Shrinking on Apple TV+ sees Star Wars legend Harrison Ford take up one of his first TV roles. The comedy series is written by Bill Lawrence, co-creator of the hit comedy Ted Lasso, as it follows grieving therapist Jimmy Johns (Jason Segel) who starts to break the rules of his profession, telling his clients exactly what he thinks. Putting his training and ethics aside, Jimmy decides to stop sugar-coating the truth and consequently makes huge changes to people’s lives, and his own. Harrison Ford will play Dr Phil Rhodes but the details of his character are still under wraps.
So here’s everything we do know about Shrinking on Apple TV Plus...
Shrinking release date
Shrinking will launch worldwide on Apple TV+ on Friday January 27 2023. It starts with the first two episodes of the 10-part series. You can then watch a new episode weekly, every Friday.
Is there a trailer for Shrinking?
Yes, both a teaser and full trailer for Shrinking have been released by Apple TV Plus. The teaser doesn’t give too much away but it does include the tagline ‘sometime you have to breakdown to have a breakthrough,’ so we know what to expect from Jason Segel’s character Jimmy Johns. The longer official trailer is below the teaser. It does look a lot of fun...
The full trailer for Shrinking is now also available. Watch it here:
Shrinking plot — what happens in the comedy
Shrinking is a 10-part comedy in which Jason Segel stars as Jimmy Johns, a therapist who has experienced grief himself. As a result, he starts to engage with his clients in an entirely different way, dispensing with sensitivity and telling them precisely what he thinks. And he soon sees that honesty can bring with it unexpected results, not least in his own life.
Shrinking cast — Jason Segel as Jimmy Johns
Jason, who plays eccentric therapist Jimmy Johns, starred in the long-running show How I Met Your Mother and has also been in the movies This is 40, The Muppets, Sex Tape and Knocked Up. He played Neil Jansen in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Peter in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. He also voices Vector in the animated movie Despicable Me.
Harrison Ford as Dr Phil Rhodes
Screen legend Harrison Ford is playing Dr Phil Rhodes in Shriking. Best known for his roles as Indiana Jones in the hit movie franchise and of course Star Wars pilot Han Solo in those films and its sequels, Harrison has numerous other major film credits including The Call of the Wild, What Lies Beneath, The Fugitive, Patriot Games, Blade Runner and Ender’s Game.
Who else is starring in Shrinking?
Shrinking boasts an all-star cast that includes Cougar Town and Scrubs star Christa Miller who's playing Liz while Fantastic Beasts star Jessica Williams is Gaby and Michael Urie (Single All The Way, Ugly Betty) plays Jimmy's best friend Brian. Luke Tennie (Players) and Lukita Maxwell (Generation) also star.
Interview: Jason Segel and Michael Urie reveal all about Shrinking and working alongside Harrison Ford
In Shrinking, Jason Segel plays Jimmy, a therapist who is dealing with a terrible personal crisis and who has consequently alienated himself from all those who care about him, including his teenage daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell).
"Jimmy is a therapist who has very recently lost his wife in a tragic accident, so he is in the middle of grieving but not in a very healthy way" explains Jason. "He’s not really addressing it. He’s boozing and drugging and dating his way through grief."
Jimmy’s nearest and dearest are doing their best to hold him together, not least his seemingly curmudgeonly but secretly caring boss, Dr Paul Rhodes, who is played by Harrison Ford in what is his first TV role for many years. And getting to star alongside the Indiana Jones and Star Wars legend was seen as something of a coup by the Shrinking cast.
"It was awesome. He’s been a part of my life for as long as I can remember and they say don’t meet your heroes, but he gave me everything I wanted out of my Harrison Ford encounter,’ says Michael Urie, who plays Brian, Jimmy’s best friend who Jimmy has ghosted for the past year. "Harrison is the kind of guy who likes to make jokes. He likes to pretend to be cranky but he’s not. He pretends to be a grizzly bear when he’s actually like a teddy bear. During our scenes I kept saying to myself ‘don’t forget a second of this. You’re working with one of the greats. At one point I said to him, ‘you know you’re very good at this’ and he said, ‘and you thought I was just a pretty face.’
However, despite the glowing reviews for Harrison, his character Paul is not quite so enamoured with Jimmy when it comes to his new approach to therapy. For Jimmy believes that his usual therapy isn’t getting results, so he decides to start giving his clients the unvarnished truth.
"Jimmy realises he’s not helping anybody with this type of passive therapy approach – the mirror type approach that people tend to roll their eyes at where the therapist just says, ‘how does that make you feel?’ explains Jason. "He essentially has a nervous breakdown about everybody being stuck, probably not being able to see that that includes him, and he decides he has to take radical action in the way that he deals with his patients. He starts saying, ‘no I’m going to help you actually change. Here are some practical things to help you move forward’. But he gets pretty close to some moral and ethical lines.’"
Unsurprisingly, Jimmy’s actions have huge consequences, not just for his patients but in his own life too. "Helping other people helps him start to rebuild himself and the family that has crumbled along the way," adds Jason. "Essentially he’s a guy trying to pull himself together by helping other people."
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