Ever since we heard Michael J. Fox had joined the cast of Shrinking, we’ve been looking forward to the actor’s first return to acting since 2020’s The Good Fight. As the season premiere is on the 2026 TV schedule, what better way to prepare than hearing Jason Segel share one pinch-me moment he had with the Back To The Future star on set.
Anyone who grew up in the 1980s has the right to fanboy over Michael J. Fox, and Segel was born at the start of the decade right in the sweet spot to idolize Marty McFly. Here’s what the Shrinking star shared about one standout moment getting to share air with the Back to the Future legend that lives rent free in his head:
I think that for me it was that I got to tell him that during this period in my 20s when I was trying to do a TV show and make movies at the same time that he was like this beacon of ‘If this guy can pull it off, maybe you can pull it off too.’ And so I idolized him in a way, and to get to tell him that, that was really special.
Have you heard about the crazy story behind Michael J. Fox shooting Back To The Future? Well, the 23-year-old was plucked by Bob Zemeckis to play the role, replacing the original actor Eric Stoltz after six weeks of filming. At the time, McFly was also filming Family Ties, and under contract, so he ended up doing both at the same time. In Fox’s recent account of the production of the movie in Future Boy, he got honest about barely getting sleep while playing both characters in a move that he’s pretty certain wouldn’t be allowed today.
However, for someone like Jason Segel, who was once on How I Met Your Mother and making movies like Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I Love You, Man or The Muppets at the same time, he looked up to Fox’s work ethic for his own motivation to “pull it off too.” You have to wonder how the pair of actors bonded about trying to make it in Hollywood and what war stories they swapped on the set of Shrinking.
From what we know about Season 3, Fox’s character will cross paths with Harrison Ford’s Dr. Paul Rhoades, who’s been dealing with Parkinson’s disease, early in the season and appears in multiple episodes. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1991, and has been a vocal advocate for research with The Michael J. Fox Foundation since 2000. Ford has previously called Fox an “essential” addition to Shrinking Season 3.
The new season of Shrinking premieres on January 28, with new episodes premiering on Wednesdays. You can watch the series with an AppleTV+ subscription.
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