When it comes to finding out why Emmy Rossum left the show, it's tempting not to read between the lines of what some of the Shameless cast and crew have said in the years since. There are rumors that Rossum was difficult to work with behind the scenes, which gained more prominence when Emma Kenny, who played Debbie on the show, alluded to them in a 2021 interview on the Call Her Daddy podcast (via Rock). “I remember before she left,” Kenny recalls, “I'd go on set for a few days and I'd be very anxious to have a scene with her, because if she had a bad day, she made it a bad day for everybody. .

The official reason for Rossum's departure is simply that she wanted to work on other projects, not any tensions with the cast. "I can confidently say that this cast and crew, who I have been truly honored to work with, are world class," she wrote in Facebook post at the time. "I am proud and filled with gratitude.

The other potential factor in Rossum's departure was her pay dispute with Showtime in 2016. As Variety reported at the time, Rossum is seeking equal pay with (William H.) Macy, after seven seasons of being underpaid, according to a report published earlier today by The Hollywood Reporter. A source told Variety that she was actually offered equal pay, but she's trying to get paid more than Macy to make up for previous seasons where she earned significantly less than him.

I think Rossum had a good case to make. Although Macy was the biggest name associated with the show, by 2016 it had long been clear that Rossum, Jeremy Allen White and Cameron Monaghan were doing much more than him with much more interesting material. Fiona, in particular, was both the heart of Shameless and the clear main character; of course Rossum should be the highest paid. Showtime ended up agreeing to Rossum's terms fairly quickly, and while some fans have often speculated that the dispute played into Rossum's decision to leave, her own comments about the situation imply nothing of the sort.

"At the end of the day it was for me, I had to make a very unemotional, very business-like decision," she said he told The Daily Beast after it happened. "It's their responsibility to make the most profit, which means getting the talent that's best for the role at the cheapest possible price." Everyone wants to get something on sale. And it's our responsibility to get as much as we can, and that's our agents. The responsibility of lawyers, after all, is business."