William H. Macy opened up about how he feels about all the actors who played his kids on the classic series Shameless in a new interview on the Films to be Buried With with Brett Goldstein podcast on Wednesday, May 29. While looking back on the Showtime series, William, 74, said that he was happy to see how far the actors who played his children have come.
For those who may not have caught the critically-acclaimed series, William plays the father Frank Gallagher in Shameless, and he’s father to six children: Fiona (Emmy Rossum), Lip (Jeremy Allen White), Debbie (Emma Kenney), Carl (Ethan Cutkosky), Liam (Christian Isaiah), and Ian (Cameron Monaghan). Even though the series ended in 2021, many of the actors have gone on to critically acclaimed projects like Jeremy’s role in The Bear. Emmy has also starred in many hit movies and TV shows like The Phantom of the Opera.
Even though William was just their on-screen dad, he admitted that he still feels a paternal sense of pride when he sees how well they do. Even though he felt that Shameless‘ ending was on time, he admitted that he’s still “proud” of the other actors. “They’re all doing really well, which is great. And I feel that these sort of are my Ersatz kids, so I’m very proud of them,” he said on the podcast, via People. “It was very, very sad, and I do miss them.”
William also said that he “loved” getting to make Shameless, and he explained that he thought it improved his acting chops. “Just the fact that we did it for so long, I finally calmed down, and boy, did my acting improve, and, boy, did people like me better,” he said.
Shameless came to an end in 2021, after 11 seasons and 134 episodes. Throughout the show’s run, it earned four Primetime Emmy awards. William was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series six times throughout the show’s run, but did not win the award.