Shrinking boss Bill Lawrence has revealed a collection of returning guest stars for Shrinking Season 3, which already has an exciting list of new cast members joining the fold of the Apple TV+ comedy. Lawrence’s new comments have even revealed details about previously announced newcomers.
Brett Goldstein and Cobie Smulders will be back in Shrinking Season 3 after making their onscreen debuts in the shows in the second season. Goldstein is one of the co-creators, writers, and executive producers of the series (he worked with Lawrence on Ted Lasso), and he played Lewis is Season 2, the man responsible for the car accident that killed Jimmy’s (Jason Segel) wife, Tia (Lilan Bowden). Smulders played a single mom named Sofi selling a car who shared some sparks with Segel, her How I Met Your Mother costar.
Michael J. Fox will return to acting for a guest star role in Shrinking, reuniting him with his Spin City creator, Lawrence. Fox joins Jeff Daniels as a new guest star, as well as Sherry Cola and Isabella Gomez.
Shrinking follows grieving therapist Jimmy (Jason Segel) who starts to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ignoring his training and ethics, he finds himself making huge, tumultuous changes to people’s lives, including his own. Ford plays his curmudgeonly boss, Paul (Harrison Ford), with Jessica Williams as their colleague and friend, Gaby.
Here’s a breakdown of what’s to come in Season 3, which could be its last, based on previous comments from Lawrence.
Who is in the Shrinking Season 3 cast?
Mark Seliger
Michael J. Fox’s Shrinking role is being kept under wraps for the most part for now, but Lawrence confirmed to TV Line that he will be connected to Harrison Ford’s Paul Rhoades, who is living with progressing symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
“It’s not just a walk-by,” Lawrence said. “He ended up being in two or three [episodes], and it’s significant. He has a real character, a real role in Harrison Ford’s character’s life, and it was really fun to do.”
“On a show that deals with Parkinson’s, and has a character that regularly sees a neurologist for treatment of his Parkinson’s, it was easy to have Mike play an actual character with the condition,” Lawrence continued. “He is playing someone who is 100% not him — both in how he reacts to it, and how he deals with it — but he can still play his character’s truth better than anyone else could.”
In Season 2, the symptoms of Paul’s Parkinson’s were progressing faster than expected. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1991 and revealed his diagnosis publicly in 1998. Shrinking will mark Fox’s first acting role since reprising his Good Wife character in 2020 on The Good Fight. Apple TV+ also recently partnered with Fox on the acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning documentary, STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie.
Daniels will guest star as Jimmy’s father in the third season. “If you’re telling a story about found family, and a dude [like Jimmy] has another guy in his life as a father figure, then it’s interesting to explore what’s lacking on the real side for him,” Lawrence revealed of Jimmy’s dad.
Shrinking is co-created by Lawrence and cast members Segel and Goldstein. All three of them are also executive producers and writers (Goldstein joined the cast in Season 2). Their costars are Christa Miller (Liz), Michael Urie (Bryan), Ted McGinley (Derek), Luke Tennie (Sean), and Lukita Maxwell (Alice). Paul is one of Ford’s first television lead roles (he also starred in the Yellowstone prequel 1923 — the shows debuted within one month of each other in December 2022 and January 2023).
Damon Wayans Jr. guest starred as Derek, a new love interest for Williams’ Gaby, in Season 2, the finale of which set up his potential return next season. Devin Kawaoka will presumably return as Brian’s husband, Charlie. The couple adopted a child in Season 2. And Wendie Malick, who plays Paul’s partner, Julie, will likely be back as well. Lily Rabe guest stars as Paul’s daughter, and Kelly Bishop made a surprise appearance in Season 2 as Paul’s ex-wife.
Everett Collection
Lawrence told TV Line that Goldstein will be back in “multiple episodes” in the third season as the series depicts how he’s moving forward after the guilt of causing that fatal accident.
“Forgiveness wasn’t just Jimmy’s story,” Lawrence said. “It was Alice’s story, and Derek and Liz’s story, and Sean with his dad, and Gabby and her mom and sister, so this sense of moving forward exists for everybody, and we consider Brett’s character to be a major one after the second year.”
Lawrence’s comments about Smulder’s return revealed that Sean is getting a love interest in Season 3 as well.
“The cool thing about the show — and we even told all the actors and actresses this when we started — is that this is a show about a tiny found family that built a nuclear safety bubble around themselves to get through sh*t, and then people forgive and open up these doors,” he said. “That’s why you see someone like [One Day at a Time vet] Isabella Gomez, who is playing a love interest for Luke Tennie’s character [Sean]… you see Michael J. Fox coming in… [and] you see Cobie Smulders come in for Jason as a guy that — you know, you talk about moving forward, and whether or not [Jimmy] can find a way to even imagine himself being happy again.”
Is Shrinking ending with Season 3?
The theme for Season 2, as Lawrence previously told TV Insider, was “forgiveness.” The third and possible final season will be themed “moving forward,” as Lawrence previously shared. The 2024 renewal announcement didn’t say that Season 3 is the final season, but Lawrence does pitch his Apple TV+ shows as three-season stories. So that possibility is still up in the air.
“I’m so lucky to work on Shrinking with actors, writers, and a crew so talented that they all elevate the material,” Lawrence, who also executive produces, said in a statement in the renewal announcement. “I’m even luckier that they are people I’d want to spend time with anyway. Huge thanks to Apple TV+ and Warner Bros. for the amazing partnership and support. So grateful we get to keep making this show. Onward!”
“It has been wonderful to watch audiences around the world fall in the love with the memorable characters and rich world that Bill, Brett and Jason have created in ‘Shrinking,’” said Matt Cherniss, head of programming for Apple TV+. “We are incredibly excited for viewers to see where life takes Jimmy, Paul, Liz, Gabby, Alice, Sean, Brian and Derek, next as they continue on their moving, heartwarming and very funny journey in season three.”
The series is produced for Apple TV+ by Warner Bros. Television. Lawrence, Segel, Goldstein, Neil Goldman, James Ponsoldt, Jeff Ingold, Liza Katzer, Randall Winston, Annie Mebane, Rachna Fruchbom, and Brian Gallivan all serve as executive producers on Season 2. Ashley Nicole Black and Bill Posley will serve as executive producers on Season 3.
Shrinking, Season 3 Premiere, TBA, Apple TV+
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