Apple TV — no, not Apple TV+, remember the rebrand — finally announced the premiere date for season 3 of its beloved dramedy Shrinking. It feels great to have a date on the books… but make no mistake, fans will still have to wait a bit for their next appointment.
The show is set to return on January 28 with a super-sized one hour premiere episode. From there, episodes will air on a weekly basis every Wednesday through April 8, which will be the season finale.
Jason Segel and Harrison Ford lead the show’s cast, which also includes Christa Miller, Jessica Williams, Luke Tennie, Michael Urie, Lukita Maxwell and Ted McGinley. This season, series cocreator and former Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein will return to the show in a guest star role. Damon Wayans Jr, Cobie Smulders, and Wendie Malick will also guest star this season, in addition to Jeff Daniels and Michael J. Fox.
Interestingly enough, it seems as though Fox is playing a man with Parkinson’s disease on the show, something he deals with in his personal life.
“I said, ‘You did a show about Parkinson’s, and you didn’t call me?’” Fox explained of talking with Ford about getting on the series in a recent interview with People. “And he said, ‘Oh, you want to do it?’ And I said, ‘I’d love to do it.’ So he said, ‘Let me think about it, see what I can do.’ So he went to work on it and came up with this concept, it’s really good.”
Needless to say, it was a great opportunity for the Back to the Future actor to be unapologetically himself on set considering the limitations placed upon him by his illness. “It was the first time ever I got to show up on-set, and I didn’t have to worry about am I too tired or coughing or anything,” Fox told the outlet. “I just do it. It was really good, because for the moments when I say, ‘I’m not going to be able to do this,’ then I say, ‘Well, I’ll just deal with how I can’t do it in the scene.’ And you get through it.”
Ford was also particularly excited to have the iconic actor guest star this season and show the world he’s still got it.
“Michael’s courage, his fortitude and his grace, more than anything else, is on full display. He’s very smart, very brave, noble, generous, passionate guy, and an example to all of us, whether we’re facing Parkinson’s or not,” Ford told People. “You cannot help but recognize how amazing it is to have such grace… Parkinson’s is not funny. And I want to get it right. It’s necessary to be correct with what we do in respect of the challenge that Parkinson’s represents, and that we don’t use it for its entertainment value.”
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
