'Shameless' Resumes Production on 11th and Final Season Following COVID-19 Shutdown

Shameless has reportedly resumed production on its 11th — and final — season, following a mass [...]

By Stephen Andrew

Shameless has reportedly resumed production on its 11th — and final — season, following a mass shutdown of all TV production due to COVID-19. According to Deadline, the show will start shooting again on Sept. 8. Shameless is one of two Warner Bros. Television TV series that are resuming productions, with TNT's Animal Kingdom being the other. It starts shooting again on Sept. 7.

On Thursday, WarnerMedia Studios & Networks chief Ann Sarnoff spoke with Deadline about the studio getting shows back up and running. "Television shows are getting back up and running in Southern California," Sarnoff said. Notably, a few other Warner Bros. Television shows have already resumed production, including Supernatural, Batwoman, and the HBO Max limited series The Flight Attendant. "It may not be as continual as it would have been if we had not had COVID, but I think every linear and streaming service has the same issue," Sarnoff added referring to about the coronavirus pandemic interrupting the original content pipeline. "But we're trying hard to get back into production, so we can have that stream of programming to get into HBO Max and all our partners, cable channels, and CW."

During her conversation with Deadline, Sarnoff seemed to indicate that there are no plans to end or cancel other shows whose production had to be suspended because of COVID-19. "We kind of left things midstream and are picking up where we left off," she said. "We have Flight Attendant with Kaley Cuoco that we're making with HBO Max, which I believe we have two episodes left, and Gossip Girl which we're just getting started. We have to, of course, revisit the economics because of the delays and to bring the productions back in the world, but that's something that's happening industry-wide."

Previously, Showtime co-president of entertainment Gary Levine spoke out about why the show is ending with Season 11, saying, "Shameless has been such a great performer for us, and we just felt like, 11 seasons is a big fat number." He added, "[Producer] John [Wells] and his people refresh it each year, and it still gets a huge audience for us as well as for that streaming services that run our reruns (Netflix). We just felt it was time, and we also liked the idea of giving John and Co. a chance to end it well, to be able to aim for that landing." There is currently no word on when Season 11 of Shameless may eventually debut.

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