Ian Gallagher
Encyclopedia
Ian Gallagher is a fictional character from the British television series Shameless and its American spinoff.
In the early series, Ian is depicted as closest to his brother Phillip, with whom he shares a room, and is initially the only member of his family to know that he was gay. The brothers often have to look out for each other more than any of the other characters, due to being party to each others' secrets. In later series, all the family, except Frank, are aware of his sexuality.
Ian often identifies as gay, having various relationships with older men throughout the first four or five series. Kash Karib is to date his only long-term boyfriend, though he has a brief relationship with Sean Bennett, and an ongoing friendship, sometimes sexual, with Micky Maguire. Because he is unaware of his parentage at the time, Ian also unknowingly sleeps with his half-brother. Ian sees Sean at their biological father's funeral and later tells the truth to Sean, who wants to keep seeing Ian, but eventually agrees that they can not ignore their familial relationship. Beginning in the 4th series, Ian has a number of relationships with women. He repeatedly has sex with a girl he is briefly hiding in his home for her protection, but when she asks him to leave with her, he declines, knowing a relationship would not work. He has a relationship of convenience with Mandy Maguire, to protect his secret, which nearly turns sexual when they're both at a low point, but they fumble about until Ian decides it's a bad idea. In the seventh series, Ian begins a serious relationship with Maxine Donnelly. When Maxine's brother Bruce asks if their being in a relationship means Ian is now "bisexual", Ian pauses, before saying he just believes he has found the right person.
Due to Gerard Kearns break to work on a film, Ian leaves in the first episode of the 6th series after suffering amnesia. He is seen in episode two in a clip of him partying abroad and appears on webcam
in later episodes. He returns in the seventh episode; this features the debut of Danny, a deaf teenager whom Ian unwittingly transports back to the UK in the boot of his car. Ian now lives in the house of Danny's deceased grandfather, which was leased to him by Danny's Aunt Pegg, in gratitude for looking after him. Danny and Pegg later move to Spain.
In Series 7 in 2010, it appears Ian has remained at Danny's old address and has accepted Micky Maguire as a tenant. Ian supports Carl
's girlfriend Maxine when she decides to have an abortion and break up with Carl. Maxine moves in with Micky and Ian. The situation becomes complicated when Maxine asks Ian to pose as her boyfriend to impress her parents. Ian and Maxine begin to develop feelings for each other and have sex. Micky sees them and tries to convince Ian he shouldn't be with a woman, but Ian says the labels don't matter, he wants to be with Maxine. This leads to a major falling out with Micky, who feels betrayed. Micky tells Carl, who then beats up Ian in the toilets at The Jockey. In spite of the remaining tensions, Ian and Maxine become a couple.
Even with the lingering animosity from Carl and Micky, Ian and Maxine are happy but they are thrown into turmoil when Carl (along with Chesney) runs away after being accused of murder. Ian is initially not bothered with Carl's absence, and is more concerned at just how concerned Maxine is over Carl. When Ian and Maxine are in The Jockey, Maxine confronts Jimmy, whom everyone knows is the killer. As Ian looks on, Jimmy's sister hits Maxine in the head with a pool cue. Ian feels ashamed that he let Maxine fight the battle on her own and in spite of her reassurances, he begins to believe that she would have been better off with Carl. To try to prove his worth, Ian attempts to tape a confession from Jimmy, but Jimmy sees through his plan and savagely beats him. Ian begins to further withdraw and is unable to have sex with Maxine; during the time they do spend together, he becomes more paranoid about her feelings every time she mentions Carl. Carl's name is soon cleared and he attempts to make amends with Ian, but Ian isn't interested. He again accuses Maxine of wanting to be with Carl, to which she tells Ian she just doesn't want to be with him. In spite of this conflict, Ian and Maxine still have strong feelings for each other, and Carl convinces Maxine that she and Ian belong together. Ian shows up at hospital soon after Carl and Maxine talk, and he and Maxine smile at each other, and they reconcile.
In the finale of series 7, Ian and Maxine were returning home after a night out, when they are accosted by a rough whom attempts to mug them. But they fight back and overpower the thug, and drag him back unconscious to their house. The thug turns out to be a hireling of Roscoe, a Moss Side-based crime lord. After hours of deciding what to do with him, Maxine overhears a conversation where Ian admits that he would "rather fuck him than kill him". This seems to be the end of the relationship, as Ian's sexuality may might turn out to be the source of future infidelities. When Ian prepares himself to kill the thug, Maxine and he find that he escaped from his bonds while they were conversing. Ian is seen later with a backpack, apparently leaving Chatsworth. It is not stated whether it is because he is leaving Maxine or if it is to avoid retribution by Roscoe's gang. He happens upon Karen, as she and Joe are about to leave Chatsworth themselves. After witnessing Joe's abusive treatment of Karen, Ian stows away in the boot of Joe's car. After Joe tries to beat and abuse Karen, Ian kills him and makes his exit from the show to dispose of the body.
In a later episode in series 8, Carl is shown to get a 'Happy Birthday' text from Ian. Ian will return in episode 17 of series 8.
life, including a gay nephew who is not out to the rest of his family. Ian's relationship with Kash is based on a similar affair that Abbott had with a grocer's wife when he was 14, with the adult's gender switched for Ian's story.
-feuled affair between his mother Monica and an as-yet unspecified brother of Gallagher family patriarch Frank in the summer of 1995. Monica conceals knowledge of this affair from the Gallagher family, leaving them to believe that Ian is Frank's son. The truth is uncovered when Ian undergoes DNA
testing in hopes of proving that Frank is not his biological father. Ian feels that Frank hates and resents him, feelings that Ian's sister Fiona attributes to Ian's looking most like Monica of all of the children.
Ian is highly orderly and disciplined, traits that are attributed to his membership in his school's Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps
. His JROTC training has also afforded Ian proficiency in small arms and he is an excellent marksman.
Ian is gay and closeted
. When his older brother Lip discovers a cache of gay pornography
in the room they share, he first confronts Ian with it and then sets Ian up to receive oral sex from Karen Jackson, a neighbor whom Lip tutors. When Karen confirms that Ian was unaroused by her ministrations, Lip comes to accept his brother and becomes Ian's trusted confidante.
When the series opens, Ian is involved in a sexual relationship with Kash, owner of the Kash and Grab, the neighborhood convenience store where Ian works. Kash, an Asian Muslim, is married to Linda, a white woman who converted to marry him, and has two children with her. Usually Ian and Kash have sex in the storeroom, but one weekend when Linda and the children are out of town Kash brings Ian to their home. Upon seeing the reality of Kash's life with his family, Ian balks at having sex there.
Ian's schoolmate Mandy Milkovich expresses a sexual interest in him. When he does not reciprocate, she tells her brothers that Ian imposed himself on her sexually. After evading them, he comes out
to Mandy, who not only calls off her brothers but suggests that she be his sham girlfriend to deflect any questions about his sexuality.
Ian continues his affair with Kash but Linda, who has installed security cameras in response to rampant shoplifting
at the store, catches them in the act on tape. Surprisingly, she does not mind if the affair continues but demands that Kash impregnate her before he has sex with Ian again. Meanwhile, Mickey Milkovich, one of Mandy's brothers and an aggressive shoplifter who has been terrorizing Kash, steals the gun kept in the store for protection. Ian confronts Mickey at his home, determined to retrieve it. In the ensuing altercation the pair realize their attraction and have sex. They maintain the sexual relationship although Mickey denies any emotional attraction to Ian; Ian cools off his relationship with Kash. Eventually Kash catches the two having sex in the store and, in response, shoots Mickey in the leg and has him arrested following Mickey's brazen theft of a candy bar.
Following the news of Ian's parentage, Lip encourages him to find his biological father. Upon visiting "Gram", Frank's mother, who is incarcerated on charges relating to two deaths in a meth lab explosion, Ian and Lip learn that Frank has three brothers, Clayton, Jerry and Wyatt. Wyatt, however, is eliminated from consideration because he lost his testicles while serving in the Navy
. Jerry, who turns out to be Frank's twin, refuses to speak to the boys. Clayton closely resembles Ian and the boys assume he is Ian's father. Lip suggests that the affluent Clayton would make a better father than Frank but Ian insists that Frank is his father and Lip and the rest of his siblings are his family, where he belongs.
Season 1 closes with Ian's arrest and release after being stopped with Lip in a car stolen by Fiona's boyfriend Steve. He tells Fiona that he's gay and Fiona says she already knows.
". Actor Monaghan said he was drawn to the role because "[i]t’s one of those really intricate, multilayered characters, with all this inner struggle going on." He believes that Ian is different from other gay teenage characters currently on American television because he does not conform to any gay stereotypes and because of the character's blend of positive traits. "He’s smart and he’s tough and he's brave and he’s really caring and responsible—and I think that’s not always shown in one character."
wrote that their relationship was a highlight of the UK series, and proved just as effective in the US adaptation. She additionally commended Monaghan's portrayal for providing "one of the more nuanced depictions of a gay teenager to be seen on US TV." In a generally unfavorable review of the series, Variety
Brian Lowry assessed that "what little soul it possesses" is derived from the Ian–Lip relationship. Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe
called Monaghan "extraordinary", and wrote: "The moments when Lip confronts Ian about his sexuality are remarkably honest and refreshing, as they each slowly realize they don't need to play out predictably hostile roles." In contrast, Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times
opined that their relationship "borders on treacle".
Fictional biography
Ian Gallagher (born 11 August 1989) is the third oldest Gallagher sibling and is aged 15 at the beginning of the first series in 2004. He is the son of Monica and Gary Bennett, revealed when his blood group was found to be incompatible with the rest of his siblings'. His half-brothers are Phillip Gallagher, Carl Gallagher, Liam Gallagher and Sean Bennett, and his half-sisters are Fiona Gallagher, Debbie Gallagher, and Stella Gallagher. He has one niece, Katie Maguire. He used to work at The Jockey as a barman but in more recent series his employment, if he has any, has not been shown.In the early series, Ian is depicted as closest to his brother Phillip, with whom he shares a room, and is initially the only member of his family to know that he was gay. The brothers often have to look out for each other more than any of the other characters, due to being party to each others' secrets. In later series, all the family, except Frank, are aware of his sexuality.
Ian often identifies as gay, having various relationships with older men throughout the first four or five series. Kash Karib is to date his only long-term boyfriend, though he has a brief relationship with Sean Bennett, and an ongoing friendship, sometimes sexual, with Micky Maguire. Because he is unaware of his parentage at the time, Ian also unknowingly sleeps with his half-brother. Ian sees Sean at their biological father's funeral and later tells the truth to Sean, who wants to keep seeing Ian, but eventually agrees that they can not ignore their familial relationship. Beginning in the 4th series, Ian has a number of relationships with women. He repeatedly has sex with a girl he is briefly hiding in his home for her protection, but when she asks him to leave with her, he declines, knowing a relationship would not work. He has a relationship of convenience with Mandy Maguire, to protect his secret, which nearly turns sexual when they're both at a low point, but they fumble about until Ian decides it's a bad idea. In the seventh series, Ian begins a serious relationship with Maxine Donnelly. When Maxine's brother Bruce asks if their being in a relationship means Ian is now "bisexual", Ian pauses, before saying he just believes he has found the right person.
Due to Gerard Kearns break to work on a film, Ian leaves in the first episode of the 6th series after suffering amnesia. He is seen in episode two in a clip of him partying abroad and appears on webcam
Webcam
A webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...
in later episodes. He returns in the seventh episode; this features the debut of Danny, a deaf teenager whom Ian unwittingly transports back to the UK in the boot of his car. Ian now lives in the house of Danny's deceased grandfather, which was leased to him by Danny's Aunt Pegg, in gratitude for looking after him. Danny and Pegg later move to Spain.
In Series 7 in 2010, it appears Ian has remained at Danny's old address and has accepted Micky Maguire as a tenant. Ian supports Carl
Carl Gallagher
Carl Gallagher is a fictional character from the Channel 4 drama Shameless, he is the fourth oldest Gallagher sibling. The son of Frank and Monica, his brothers are Phillip and Liam; his sisters are Fiona, Debbie, and Stella; his half-brothers are Ian and Nigel; and his half-sister is Delia...
's girlfriend Maxine when she decides to have an abortion and break up with Carl. Maxine moves in with Micky and Ian. The situation becomes complicated when Maxine asks Ian to pose as her boyfriend to impress her parents. Ian and Maxine begin to develop feelings for each other and have sex. Micky sees them and tries to convince Ian he shouldn't be with a woman, but Ian says the labels don't matter, he wants to be with Maxine. This leads to a major falling out with Micky, who feels betrayed. Micky tells Carl, who then beats up Ian in the toilets at The Jockey. In spite of the remaining tensions, Ian and Maxine become a couple.
Even with the lingering animosity from Carl and Micky, Ian and Maxine are happy but they are thrown into turmoil when Carl (along with Chesney) runs away after being accused of murder. Ian is initially not bothered with Carl's absence, and is more concerned at just how concerned Maxine is over Carl. When Ian and Maxine are in The Jockey, Maxine confronts Jimmy, whom everyone knows is the killer. As Ian looks on, Jimmy's sister hits Maxine in the head with a pool cue. Ian feels ashamed that he let Maxine fight the battle on her own and in spite of her reassurances, he begins to believe that she would have been better off with Carl. To try to prove his worth, Ian attempts to tape a confession from Jimmy, but Jimmy sees through his plan and savagely beats him. Ian begins to further withdraw and is unable to have sex with Maxine; during the time they do spend together, he becomes more paranoid about her feelings every time she mentions Carl. Carl's name is soon cleared and he attempts to make amends with Ian, but Ian isn't interested. He again accuses Maxine of wanting to be with Carl, to which she tells Ian she just doesn't want to be with him. In spite of this conflict, Ian and Maxine still have strong feelings for each other, and Carl convinces Maxine that she and Ian belong together. Ian shows up at hospital soon after Carl and Maxine talk, and he and Maxine smile at each other, and they reconcile.
In the finale of series 7, Ian and Maxine were returning home after a night out, when they are accosted by a rough whom attempts to mug them. But they fight back and overpower the thug, and drag him back unconscious to their house. The thug turns out to be a hireling of Roscoe, a Moss Side-based crime lord. After hours of deciding what to do with him, Maxine overhears a conversation where Ian admits that he would "rather fuck him than kill him". This seems to be the end of the relationship, as Ian's sexuality may might turn out to be the source of future infidelities. When Ian prepares himself to kill the thug, Maxine and he find that he escaped from his bonds while they were conversing. Ian is seen later with a backpack, apparently leaving Chatsworth. It is not stated whether it is because he is leaving Maxine or if it is to avoid retribution by Roscoe's gang. He happens upon Karen, as she and Joe are about to leave Chatsworth themselves. After witnessing Joe's abusive treatment of Karen, Ian stows away in the boot of Joe's car. After Joe tries to beat and abuse Karen, Ian kills him and makes his exit from the show to dispose of the body.
In a later episode in series 8, Carl is shown to get a 'Happy Birthday' text from Ian. Ian will return in episode 17 of series 8.
Development
Ian's character is distilled from several sources in series creator Paul Abbott'sPaul Abbott
Paul Abbott is a BAFTA award-winning English television screenwriter and producer. Abbott has become one of the most critically and commercially successful television writers working in Britain today, following his work on many popular series, including Coronation Street, Cracker and Shameless,...
life, including a gay nephew who is not out to the rest of his family. Ian's relationship with Kash is based on a similar affair that Abbott had with a grocer's wife when he was 14, with the adult's gender switched for Ian's story.
Fictional biography
Ian Gallagher was born in 1996, the product a PCPPhencyclidine
Phencyclidine , commonly initialized as PCP and known colloquially as angel dust, is a recreational dissociative drug...
-feuled affair between his mother Monica and an as-yet unspecified brother of Gallagher family patriarch Frank in the summer of 1995. Monica conceals knowledge of this affair from the Gallagher family, leaving them to believe that Ian is Frank's son. The truth is uncovered when Ian undergoes DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
testing in hopes of proving that Frank is not his biological father. Ian feels that Frank hates and resents him, feelings that Ian's sister Fiona attributes to Ian's looking most like Monica of all of the children.
Ian is highly orderly and disciplined, traits that are attributed to his membership in his school's Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps
Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps
The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps is a Federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools across the United States...
. His JROTC training has also afforded Ian proficiency in small arms and he is an excellent marksman.
Ian is gay and closeted
Closeted
Closeted and in the closet are metaphors used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and intersex people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior.-Background:In late 20th...
. When his older brother Lip discovers a cache of gay pornography
Gay pornography
Gay pornography is the representation of sexual intercourse between men with the primary goal of sexual arousal in its audience. There is also a tradition, and continuing considerable output, of lesbian pornography....
in the room they share, he first confronts Ian with it and then sets Ian up to receive oral sex from Karen Jackson, a neighbor whom Lip tutors. When Karen confirms that Ian was unaroused by her ministrations, Lip comes to accept his brother and becomes Ian's trusted confidante.
When the series opens, Ian is involved in a sexual relationship with Kash, owner of the Kash and Grab, the neighborhood convenience store where Ian works. Kash, an Asian Muslim, is married to Linda, a white woman who converted to marry him, and has two children with her. Usually Ian and Kash have sex in the storeroom, but one weekend when Linda and the children are out of town Kash brings Ian to their home. Upon seeing the reality of Kash's life with his family, Ian balks at having sex there.
Ian's schoolmate Mandy Milkovich expresses a sexual interest in him. When he does not reciprocate, she tells her brothers that Ian imposed himself on her sexually. After evading them, he comes out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
to Mandy, who not only calls off her brothers but suggests that she be his sham girlfriend to deflect any questions about his sexuality.
Ian continues his affair with Kash but Linda, who has installed security cameras in response to rampant shoplifting
Shoplifting
Shoplifting is theft of goods from a retail establishment. It is one of the most common property crimes dealt with by police and courts....
at the store, catches them in the act on tape. Surprisingly, she does not mind if the affair continues but demands that Kash impregnate her before he has sex with Ian again. Meanwhile, Mickey Milkovich, one of Mandy's brothers and an aggressive shoplifter who has been terrorizing Kash, steals the gun kept in the store for protection. Ian confronts Mickey at his home, determined to retrieve it. In the ensuing altercation the pair realize their attraction and have sex. They maintain the sexual relationship although Mickey denies any emotional attraction to Ian; Ian cools off his relationship with Kash. Eventually Kash catches the two having sex in the store and, in response, shoots Mickey in the leg and has him arrested following Mickey's brazen theft of a candy bar.
Following the news of Ian's parentage, Lip encourages him to find his biological father. Upon visiting "Gram", Frank's mother, who is incarcerated on charges relating to two deaths in a meth lab explosion, Ian and Lip learn that Frank has three brothers, Clayton, Jerry and Wyatt. Wyatt, however, is eliminated from consideration because he lost his testicles while serving in the Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. Jerry, who turns out to be Frank's twin, refuses to speak to the boys. Clayton closely resembles Ian and the boys assume he is Ian's father. Lip suggests that the affluent Clayton would make a better father than Frank but Ian insists that Frank is his father and Lip and the rest of his siblings are his family, where he belongs.
Season 1 closes with Ian's arrest and release after being stopped with Lip in a car stolen by Fiona's boyfriend Steve. He tells Fiona that he's gay and Fiona says she already knows.
Development
Ian has been described as "the anti-Kurt HummelKurt Hummel
Kurt Hummel is a fictional character and one of the male leads in the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. Series creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan initially conceived of him as a fashionable gay countertenor who is routinely bullied at school...
". Actor Monaghan said he was drawn to the role because "[i]t’s one of those really intricate, multilayered characters, with all this inner struggle going on." He believes that Ian is different from other gay teenage characters currently on American television because he does not conform to any gay stereotypes and because of the character's blend of positive traits. "He’s smart and he’s tough and he's brave and he’s really caring and responsible—and I think that’s not always shown in one character."
Reception
Several critics have praised Ian's dynamic with Lip. Reviewing the pilot episode, Sarah Hughes of The IndependentThe Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
wrote that their relationship was a highlight of the UK series, and proved just as effective in the US adaptation. She additionally commended Monaghan's portrayal for providing "one of the more nuanced depictions of a gay teenager to be seen on US TV." In a generally unfavorable review of the series, Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
Brian Lowry assessed that "what little soul it possesses" is derived from the Ian–Lip relationship. Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
called Monaghan "extraordinary", and wrote: "The moments when Lip confronts Ian about his sexuality are remarkably honest and refreshing, as they each slowly realize they don't need to play out predictably hostile roles." In contrast, Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
opined that their relationship "borders on treacle".