least 2017, and s based on a Hollywood Reporter article about the mysterious Los Angeles billboard diva. Rossum finally got to work on the show, central to her post-Shameless career, this week.

Rossum shared a photo of herself as Angelyne on Twitter Tuesday, showing off the blonde bombshell look she will be donning in the series.

Back in November 2017, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Rossum was teaming up with Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail to turn the August 2017 THR story “The Mystery of L.A. Billboard Diva Angelyne’s Real Identity Is Finally Solved” into a series.

Rossum will star in the title role and is executive producing under her Grey Matters Pictures banner. Esmail, who is married to Rossum, will executive produce under his EsmailCorp banner. Chad Hamilton is executive producing under Anonymous Content.

“I have always been fascinated by the enigma that is Angelyne,” Rossum said in a statement to THR. “At a young age, I can vividly remember staring up at her on a billboard above me and wondering, ‘Who is that woman?’ Gary Baum’s investigative journalism has finally unearthed the true, complex identity of the infamous woman who has fascinated Los Angeles for over 30 years. From the moment I read Gary’s recent piece, I knew I had to tell this story. It’s a poignant and bizarre tale about the hunger for fame, the sexualization of women and the erasing of past traumas.”

Rossum and Esmail shopped the project to several networks. In September 2019, it was finally picked up by NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, Peacock. Rossum recently signed a first-look deal with Universal Content Productions and Esmail’s Mr. Robot aired on NBCU’s USA Network.

Angelyne has been a project close to Rossum for awhile. Back in September 2018, Shameless showrunner John Wells told THR it was one of the projects she was “excited about doing” and it played a role in her decision to leave the show behind.

Rossum surprisingly announced she wanted to move on from playing Fiona Gallagher after nine seasons in September 2018. Her final Shameless episode, “Found,” aired in March 2019.

Although Angelyne is Rossum’s first acting gig after Shameless, she has broken into directing. In 2019, she directed the Modern Love episode “So He Looked Like Dad. It Was Just Dinner, Right?” episode for Amazon. The episode featured Julia Garner, Shea Whigham and Myha’la Herrold.

“The opportunity to play Fiona has been a gift. There are few characters — female or otherwise — as layered and dynamic. She is a mother lion, fierce, flawed and sexually liberated,” Rossum wrote in an emotional statement in 2018. “She is injured, vulnerable, but will never give up. She is living in an economic depression, but refuses to be depressed. She is resourceful. She is loyal. She is brave.”

Peacock has not set a debut for the Angelyne series yet.

Photo credit: ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images