Apple TV+ has been best known for its adherence to the sci-fi genre. Dystopian thriller shows like Silo and Severance have engulfed viewers into the category with incredible writing and unique storytelling. Apple will continue to grow in the streaming industry if it expands the roster of shows on its service. Comedy isn’t a strong suit for the computer giant right now, but if one show is trying to change that it’s Shrinking.
Starring Jason Segel as Jimmy Laird, a therapist who is dealing with his own grief after his wife dies in a car accident, Shrinking is the next great show in a long line of black comedies that examines death and trauma. Fans of shows such as Six Feet Under, The Leftovers, This is Us, and The Good Place will be right at home with this series. Harrison Ford does great work as the most famous co-star in the show. He plays one of Jimmy’s co-worker’s at the therapy clinic.
Shrinking season 2 just finished at the end of 2024 and Apple TV+ has already announced the renewal of the series for a third go-around. We have everything you need to know about Shrinking season 3 from the stars of the season to when the series will release the new episodes.
Who will be starring in Shrinking season 3?
Most of the main cast will return for season 3. Jason Segel, Harrison Ford, Brett Goldstein, Jessica Williams, and Michael Urie will all feature once again. Expect a bigger role for Goldstein’s character, Louis, as his backstory gets revealed and he deals with the guilt of hitting Jimmy’s wife in the car accident that killed her. Goldstein is known for his role in Ted Lasso. Segel’s biggest role before Shrinking was in How I Met Your Mother.
What will Shrinking season 3 be about?
Shrinking season 3 will dive deeper into Jimmy’s trauma regarding his wife’s death, especially as it relates to the person who caused the accident. Goldstein’s character, Louis, was suicidal during the second season finale. Jimmy helped Louis overcome his morbid thoughts but now must forgive him for his role in his wife’s death.
The show does an excellent job grappling with relatable, yet heavy topics. Obsessive-compulsive disorder, Parkinson’s disease, alcoholism, anger management, and more are handled with care and thoughtful consideration. Expect the show to continue the trend of diving deep into mental health conversations that other series might try to avoid.
What should I watch between seasons of Shrinking?
Shrinking has a delicate balance between discussing traumatic topics like suicide, depression, and divorce and understanding that the best medicine in life is laughter. There are plenty of other shows that make light of while also empathizing with the human struggle like Shrinking does. If you’d like to watch something similar between seasons of the show, maybe try out some of these shows.
Six Feet Under
This HBO classic is about a family that runs a funeral home in Los Angeles while trying to understand their own places in the world amidst the tragedy of their family’s patriarch dying. Michael C. Hall and Peter Krause are excellent as the lead actors.
The Leftovers
If you like you like show’s that make you think about the purpose of being alive and what the human condition means on a deeper level, The Leftovers will make you ponder existentialist themes in new ways. The story follows society after the sudden disappearance of two percent of the world’s population. Those remaining have to draw purpose and identity from what is left.
The Good Place
The Good Place is a humorous and light-hearted take on the extent of morality’s meaning after death. The characters are all operated within the “good place” which is essentially an afterlife that resembles heaven. When the main character doesn’t understand why she’s in the good place, she has to grapple with her past choices.
Frasier
Frasier is a more traditional sitcom and true classic from the 1990s. Frasier Crane is a therapist just like Jimmy on Shrinking and the show examines his life inside and outside of psychiatry.
When will Shrinking season 3 come out?
There is no release date for Shrinking season 3 yet. The renewal for the series was recently announced in October 2024. Deadline reported that the filming for the third season is now underway as of February 2025. The filming will still take place in Pasadena and Altadena despite the wildfires that destroyed so many of these areas in January. If we were to try to estimate when the show’s third season will come out it would be either in late 2025 or early 2026 based on the previous release schedule. Filming for season 2 took six months and the season was released four months after filming finished. Fans also need to remember that Ford is busy with other projects and is still one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood with roles in Marvel films and the Yellowstone spinoff, 1923.
