You'd better get your tissues prepped, because Shrinking Season 3 is just a few short weeks away. 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 come back around for a third time.
Of course, the big news for Season 3 is that Michael J. Fox is joining the cast (more on that later), but there are some other big things we know about the series -- including the premiere date and the Shrinking Season 3 trailer -- as we get ready for the next season of the show, which you can catch up on with an Apple TV subscription.
When Is The Shrinking Season 3 Premiere Date?
Shrinking Season 3 is set to premiere on January 28th, 2026. It will drop one episode a week, on Wednesday nights, during the 2026 TV schedule, totalling 11 episodes before the Season finale on April 8.
Shrinking Season 3 Trailer
With about a month until the premiere of Shrinking Season 3, Apple TV released a trailer for the series, which you can watch above.
It teases how various relationships on the show will evolve, shows the return of Cobie Smulders' characters, and gives us our first look at Michael J. Fox's character. It also reinforces what fans of this show already know: We're in for a funny, transformative and emotional time when Shrinking returns.
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
- Brett Goldstein as Louis Winston
- Harrison Ford as Dr. Paul Rhoades
- Ted McGinley as Derek
- Cobie Smulders as Sofi
- Jessica Williams as Gaby
- Luke Tennie as Sean
- Michael Urie as Brian
- Lukita Maxwell as Alice
- Christa Miller as Liz
But by far the biggest announcement about the cast for Season 3 of Shrinking is the addition of Michael J. Fox as a guest star. Fox hasn't been seen in a full role in over five years (though he's done some voice work, including in 2025's Zootopia 2). Of course, the show is a deep look into the effects of Parkinson's, which Fox was diagnosed with decades ago, so it is a natural (and exciting) choice to bring the legend into the fold.
That's not all, either. Another legend, Candice Bergen, is also set to guest star this season in a thus-far undefined role. And if that's not enough, Jeff Daniels is also joining in on the fun, playing Jimmy Laird's father. As if the cast of the show can't get any cooler!
Sherry Cola and Isabella Gomez have also been announced as guest stars.
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.
We also know that Season 3 will be a "showcase" for Harrison Ford, as Michael Urie recently revealed, saying:
I’m telling you the Harrison stuff, I know Harrison had an amazing second season, but I think the third season is so Harrison forward.
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 2024, 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.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see about a potential Season 4, but that's off in the future. Let's get excited about the present, which gets started at the end of January!
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
