Michael J. Fox has been back in the news lately for his memoir Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum, where he discusses topics like why he hated driving the spruced-up DeLorean in the 1985 movie and one reason he feels bad he was cast in the role of Marty McFly. However, soon he’ll be back on our small screens as well for Shrinking Season 3, which premieres on the 2026 TV schedule next month. Bill Lawrence, creator of the hit Apple TV subscription-exclusive series, opened up about Fox’s role in this next season, and I’m looking forward to his acting return even more now.
Lawrence and Fox go way back, as the latter starred in the first four seasons of Spin City, the first TV show the former created, and then guest starred in an episode of Clone High and two episodes of Scrubs. Shrinking will mark Fox’s first time acting onscreen since he reprised his The Good Wife character, Louis Canning, in two episodes of the spinoff The Good Fight, and Lawrence recalled to TVLine how he looped him into his latest series:
He made the mistake of saying out loud in front of me at a social event over the summer that he kind of missed acting. Unsurprisingly, we live in a world dealing with Parkinson's, and for Mike to be able to play a full-fledged character with that condition, I just thought it was fascinating and super cool to watch. He still has ridiculous comic timing, and people will see that as soon as the trailer comes out.
Bill Lawrence described Michael J. Fox as playing a “full-fledged character” in Shrinking Season 3, meaning he’s not playing a fictional version of himself. This still-unnamed character will meet Harrison Ford’s Paul Rhoades, who also has Parkinson’s disease, at the beginning of the season and appear in multiple episodes. No doubt Fox’s character will help Paul grapple and deal with this condition, especially considering that in Shrinking Season 2’s penultimate episode, he learned from his doctor that his medication will stop working in six months to a year.
Yeah, that’s getting heavy, which is why I’m also glad to know Michael J. Fox will get funny moments in the next season of Shrinking. His “ridiculous comedic timing” combined with Harrison Ford’s dry wit has the potential to be a humor gold mine. As eager as I am to see these two men share screen time together, I’m also curious if Fox will perform opposite any of Shrinking’s other series regulars, like Jason Segel’s Jimmy Laird or Jessica Williams’ Gaby.
Shrinking Season 3 also sees Jeff Daniels coming in to play Jimmy’s father, and Sherry Cola, Isabella Gomez and Candice Bergman have been cast in undisclosed roles. The next batch of episodes premieres Wednesday, January 28 on Apple TV.
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