[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Season 2 of Shrinking.]

Summary

Forgiveness is central in Season 2 of the Apple TV+ series ‘Shrinking,’ as the characters navigate complex emotions and relationships.

The character of Louis, played by Brett Goldstein, adds depth to the storyline, challenging the concept of forgiveness and personal growth.

The cast, including Harrison Ford, delivers emotionally charged performances, exploring grief with honesty.

For two seasons now, the Apple TV+ series Shrinking has been following the journey of Jimmy (Jason Segel), a grieving therapist in the process of figuring out life after the death of his wife, and what that means for his clients, his daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell) and himself. While Jimmy’s not quite relationship with Gaby (Jessica Williams) blew up in both their faces, their friend group survived, and a new Derek (Damon Wayans Jr.) came into their lives. And even though Paul (Harrison Ford) is experiencing worsening symptoms of his illness and Louis (Brett Goldstein) has stirred up emotional pain for Jimmy and Alice, this friend group was there to support and love each other, every step of the way.
During this interview with Collider, co-stars/co-creators Segel and Goldstein talked about bringing in the character responsible for all the turmoil in Jimmy and Alice’s lives, testing the possibility of forgiveness, why Goldstein was meant to play Louis, that particularly memorable conversation between Louis and Alice in episode six, working with Ford, portraying the dramatic storylines as honestly as possible, and the hope to continue the series passed Season 3.
Season 2 of ‘Shrinking’ Is About the Journey of Forgiveness and What That Can Mean

Collider: With the first season having been about grief and the second season being about forgiveness, did you always know that you’d be bringing in the guy whose actions led to the death of Jimmy’s wife and Alice’s mother? Was that something you always felt was important?
JASON SEGEL: I didn’t know until Bill [Lawrence] presented me with the idea for Season 2, and I thought it was absolutely brilliant. The big bad shows up. He’s the person who is, in theory, to blame for all this turmoil. With the journey of forgiveness and the journey in the show, the easiest thing you can do is make that person a monster. That’s the easiest way to deal with this stuff, but that’s not really how life works, is it? And so, the unspooling of that is what the season is about.
Why was it important to put this guy in the path of Jimmy and Alice, and what were you hoping for by doing so?
BRETT GOLDSTEIN: The lucky thing with writing Season 2 is that you’ve already made the world, you already know the actors, you love them, and you get to write for their voices now. With Season 1, we didn’t know them yet. Season 2 was a real pleasure to write. I think of it like an experiment. We made this world, here’s this world, here are these people we love, and they’ve gotten to the point they’ve gotten to in Season 1, and then you can take the concept of forgiveness, which is a very simple concept. Everyone knows, theoretically, that forgiveness is important and we must forgive people. We know that’s good for us. But then, to put that in the most difficult version of it is to go, “Yeah, it’s a well and good saying that, but can you forgive the man who killed your wife?” That is not so easy, suddenly. It’s interesting to write and to act, but you also get to put that theory to the test in a world where you care about all these people and suddenly it doesn’t seem like such an easy concept.

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Jason, why did you think Brett Goldstein was the perfect person to play Louis?
SEGEL: Because Brett was meant to play that part. In the discussion about who the character was gonna be and this list of names they presented, I’m not taking credit for Brett playing the part because Brett is meant to play the part. I’m just a guy who said, “What are you talking about? Brett’s supposed to play that part.” And I’m so glad that that’s what happened.
Bill Lawrence told me that he couldn’t see past Roy Kent for a bit and that you were the one that got him past that. How did you see past that?
SEGEL: Because people couldn’t see past Marshall Eriksen (his character in How I Met Your Mother). I have a real understanding of how frustrating that might be when you know or believe or hope that you’re capable of doing other stuff. It took me several years and several movies to get to be able to spread my wings, slowly. If I can help punch through that barrier to entry, then I’m gonna do it.
Brett Goldstein Didn’t Write His ‘Shrinking’ Season 2 Role for Himself

Image via Apple TV+

Brett, did you always know that you wanted to play this character?
GOLDSTEIN: I hadn’t thought about it. We’d written it, and then it was Jason Segel’s idea. He brought me and Bill Lawrence into his trailer and was like, “Why isn’t Brett doing this? Brett should play this.” And I love Jason Segel, so if he tells me to do something, I do it. I was nervous about it. It’s a big, tricky, meaty, vulnerable, sad character to play, but Jason was like, “You can do it.” So, I thought, “Fuck it, I’ll give it a go.” And here we are.
I feel like there are any number of ways the reactions to that character could have gone. There’s no way to predict how any one person deals with grief, let alone the individual members of the same family. How hard is that for Jimmy this season?
SEGEL: He is the cipher for the reason that Jimmy’s life is ruined, and that is not an easy thing to deal with.
Do you feel like forgiveness has to happen for a person to move forward, or are there times when forgiveness isn’t necessarily something that you need to have?
SEGEL: My experience is that there has to be some form of forgiveness. Even if it’s not a direct person to person thing, there has to be some sort of resolution to look at something square in the face and come to terms with it, so you can put it on the shelf. Otherwise, it goes right into the backpack.

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Brett, what was it like to shoot the conversation with Alice in episode six? She has so much to say, and it’s a real moment for them. What was that like to figure that out?
GOLDSTEIN: That was a really special day. That was one of my favorite days of the shoot. Lukita [Maxwell] and Michael [Urie] were just amazing. Lukita is so good in that scene. She’s like an angel. She’s so perfect and heartbreaking. That was a really special day. It’s one of those rare and beautiful things when you’re filming something and there’s magic on the day. Everyone was so focused. It was one of the few days we were very quiet on set because we were there all day doing that scene. It’s a long one and it’s big. It’s the peak of the season. It’s about trust with the actors, as well. Lukita is just so good and Michael is so good. We were all there for each other. It was lovely. I really loved that day.
When you do something like this, that has Harrison Ford in it, do you try to figure out how to craft yourself a scene with him?
GOLDSTEIN: No, I never did that. In hindsight, I’m like, “Why didn’t I write scenes with Harrison Ford? Am I mad?” No. You’re following the story and you’re following the character. If it was right to, I would. But it wasn’t, so I didn’t. But then, I got to do all these scenes with Lukita, who’s amazing, so it all worked out. I still get to work with Harrison as a writer, so we get to hang out.
Jason, who came up with the idea that you would hold Harrison Ford’s hand and kiss it? What was that scene like to shoot?
SEGEL: My understanding is that Harrison has been requesting that for a long time, so I was happy to accommodate. Actors have weird eccentricities, and he just really wanted me to kiss his hand. That was really a fun day.

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Are there ever times with this show that you don’t know how you’re going to pull off what’s in the script?
SEGEL: I never feel that way about the comedy stuff. The things that I think are the most daunting are the dramatic storylines. I’m really obsessed with trying to portray dramatic storylines, in general, as honestly as possible, but in an unexpected way that I haven’t seen before. I’m like, “But what does it really look like?” That’s what I think is most interesting. That’s how we wanted to tackle grief in the first season. What does it really look like, besides someone being sad and staring at a picture of their wife? I’ve seen that. It’s actually sloppier and dirtier than that. It’s eating a whole pizza. It’s the gritty minutia of it all. And I think we deal with that with the forgiveness storyline, as well. It’s sloppy.
Jason Segel Would Feel Lucky To Keep Making Seasons of ‘Shrinking’

Imae via Apple TV+

When I spoke to Bill in Season 1, he talked about how he saw this as a three-season story, but he already sounds like he’s thinking beyond that. Are you hoping to do more seasons beyond Season 3?
SEGEL: As long as it’s good and we’re all having a good time, I would be happy and lucky to be a part of it.

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Shrinking

Release Date

January 26, 2023

Cast

Jason Segel
, Luke Tennie
, Michael Urie
, Lukita Maxwell
, Harrison Ford
, Jessica Williams
, Christa Miller
, Ted McGinley
, Heidi Gardner
, Devin Kawaoka
, Lilan Bowden
, Kimberly Condict
, Lily Rabe
, Tilky Jones
, Rachel Stubington
, Wendie Malick
, Sawyer Jones
, Mike C. Nelson
, Matt Knudsen
, Kenajuan Bentley
, Adam Foster Ballard

Seasons

2

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Shrinking is available to stream on Apple TV+. Check out the Season 2 trailer:

Watch on Apple TV+