You better get your tissues prepped, because Shrinking Season 3 is on the way. While Harrison Ford’s speech in the Season 2 finale made us all cry, I have a feeling we’re going to be experiencing a lot more of that when Jimmy, Paul, and everyone else comes back around for a third time.
Who is going to star in this new season? And what is it going to be about? How much more are we truly going to cry? Here is what we know so far and what you can expect with the next season of Shrinking.
When Is The Shrinking Season 3 Premiere Date?
At the time of updating this in August 2025, there is no set premiere date for Shrinking Season 3. However, we can at least theorize. Shrinking has been consistent in its release schedule so far, with the first season coming out in 2023 and the second coming out this year in 2024.
So, with that track record, I’d say that the third season is expected to come out as part of the 2025 TV schedule. But if not, I’m theorizing that an early 2026 release might also be plausible.
Honestly, that would be a blessing in this day and age. There are so many fantastic streaming shows out there, but many of them take years to produce seasons. Bridgerton Season 4 on Netflix will probably be released in 2026. Stranger Things Season 5 will be released later this year after such a long wait. As long as Shrinking comes back, I’ll be happy.
The Shrinking Season 3 Cast
In terms of who from the Shrinking cast is coming back, we know from Apple that several stars are confirmed to return. These include:
- 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
- Ted McGinley as Derek
We also know from Jason Segel that Cobie Smulders will be back for Season 3. The star confirmed the news at the inaugural Newport Beach TV Fest (via Variety) in June 2025 that the actress, who made a small guest appearance in Season 2 as Sofi, will be back for Season 3:
I don’t want to give too much away, but she pops back around. But the magic trick of that casting is we have known each other for 20 years, through thick and thin. But the characters have only just met, so when we’re interacting, I think you subconsciously feel like they’ve known each other forever.
Okay, now I’m just so excited.
Bill Lawrence Also Wants Louis To Return
Another character that became a big part of Season 2 of the show was Louie, the drunk driver who killed Jimmy’s wife and Alice’s mom. Played by co-creator Brett Goldstein (who is also known from the Ted Lasso cast), we got to see into Louie’s mind and really get to know him – and ended up loving him way more.
Yes, Brett Goldstein’s character broke my heart, and I was very worried about him in the Shrinking finale, but he pulled through. And recently, in an interview with The L.A. Times in December 2024, co-creator Bill Lawrence said that they’d like to have Louie be a part of Season 3:
I think the audience would feel cheated if that were not the case. Obviously, Brett’s got tons of s— he’s working on, but he is so good in the show this year, so the idea of getting to show how he [Louis] moves forward interests us. Don’t forget, we pitched this show where the first year is about grief, second year is about forgiveness, [the] third year is about moving forward. It would be weird to not include his character as part of that.
New Additions To The Cast
We also know about a few new cast members that have popped up for Shrinking Season 3.
First off, we know from Variety that Sherry Cola and Isabella Gomez will appear in recurring roles.
Then, from Deadline, we know that comedy star Jeff Daniels will appear in Shrinking Season 3 as Jimmy’s father. Already I’m excited to see where this goes!
More major news came not that long after when Deadline confirmed that Michael J. Fox would make his return to acting for Shrinking Season 3, which is amazing news. In fact, Harrison Ford, in an interview with Variety in July 2025, spoke about how important it was to have Fox there for Season 3:
It’s been essential. 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. You cannot help but recognize how amazing it is to have such grace.
And lastly, Variety reported that Candice Bergen will have a role in Season 3 as well.
So many amazing guest stars – and we’re forced to just sit back and wait for news. I’m crying over here.
What Shrinking Season 3 Is About
While Shrinking Season 2 has come to an end, there are a few things that we know about the following season. Here is what you can expect:
Season 3 Will Be All About “Moving Forward”
Every season of Shrinking has had a theme, and thankfully, Jason Segel has given us an idea of what the next season will be about in an interview with Variety in December 2024 – “moving forward:”
I’m allowed to say our words for Season 3 are ‘moving forward.’ So that’s all we really know so far. Season 1 was grief, Season 2 was forgiveness, and Season 3 is moving forward.
It’s sort of interesting, because while Jimmy is supposed to be moving forward, a person from his past – his father – is going to be there and make things difficult. Segel spoke about it in that Variety article about the TV Fest:
Jimmy has a complicated relationship with his parents. I think you will find out this season why Jimmy projects so much onto Paul, why it is so important that Harrison Ford gives him validation. It’s not lost on me that [Jeff] is the last version of me — either Jeff Daniels or Judge Reinhold. We’re doing these scenes next to each other, and our mannerisms are kind of the same, and neither of us are doing a bit. We’re making the same choices, so it’s perfect casting.
I’m so curious to see where this leads.
Paul’s Disease Will Play A Much Bigger Role In Season 3
Something else that’s a big thing with Shrinking is that Paul’s Parkinson’s disease has gotten steadily worse, and right now the drugs are not working for him. In that interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lawrence said that how Paul learns to deal with this is going to be a big part of his “moving forward” moment and how he’s learning how to accept help from others:
We knew that for this kind of three-season story, and we’re still hoping to tell another three-season story with this group, that we wanted to end with showing what that means, and having hopefully gotten Paul to a place in his life that if he’s going to navigate it, he’s going to navigate it not on an island but with the people around him, and so it’s gonna be a huge part of next year.
Personally, that makes me wonder so much about what is going to happen with his character – especially with the introduction of Fox and Bergen’s characters. In an interview with TV Line in June 2025, Bill Lawrence said that Ford is sharing scenes with these two actors, talking about Fox in the show:
He’s one of the greatest people I’ve ever met, he’s one of my mentors — and man, what an inspiring dude the way that he is living his life, so to get to work with him….I didn’t expect to have career highlights at this point in my career, and I was on set about 10 days ago watching Harrison Ford, Mike Fox and Candice Bergen — oops, spoiler! — acting together. For me, that was my childhood.
Season 3 Might Be The Last Season
Something else that is good to know is that Season 3 of Shrinking might be the last season. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in December 2025, Bill Lawrence admitted that Season 3 of the series will most likely be the end:
I think that this story is over in three seasons. Because if we started the fourth season with Jason Segel going, 'I’m still so sad about my wife dying, and I really messed up with my daughter,' people would be like [contorts face into a look of agony].
While it would be sad if the story ends, it would make the most sense for Jimmy – and honestly, this series is all about growth, so if three seasons is the course the growth takes, I’m here for the potential ending coming, though, who knows, there have been some mixed signals.
Production Has Ended
The last thing we know is that filming for Season 3 has finished its production. It was confirmed on the official Apple TV+ Instagram page in July 2025, where Harrison Ford gave a moving speech to the cast and crew:
With that in mind, that means that we’ll hopefully be getting a trailer really soon!
Gosh, I need a therapist to deal with this wait. What are you looking forward to with Shrinking Season 3? All I know is that I’m going to need to rewatch and cry again over every single episode.
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