'Shameless' season 7 news: Steve Howey talks Kev's 'master plan'; new actor joins show

"Shameless," the popular Showtime dramedy, debuted its season 7 earlier this month, with Frank Gallagher (William H. Macy) and his dysfunctional family getting into a whole new level of shenanigans.

But while the Gallaghers deal with the consequences of the events in the season 6 finale, Kevin Ball (Steve Howey), their neighbor, is happily ensconced in the show's new "thrupple," which consists of him, Veronica Fisher (Shanola Hampton), and Svetlana Fisher (Isidora Goreshter).

Previously, the relationships among the three characters were shown to be no more than a string of hook-ups and a marriage of convenience. But in "Shameless" season 7, the eccentric "thrupple" has evolved into an actual happy family, with each member participating in the financial and child-rearing aspects of their set-up.

In a recent interview with The Wrap, Howey spoke about how Kev is dealing with this new situation and revealed that there has so far been no disadvantages to the "thrupple"-hood.

"It's going good and in this next episode Kev has got a master plan," the actor said.

Indeed, in the second episode of "Shameless" season 7, Kev resorts to hiring a topless maid when V and Svetlana berate him for not cleaning up the house while they were working at the bar. Disappointed by his hired maid, Kev comes up with the idea of starting his own topless maid business — with V and Svetlana providing the "topless" bit of the service while someone else does the cleaning.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter prior to the season 7 premiere, Hampton spoke about the "thrupple," saying, "Polyamory is being shown in a way that hasn't been shown on television before."

"It's not 'Big Love,' where the poly aspect was all it's about," she added. According to the actress, V fell in love with Svetlana and Kev loved her enough to accept the relationship. "For her to make that choice, it wasn't to make it temporary — this is her new life and new family," she said.

Meanwhile, Howey also dished to The Wrap about what's in store in "Shameless" season 7, saying that it will focus on Fiona's (Emmy Rossum) transition into an "entrepreneur," Ian's (Cameron Monaghan) conflict with his boyfriend, and the consequences of Lip (Jeremy Allen White) getting kicked out of school.

"There are some new love interests that come in," he added. "It's a really new character, a really cool actor that I think everybody's going to like."

"Shameless" season 7 airs Sundays at 9 p.m. EDT on Showtime.