Michael J. Fox has joined the cast of Apple TV+’s hit sitcom Shrinking for Season 3. The news broke on Thursday, according to a repot by The Wrap, along with a few other new cast members for the show — Jeff Daniels, Sherry Cola, and Isabella Gomez. Details on Fox’s character have not been publicly announced, but it is a main cast role. This is the first job Fox has accepted since returning to acting after a five-year hiatus, and it will likely be the first one to premiere. Shrinking Season 3 began filming in February, and while no release date has been announced yet, it has a relatively fast turn-around time. We may see Fox back on TV as soon as next year.
Fox announced in 2020 that he was retiring from acting altogether due to the increasing symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease. In his memoir published at the time, he explained that his speech was becoming unreliable in addition to his physical movements, and the fatigue of a long day was catching up with him as well. Even then, he said that another acting role was always possible, and it looks like Shrinking is just the venue for a comeback — however brief.
Shrinking will reunite Fox with executive producer Bill Lawrence, who was also a co-creator on the 1996 ABC sitcom Spin City. Fox starred in the show, and it ultimately launched Lawrences career, while Fox had to leave the production due to his Parkinson’s diagnosis. Fox did continue acting after that, with accommodations for his wellness. The fast-paced production of a network sitcom was too demanding for Fox, but a streaming series like Shrinking is made very differently.
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Shrinking stars Jason Segel as cognitive behavior therapist Jimmy Laird, who is recently lost his wife in a car crash. He tries unorthodox methods to help his patients while trying to break himself out of his self-destructive habits. The show also stars Jessica Williams and Harrison Ford as fellow therapists at the same clinic, while Jimmy’s friends, family, neighbors, and patients round out the cast.
We’ve previously heard that Daniels will be playing Jimmy’s father in a guest appearance in Season 3, we don’t know anything about the roles of Cola, Gomez, or Fox. While Fox has not taken an acting job in the last five years, he had a prominent screen appearance in the Apple TV+ original documentary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie which was about his experience of Parkinson’s Disease. For many fans, seeing Fox in character again will be triumphant after that deeply personal story.
Both Still and Shrinking are streaming now on Apple TV+. Shrinking Season 3 is in production now, with no release date yet.
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