Shrinking EP Tees Up Brett Goldstein And Cobie Smulders' Returns, Michael J. Fox And Jeff Daniels' Season 3 Arcs
Shrinking Season 3 has nearly wrapped production, and viewers can expect to see new (and familiar) faces when the Apple TV+ comedy returns for its next batch of episodes centered on moving forward.
That's the theme this year, following previous runs focused on grief and forgiveness. Season 2 — a TVLine Dream Emmy Nominee for Outstanding Comedy Series — introduced series co-creator Brett Goldstein as Louis, the drunk driver responsible for the death of Jimmy's wife, Tia. In the Dec. 24 finale, Jimmy confronted Louis before he had a chance to throw himself in front of a train — and during a recent Zoom, fellow co-creator Bill Lawrence confirmed to me that Goldstein will be back for "multiple episodes" in Season 3, which will show how Louis is moving forward in his own life.
"Forgiveness wasn't just Jimmy's story," the EP points out. "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 also promises that we'll see a lot more of Jason Segel's How I Met Your Mother co-star Cobie Smulders, who is set to recur after she was introduced in Season 2, Episode 10 as Sofi, a potential love interest for Jimmy.
"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 s—t, and then people forgive and open up these doors," he says. "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."
Along the way, Jimmy will reconnect with his father — who, as previously reported, is being played by Emmy winner Jeff Daniels. Lawrence doesn't say much about the Newsroom star's role, but he does offer the following tease: "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."
Meanwhile, aforementioned father figure Paul will be dealing with his worsening condition — and that's where Michael J. Fox comes in. Though Lawrence previously shared that Fox would be sharing scenes with Harrison Ford, the extent of Fox's role — and whether he'd be playing himself or a fictional character — had not been revealed, but Lawrence now tells me that his part is crucial to Season 3.
"It's not just a walk-by," the EP says. "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 notes. "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."
Though Shrinking was initially conceived for a three-season run — akin to Lawrence and Goldstein's other Apple TV+ show, Ted Lasso, which was recently renewed for Season 4 — Lawrence is "very confident" that the show will continue.
"We always knew how [Season 3] would end," he says. "Very intentionally, it feels, I hope, like a super satisfying end to the story we're telling — but it does not feel like there's nothing left to talk about. I think people will see when the episodes [are released] what we're leaning into.... But for us to go forward [with Season 4], we have to tell a different story than the one we've been telling for three seasons. We know what it is, and we're even putting some Easter eggs about that in the show."
TVLine will keep you posted once Apple TV+ announces a return date for Shrinking. In the meantime, hit the comments with your hopes for the third (but probably not final) run.