‘Shameless’ Season 9 Extended; Find Out How Extra Episodes Change Airing Schedule

“Shameless” Season 9 is going to be a little longer than usual. While the Showtime comedy typically features 12 episodes in a season, Season 9 will include 14. However, fans will also have to deal with an extended midseason hiatus.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Showtime announced the change Monday. The first seven episodes of “Shameless” Season 9 will start to air as planned on Sunday, Sept. 9, but the midseason finale will now air on Oct. 21. The series will return to the small screen in 2019. Season 9B will premiere Sunday, Jan. 20 at 9 p.m. EDT.

The move makes sense for Showtime from a financial standpoint. “Shameless” is one of the network’s longest running and most successful series. By breaking the episodes into two batches, the network can enjoy the financial success of the series in two quarters.

The new season appears to have more than enough trouble for the super-sized episode order. The latest trailer revealed that while Fiona (Emmy Rossum) will try to expand her portfolio as a building owner, and she’ll continue her relationship with Irish carpenter Ford (Richard Flood). Frank (William H. Macy) will spread an STD to all the PTA moms, and he’ll even start a political campaign (purely for the money, of course).

Season 9 will continue several Season 8 storylines as well. Lip (Jeremy Allen White) will still be playing dad to a kid who was abandoned by one of Lip’s flings. Ian (Cameron Monaghan) will continue to be the leader of the Gay Jesus movement, which is clearly getting out of control. Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) will head back to military school only to find that his wife Kassidi (Sammi Hanratty) is even harder to ditch than he thought.

Elsewhere, the season will touch on the #MeToo movement in their own “Shameless” way. Kev (Steve Howey) and V (Shanola Hampton) need to make the bar “less rape-y,” and Debbie (Emma Kenney) is determined to get equal pay at work (a storyline that might remind viewers of star Rossum’s fight for pay equality).

“Shameless” Season 9 kicks off Sunday, Sept. 9 on Showtime.