{"id":381458,"date":"2026-04-08T14:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/381458\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T14:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:04:08","slug":"harrison-ford-jeff-daniels-return-for-season-4s-new-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/381458\/","title":{"rendered":"Harrison Ford, Jeff Daniels Return For Season 4’s New Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSPOILER ALERT:\u00a0This article contains spoilers for the Season 3 finale of \u201cShrinking<\/a>,\u201d now streaming on Apple TV.<\/p>\n

\n\tHarrison Ford<\/a> is still \u201cShrinking.\u201d The Apple TV series wrapped its third season on Wednesday with a poignant episode that creator Bill Lawrence<\/a> has repeatedly framed in interviews and social media as a finale of sorts. That\u2019s gotten him into a bit of trouble, as fans began to assume that Lawrence planned to reinvent \u201cShrinking\u201d as something entirely different next season.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut rest assured, as Variety told you on Monday<\/a>, the same stars will be playing the same characters next season. And that includes Ford, who has been doing some of the best work of his entire career as Dr. Paul Rhoades and has signed on to return. At a \u201cShrinking\u201d PaleyFest<\/a> LA panel in Hollywood on Tuesday, Ford said his work on \u201cShrinking\u00a0has been \u201cone of the most pleasurable experiences of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAlso back for Season 4 are the rest of the cast as well: Jason Segel (as Jimmy Laird), Jessica Williams (Gaby), Lukita Maxwell (Alice), Luke Tennie (Sean), Christa Miller (Liz), Michael Urie (Brian) and Ted McGinley (Derek), for starters. And yes, they\u2019ll be playing the same characters \u2014 but on new journeys.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think people will feel when they come back to this show, that it\u2019s a completely different story,\u201d Lawrence said. \u201cAnd the reason we agreed to do it was that we feel that the cast and characters of this show have enough stuff going on in their life that we are interested in seeing what a new story for these characters looks like.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tApple TV renewed the show early enough that Lawrence said the \u201cShrinking\u201d writers found ways to leave Easter eggs throughout Season 3 that hinted at what\u2019s to come \u2014 so even though next year might feel different because the characters are in a different place, it will also feel earned because you\u2019ve already seen some of those new tales begin.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s some stuff in the third year that is left unresolved, and it hints that the next year will be different because of what characters are doing and where they\u2019re going,\u201d Lawrence said. \u201cPeople shouldn\u2019t be surprised if there\u2019s a time jump and it feels like we\u2019re telling a completely different story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd that starts with the growth of Jimmy, whose journey from grief in Season 1 (losing his wife Tia) to forgiveness in Season 2 (bonding with the man who accidentally killed her) and then moving forward in Season 3 (his starts and stops to finding new love) seems to have now resolved itself. At the end of Season 3, Episode 11, \u201cAnd That\u2019s Our Time,\u201d Paul \u2014 who had just relocated to Connecticut \u2014 makes a quick flyby back to L.A. to help set Jimmy on his new path, starting by tricking him into breakfast with Cobie Smulders\u2019 Sofi.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf the fourth season of this show came on and Jimmy was like, \u2018I\u2019ve been thinking about it. I\u2019m still super sad about my wife,\u2019 I\u2019d be like, \u2018turn the TV off.\u2019 You can\u2019t do that again,\u201d Lawrence said. \u201cSo we\u2019re hoping people feel it\u2019s an incredibly optimistic and happy ending.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLawrence lauded Segel for his work in the final two episodes of Season 3 as his character struggled with sending his daughter to school and being home, all alone, while also feeling abandoned by his father figure Paul. And then it all came down to that moment where Paul made the temendous gesture of returning to reassure Jimmy that it was OK to move on. \u201cI just really thought he was amazing, watching him and feeling, as a fan of the show, that his kind of suffering was finally over,\u201d Lawrence said.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut not all is resolved with Jimmy, as viewers saw this season that he still harbors daddy issues. Lawrence said that means Jeff Daniels will likely be back as his father, Randy Laird.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI guarantee you, some of the people that watch the show know that they\u2019ll probably see Jeff Daniels again,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd Cobie too. What\u2019s that look like for a guy building a second relationship?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNow that we know Ford is back (and presumably, Wendie Malick as his new wife Julie), you can surmise that part of his new storyline will still intersect Alice, who long relied on Paul as her therapist and will now be living just an hour away.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s obviously with great intent that Harrison\u2019s character is moving to a state where Alice goes to college,\u201d Lawrence said.<\/p>\n

\n\tPaul, of course, continues to face the reality of his Parkinson\u2019s disease \u2014\u00a0and that will remain an important part of that character\u2019s journey. In Season 3, Paul got to bond with fellow Parkinson\u2019s patient Gerry, played by guest star Michael J. Fox. Lawrence said he hoped to bring back Fox for Season 4 in some capacity, and at PaleyFest, Fox said he was up for it: \u201cI would love to do it \u2013 it would be my honor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLuke Tennie, Jessica Williams, Lukita Maxwell, Harrison Ford, Michael J. Fox, Jason Segel, Christa Miller, Bill Lawrence, Ted McGinley and Michael Urie at PaleyFest LA\u2019s \u201cShrinking\u201d panel on April 7.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, back in Los Angeles, Gaby will be taking over Paul\u2019s practice and facilities to build a new crisis therapy clinic. But she\u2019s still mourning the loss of her patient Maya (Sherry Cola), who died by suicide in Season 3.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat\u2019s it look like for a character like Gaby to have lost a patient in a fairly straightforward practice, and then, for whatever reason, be diving into treating people that are only dealing with stuff like that?\u201d Lawrence said. \u201cThere\u2019s the trauma of losing a patient that you may have crossed some boundaries and gotten too close to going directly into that world. Also, there\u2019s still some tension between Gaby, her mom and her sister.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAmong other main characters, empty nesters Liz and Derek discovered in Season 3 that one of their sons is about to have a baby, giving the show plenty to mine as they will adjust to being grandparents. (Guest star Candice Bergen might also return as Derek\u2019s mother \u2014 and Liz\u2019s nemesis.) Sean has moved out of Jimmy\u2019s pool house, has reunited with his girlfriend Marisol (Isabella Gomez) and is on his way to becoming a chef. Brian is still adjusting to being a parent, a role he was hesitant to fill at first.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSometimes people feel like Brian was somebody that entered, at least reluctantly, into building and having a family, and what is like that look like? We know that Brian\u2019s childhood was tumultuous in terms of where he grew up, and their attitude towards his sexuality, but we still haven\u2019t met his mom,\u201d Lawrence said. \u201cThat\u2019s with great intent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen asked if he has another three-season structure in mind for the next \u201cShrinking\u201d chapter, Lawrence said he hadn\u2019t mapped out a long-term plan with Apple TV or series producers Warner Bros. TV just yet. But, he added, \u201cWe aren\u2019t going into this next season feeling like it\u2019s the last one. There will always be material. You want to feel that people are changing and evolving. So, as long as we feel like we\u2019re not treading water, and that we\u2019re telling a new kind of cool story, we\u2019ll hang with it. And who\u2019s to say where a show like this could go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut as he sets out for a different \u201cShrinking\u201d in Season 4, Lawrence also promised some consistency: \u201cPeople will still live where they live. This is still a found family show where people think they spend way too much time together. And people will still recognize sets and locations, and even if they\u2019ve been superficially changed or have a new look. I don\u2019t want the show to suddenly be like, \u2018oh, so they work at a corporate office downtown!\u2019 Hopefully it will feel the same, but different in the story that we\u2019re telling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWriting is already under way on Season 4, and Lawrence said he thought fans \u201cwill dig it. We wouldn\u2019t do this show if all the actors and actresses didn\u2019t want to keep going. The main impetus for continuing on and coming up with another story is, yes, we\u2019re lucky enough that Apple wants us to keep going. But all the performers are having a blast. I feel like there\u2019s plenty of stories to tell with these characters. We just can\u2019t tell this one anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPOILER ALERT:\u00a0This article contains spoilers for the Season 3 finale of \u201cShrinking,\u201d now streaming on Apple TV. Harrison…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[154968,146,36936,85,46,182393,75074,411],"class_list":{"0":"post-381458","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-bill-lawrence","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-harrison-ford","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-paleyfest","14":"tag-shrinking","15":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}