Shrinking Season 2 is officially confirmed – and we are excited as heck about it.
For those who don’t recall, Shrinking premiered back in 2023 and became one of the best shows on Apple TV+. Co-created by Bill Lawrence, who made Ted Lasso (which finished its final season run in 2023 as well), the series mainly follows a therapist who used unorthodox methods to help his clients as he struggled to cope following the death of his wife.
The series, starring Jason Segel and Harrison Ford, received positive reviews and earned plenty of nominations for awards, and it was only a short time before Season 2 was confirmed. But, what is Season 2 going to be about? And when could we see it? Here is everything we know so far about Shrinking Season 2.
What Is The Shrinking Season 2 Premiere Date?
As of May 2024, there is no set premiere date for Shrinking Season 2. If we’re being honest, it’s not that surprising, considering Apple TV+ can take a little longer to release new seasons of its shows.
For example, we had to wait more than a year for Ted Lasso Season 3. In fact, there are plenty of shows out there now on the 2024 TV premiere schedule that have taken longer to produce than shows of the past—like The Boys Season 4, the second season of House of the Dragon, and more. It would not be shocking if Shrinking wound up going in that direction.
However, the bright side of Shrinking is that it’s a down-to-earth show, meaning there aren’t many crazy special effects or anything that might take months to create. All it has is excellent writing and acting, so hopefully, it won’t be too long before we see the show again.
The Main Shrinking Cast Is Expected To Be Back
While nothing has been officially confirmed regarding the main Shrinking cast, it’s safe to say that they’re all expected to return. This includes:
- Jason Segel as Jimmy Laird
- Jessica Williams as Gaby
- Luke Tennie as Sean
- Michael Urie as Brian
- Lukita Maxwell as Alice
- Christa Miller as Liz
- Harrison Ford as Dr. Paul Rhoades
The cast of Shrinking is amazingly talented and did such a fantastic job portraying their characters in the series. Jason Segel earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, and Jessica Williams even scored a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress. I’m ready to see them bring back their excellent acting skills for Season 2.
Co-creator Brett Goldstein Has Joined The Cast
While the official main cast for Season 2 has yet to be confirmed, we can report that Shrinking co-creator and Ted Lasso vet Brett Goldstein will have a role in the next season. Deadline reported the news in March 2024, saying that Goldstein is billed as a guest star, with his character details under wraps.
The report says that multiple attempts have been made to get the actor to appear in the show, but it didn’t “pan out” until now.
Goldstein worked together previously with Shrinking co-creator Bill Lawrence on Ted Lasso, where the actor played Roy Kent as part of the Ted Lasso cast.
The actor previously had a cameo appearance in Thor: Love and Thunder as Hercules, and he has an upcoming role in The Garfield Movie, but it’ll be awesome to see him guest star in the show he co-created.
Dr. Paul Rhoades Will Announce The Theme Of The Second Season In The First Episode
At the very beginning of the first episode of Shrinking, Harrison Ford’s character, Dr. Paul Rhoades, revealed the central theme of the first season through his monologue – grief. And it seems like Season 2 is going to move in that direction as well.
Speaking with Collider in March 2023, Bill Lawrence revealed that Season 2 of the show would be the same way, where Dr. Rhoades would disclose the theme of the second season as he is speaking in the first episode:
We knew the first year was about grief because we announced it. Harrison Ford’s character says, ‘Grief is a sneaky little f*cker.’ We knew what the second year was about, and Harrison will announce it in the first episode of the second year. We knew, going in, that the ending of the first year would lead us into what we wanted to write about in the second season. I don’t wanna do any spoilers, but I don’t think it’s what people will imagine it’s going to be.
In another interview with Variety also in March 2023, Lawrence said that the main theme of the second season would be “forgiveness,” and if there’s a third, it would be about learning to move forward in life. How Dr. Rhoades will reveal that, I’m not sure, but I’m here for it.
Season 2 Will Feature Repercussions For Jimmy’s Therapy Advice
One of the main things that I loved about Shrinking was the unorthodox advice that Jimmy would give his clients — often because it led them to some wacky and crazy situations. But, if you watched the Shrinking Season 1 finale, you and I both know that what Heidi Gardner’s character, Grace, did was not good.
It seems that Season 2 of the show will openly dive into that, as Variety confirmed in an interview with Jason Segel in late March 2023 that there will be repercussions for Jimmy’s advice, as some of his clients have taken what he’s said seriously:
One of the things that we did think was really, really important was to make sure that the show was honest. And Jimmy is behaving erratically and trying new unconventional therapy and there’s convention for a reason. And so there needs to be consequences for his actions. It couldn’t all be that it just works. So we’re gonna definitely see the fallout of this and see adjustments being made. I mean, there’s a moment in the show where I say ‘bash his brains, eat them up.’ Probably not proper therapy.
It would make sense to see something like what happened with Grace, but man, I still can’t believe it even happened.
Filming Began In January 2024
The last thing we know about Shrinking Season 2 is that production officially began in January 2024. Bill Lawrence confirmed in a reply on Twitter that production would start on the Monday after he published the Tweet. Then, the Deadline article regarding Brett Goldstein joining the cast confirmed that production on the show was still happening.
I’m not sure if it’s still occurring as of this writing, but if production is done, or nearly so, we might end up getting the second season in late 2024 if we’re lucky.
While it might be a bit of time before we see Shrinking Season 2, I can be patient for the excellent story and for another storyline to move me to tears. Bring it on, Lawrence and Goldstein. I can take it – and by ‘it,’ I mean all my feelings to my therapy session.
Source Agencies
