Worst ‘Shameless’ Casting Decisions So Far

Shameless has had a number of memorable characters throughout its nine seasons on Showtime, with not all of them being remembered fondly.

With so many great actors and actress appearing on the show since it debuted in 2011, there were bound to be a few that fans and critics felt just didn’t hit the mark.

Below, we have adapted a Screen Rant list of Shameless castings that did not turn out as well as planned.

Scroll down to check it out and let us know in the comments which Shameless character or casting you found yourself not a big fan of.

LAURA SLADE WIGGINS as KAREN JACKSON

One of Lip’s love interests in the series, Karen was a difficult character to like and mostly one-dimensional.

She appeared in the first two seasons of Shameless, and then finally exited for good in season three, but most fans agree that she never quite felt like a complete character in her own rite.

TYLER JACOB MOORE as TONY MARKOVICH

Tony was a character that felt like he was going somewhere, and then just… didn’t.

During season one of the show he was the more “wholesome” love interest for Fiona, as compared to the bad boy the Steve seemed to be, but he just kind of went away.

He was later brought back briefly, with the explanation being given that he is now (was always?) gay, but it just felt to most like this was a way to wrap up a lose end that wasn’t really necessary anyway.

NICHOLE BLOOM as AMANDA

Amanda wasn’t a bad character, nor was Nichole Blood bad at portraying her, but — in hindsight — she really only seems to have existed as a roadblock for Lip.

She wrecks Lip’s whole existence after finding out that he had a secret relationship with one of his professors, but she and Lip were never “exclusive” so without ever having actually professed her own genuine affection for him, she came across as mean-spirited to fans.

EMMA GREENWELL as MANDY MILKOVICH

When Shameless’ first season debuted, Mandy was played by by actress Jane Levy (Castle Rock, Evil Dead 2013).

She left after season one, however, and the role was recast with Emma Greenwell playing Many for seasons two to six.

Again, Greenwell is not a bad actress, but the character of Mandy just got less and less fun/interesting for fans. While Greenwell is in no way responsible for the direction her character went, she’s stuck being the one who carried the weight until the end.

EMILY BERGL as SAMMI SLOTT-GALLAGHER

Sammi Slott is by far one of the most unlikable characters in the history of Shameless, and Emily Bergl deserves a lot of credit for being the torchbearer of that baneful existence.

In all fairness, Sammi’s existence in both the show and the general mythology of show are Frank’s fault, the character still grew more and more irritating until she went to jail for attempting to kill Mickey.

DERMOT MULRONEY as SEAN

Dermot Mulroney is a great actor, just to get that out of the way, but his character Sean was hard to get behind.

The issue with Sean is really that Mulroney plays him so pompous and self-righteous, but then he turns out to be a real self-destructive person who ruins Fiona’s life.

It would have been one thing if he was like Ford — who seems genuinely honest and straight-forward — and then turned out to be a bad person, but that isn’t how it goes so his downward spiral just came across to the audience as predictable.

CHLOE WEBB as MONICA GALLAGHER

Playing the mentally ill, perpetually unstable mother to the Gallagher children can not have been easy, but there is something about Monica that just always rubbed fans the wrong way.

Monica was presented as a manipulative character who was only revealed to have suffered from mental health issues close to the end of her life, but her whole demeanor still felt very monotone in its chaos.

VANESSA BELL CALLOWAY as CAROL FISHER

Veronica’s mother Carol appeared in seasons one to six of Shameless, with one of the shows more bizarre plot lines revolving around her.

After its discovered that V and Kevin can’t get pregnant, the couple come up with the idea of using Carol as their surrogate. It does not take, however, and so V tells Carol and Kevin that should make a baby the old fashioned way. Much to the surprise of fans, Carol does in fact give birth and ends up keeping the baby.

Calloway play Carol very well, but the character seems to to only be around to serve this outlandish story and fans were not really into it.