Summary

• Frank Gallagher may be a deplorable character, but others on Shameless did far worse things.
• Characters like Terry Milkovich and Debbie Gallagher committed horrific acts, making Frank seem less dubious.
• Fiona Gallagher's actions rival Frank's in of callousness and cruelty, proving she is more like him than she'd it.

While Frank Gallagher kept viewers captivated by being an often deplorable human being, many of the most hated characters in Shameless did far worse. Widely considered the worst character on Shameless, Frank did some awful things during his arc on the show. However, William H. Macy's Frank Gallagher is far from the worst character in the show, with many others — including of his own family — making him look far less dubious by comparison.

Frank did some unforgivable things, not limited to seducing and ruining Dottie's heart transplant for money and faking cancer in Carl for monetary gain. His carelessness resulted in lifelong trauma for the Gallaghers. However, the show was full of several other characters who did many horrific things for their own gain, or just because they were innately bad people. While Frank may be one of the most hated Shameless characters, he's far from the worst.

Shameless is available to stream on Netflix.

10 Terry Milkovich

The World's Worst Father

Terry Milkovich (Dennis Cockrum), the head of the Milkovich family was absolute evil and one of the first names that springs to mind when considering the worst Shameless characters. Terry was a homophobe, a racist, a sexual predator, and a murderer, which were not all qualities that Frank shared. Terry had assaulted his own daughter and put his son through a living nightmare for being gay, even shooting up their venues and trying to "convert" Mickey in the worst way possible.

Terry was someone who even Frank Gallagher considered abhorrent, as he too did not put him out of his misery when he asked to be shot. He was a terrible person, and he had no qualms about showing it. While neither was a contender for father-of-the-year, between the two of them, Frank was far better than Terry.

9 Debbie Gallagher

Frank 2.0

One of the youngest of the Gallagher siblings grew up to be quite an abhorrent young woman, and she was proud of it. Debbie's (Emma Kenney) biggest problems included being a sex offender, neglecting her child, stealing and flipping strollers, and manipulating Neil, Claudia, and a cancer patient for her own benefit. She actively listened to Frank when he came up with schemes to scam people, but went one step beyond and committed some seriously damaging crimes for the heck of it. She was a bad mother who knew nothing about her daughter, mainly because she didn't want to. Debbie's arc was just like Monica and Frank's, but with more grievous crimes.

8 Karen Jackson

A Shameless Character So Hated Her Exit Saved The Show

Unpredictable and manipulative, Karen (Laura Slade Wiggins) shocked Shameless viewers with her brazen actions that were both immoral and, at times, illegal. She toyed with Liam's emotions, and to take revenge on her parents, she filmed herself sleeping with Frank while he was drugged, which led to her father's suicide. She had violated Frank, lied, embarrassed, and hurt too many people just to be rebellious and fulfill some absurd revenge fantasy. Karen's exit from Shameless saved the show, and she managed to be one of the most hated characters in just a few episodes.

7 Mandy Milkovich

An Uncaring Would-Be Murderer

Lip's other love interest had a tragic story with her father and brother, but that still did not justify the fact that Mandy (Emma Greenwell) tried to willfully murder Karen for a trivial reason. She couldn't accept Lip's continued love for her, so she gave her brain damage for life, but her intention was to kill. She also had a few less-than-consensual encounters with Lip in previous episodes, which was unacceptable.

Shameless was a show about people crossing boundaries and acting in appalling ways, but Frank had never intentionally tried to murder anyone with his bare hands. He did take advantage of people who were close to death, but first-degree murder was not something that he was guilty of. For being so cavalier about potentially murdering Karen, Mandy proved herself to be a much worse character in Shameless.

6 Sammi Slot

Frank's Lack Of Care Combined With Dangerous Volatility

One of the most hated ing characters on Shameless, Sammi (Emily Bergl) was just like Frank. Vicious and unhinged, she was prone to going to extremes in her behavior, and her love was conditional at best. Just like Frank, she warmed up to the Gallaghers when she wanted to, and then threw them under the bus when she felt like it. Calling the military police on her own kin was awful, but then she decided to shoot Frank when she felt unloved.

The Gallagher patriarch was known to do some questionable things in his time, but never without reason (albeit his own twisted logic). Sammi was worse because nobody could ever predict how she would react, and she was incredibly volatile.

5 Fiona Gallagher

Fiona Is More Like Frank Than She'd it

At first, Fiona (Emmy Rossum) was painted to be the opposite of Frank's callousness and cruelty, but in time, her actions rivaled the worst things that Frank ever did. Leaving cocaine out in the open for Liam to find, hoodwinking a senior citizen to sell her Laundromat, opposing homeless shelters, and constantly cheating on her partners were just a few of her crimes.

Fiona had to become hard and cruel to earn a place in the world because being soft got her nowhere. She had inherited the tendency towards cheating, fraud, and infidelity from her parents, and for Fiona, these traits became her life. She cared for her siblings but became exacting and transactional with them later, which meant that they had another adult caregiver let them down.

4 Maurice White

A Despicable Predator

Maurice or Mo (Stephen A. Change) was put out of commission for being a pedophile, but he managed to find a way back into politics with Frank's help (although Frank didn't know about Mo's history at the time). Maurice claimed to have dated a fifteen-year-old by mistake, but he was seen with another underage girl as soon as he won. Frank had done several questionable things, but pedophilia was not one of his flaws. Maurice was a predator who abused his power at the first opportunity. Maurice's place among the most hated Shameless characters is unquestionable. He was the worst example of a shady politician, and Frank, too, was appalled.

3 Jimmy/Steve Lishman

Jimmy's Dual Lives Lead To Heartache

The reason why Jimmy (Justin Chatwin) was way worse than Frank was because he pretended to be a good guy, but always disappointed his loved ones when he broke his promises. Frank, however, made no bones about the type of person he was, and he made it quite clear that he couldn't be relied on for anything. Jimmy played Fiona and her family with his attentiveness, which was an act. He had a second life where he was married and in big trouble with criminals, who made him chop up bodies and kill people. Jimmy was too engrossed in his duplicity to ever be a good partner and person in general.

2 Sean Pierce

Frank Saved Fiona From A Much Worse Shameless Character

Just like Jimmy, Sean (Dermot Mulroney) was another unpredictable and untruthful man in Fiona's life, who went up to the wedding altar with her while hiding the whole time that he was a heroin addict. Sean was knowingly ready to ruin Fiona's life, which was very insidious of him. Ironically, it was Frank who outed Sean's continued addiction to Fiona and the family.

Sean had previously killed a person while he was high, and there was no telling what he would have done had the marriage gone through. His treatment of Fiona after he remarried his ex-wife was also selfish and deplorable. It was very calculated, and unlike Frank, Sean had no money issues motivating his terrible actions.

1 Patrick Gallagher

Frank's Conniving Cousin Is Far Worse

Frank's cousin Patrick Gallagher (Brent Sexton) was a vulture who liked to swoop in on his family's assets and take them away for profit. Taking over the house resulted in the Gallaghers nearly being homeless, and Patrick intentionally tried to evict them too. He even takes out money against the house that wasn't his, another situation that nearly led to the Gallaghers being turned out onto the streets. At least Frank never made people become homeless and waited for them to die to take over their property. Patrick was conniving with his own family for no good reason, leading to him being ed as the most hated Shameless character.