‘Shameless’ Producer Hints at Ian and Mickey’s Marriage Strife in Upcoming Season 11

Shameless Season 11 is almost here, and ahead of the upcoming premiere, executive producer John Wells is dropping hints that Ian and Mickey are dealing with some marital strife. While speaking to TV Line, Wells opened up about what fans can expect to see in the new season, and he explained that Ian and Mickey have passed their honeymoon phase. Fans will remember that Ian and Mickey reunited at the end of Season 9 and then got married in Season 10.

“Mickey and Ian are both on parole, working minimum wage jobs and trying to make any kind of ends meet,” Wells said, revealing where the pair are at the beginning of Season 11. “Mickey, obviously, is struggling with, ‘Why don’t we just go rob something or do something where we can make some real money and just have a good time and not have to be doing this s—?’”

Along with Ian and Mickey, Lip and Tami are also struggling with the new chapter in their relationship, which Wells says is something the show will explore in its final outing. “We’re playing to those contrasts [with] what’s happening with Ian and Mickey, and what’s happening with Tami and Lip,” he said. “We’re playing a lot of those stories side by side so that Ian and Lip are spending a lot of time talking about, ‘How does this marriage thing work?’”

Going on to elaborate on Lip and Tami, who are not married, and how that plays into Ian and Mickey’s relationship, Wells shared it does lead to some contention. “They haven’t talked about it too much, but the truth is they might as well be married,” he said. “And that’s kind of Ian’s point of view, which is, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, you don’t have to deal with these same issues because you’re not married, but dude, you’re more married than I am.’”

Wells also addressed Debbie’s love life, saying “she’s got to figure out who she wants to be.” He continued, “The story, at this point, for all of the Gallagher kids is, ‘Who are we going to be as adults? And how much do we need each other, which is a lot, and how do we differentiate ourselves as adults?’ It’s a thing that we all go through if you’ve grown up in any kind of family, but particularly in a really close family where everybody depends upon everybody else, basically, to survive.” Shameless returns Sunday, Dec. 6, only on Showtime.