With SHAMELESS’ fantastic second season about to kick into high gear, theTVaddict.com thought now might be as good as any to preview what’s in store for fans of the funniest small screen family this side of the Dunphey-Pritchett clan. But just what did Emmy Rossum, Justin Chatwin, Jeremy Allen White, Laura Slade Wiggins and Executive Producer John Wells have to dish about what’s ahead for their delightfully dysfunctional family. Find out for yourself, after the jump.
After spending much of SHAMELESS’ first season acting like the responsible elder of the Gallagher clan, fans should brace themselves for Fiona to make up for lost time at the start of the second season. “Unlike the first season, Fiona has kind of lost her moral compass a little bit which was fun for me because I think as we grow up we all have horrifying moments where we realize, ‘Oh, My God, I’m just like my mother, or, I’m just like my father.’,” explained Rossum with regards to some of the slightly reckless relationships — including LONE STAR’s James Wolk and THE VAMPIRE DIARIES Taylor Kinney — that her character will go through in an effort to put her breakup with Steve behind her. And speaking of Steve….
Despite the fact that the first two episodes of SHAMELESS second season has seen a serious shortage of Steve (Justin Chatwin) screen time, the former object of Fiona’s affection will be back. Joked Chatwin at the recent panel featuring select members of the cast and creative team, “I was sweating, but they keep on inviting me back to these little things [indicating the panel], so I’m coming back.” Of course, the question remains, when? And while members of the panel, including executive producer John Wells were naturally keeping tight-lipped as to just what episode Steve returns, co-star Rossum did let it slip that when he does come back, “He’s made some pretty big life changes that will make jumping back into a relationship different.”
For those wondering how Lip (Jeremy Allen White) is going to react upon discovering just how serious Karen — his former friend-with-benefit — relationship with Jody — a much older fellow she met at Sex Addicts Anonymous — is getting, well, we’ve got some bad news for you. Not well. Which is to say, fans can expect Lip to tap into his inner Frank Gallagher in an attempt to sabotage their relationship. Explained White, “I think for my character, he kind of picks up on how he might be becoming a little bit more like Frank, and he really tries to push away from that as much as possible, and in doing so, he actually finds himself acting out a bit more like Frank would.”
After a first season that saw Karen sleep with two of the Gallagher men, get a tattoo, cut of her hair, and lose her disapproving father to an unfortunate ice fishing incident, it probably should come as no surprise that the start of season two sees Lip’s former friend-with-benefit doing her best impersonation of a girl who has got her act together. Of course, less of a surprise is the fact that what actress Laura Slade Wiggins characterized as a “great front,” and a “house of cards,” is moments away from crashing down. “It’s going to get blown over, but right now, she’s pretending [to be happy],” admitted Laura Slade Wiggins of Karen’s current Lip-free relationship. “She went through a lot in the first season, which is important to keep in mind, just because especially with the Gallaghers and the Jacksons and everybody in this neighborhood, everybody puts up this great front. Like all the people that live in the South Side where we shoot are very friendly, and you wouldn’t know that they had these really deep issues. They always put up a good front.”
Good news for fans of one of last season’s breakout characters, season 2 of SHAMELESS will allow for more scenes with Ian if for no other reason than his portrayer Cameron Monaghan is of legal age! “Because he [Monaghan] was a minor when we began, the original challenges of it were simply what we could show and not show and wanting to be realistic about those lifestyle choices,” explained Executive Producer John Wells. “But literally, there’s a federal law which we were routinely reminded of by Warner Bros. legal every time they got a script about what we could and couldn’t show. And he turned 18 this year and I was just watching one of the final episodes in which we were actually ?? in which we see him engaged romantically with a man and I loved it because we hear — the majority of the mail that I actually get on the show — other than people just sort of stopping us on the street — are actually from gay teenagers who say just a simple thank you. And that’s something that I feel really good.” 
Catch SHAMELESS Season 2 Sundays at 9PM on Showtime (Mondays at 9PM on TMN in Canada)