Shrinking Season 4’s Massive Changes Plan Clarified By Apple TV Creator

Shrinking co-creator Bill Lawrence sets the record straight on the plans for season 4.

Days before Shrinking season 3’s finale was released, Lawrence posted on social media about wrapping up the original three-season plan and how he is “Excited to start completely new story next year. Feels scary/risky/fun.” This led to fans questioning what the already renewed season 4 would look like, especially if it would include the same cast, which he clarified by explaining that “there is a Season 4 with the EXACT same cast (that’s why we are doing it, we love each other).”

In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan at the red carpet premiere of Scrubs, Lawrence further clarified that season 4 is happening because Apple TV offered to let the show continue, and the creative team felt there was a new story to tell. It will go beyond the original narrative of Jimmy (Jason Segel) grieving the death of his wife Tia (Lilan Bowden) and struggling to move forward and will have a new focus instead. Check out Lawrence’s comments below:

Everybody was being so crazy about it. I’m an idiot on the internet. I shouldn’t be allowed on it, but then I started having fun, and I’m like, “Oh no, everybody’s going to shrink and be inside each other’s heads.” No, it’s just really about, we had a decision to make when Apple was nice enough to say we could keep going. We knew that the third season of the show ended the story that we were telling, and we were like, “Do we want to prolong it and save that end for the fourth year?” And we all decided there’s a group. I’ve done this joke before: If the fourth year started, and Jason Segel turned to his daughter and was like, “I’ve been thinking about it, and I’m still super sad about my wife.” Everybody would be like, “I think we saw this.” So we decided to end that story, and the fourth year will definitely feel … “same actors and actresses are playing completely different characters.” It’s not. It’s just going to be a new story to tell with the same cast, which I think is fun. And everybody will be in a different place. Maybe there’ll be a time jump, maybe there won’t. I’m not supposed to say anything, or I get in trouble.

While Lawrence only alludes to a possible time jump, he previously confirmed the show will “jump ahead a couple years and see where everybody’s at” when discussing whether Paul (Harrison Ford) is in Shrinking season 4. Despite Paul moving across the country to Connecticut, he will still be a central character, as will Jimmy and the rest of the core cast that the series has been following since season 1.

Between the time jump and Lawrence’s new comments about how “everybody will be in a different place,” a great deal may change for some of Shrinking‘s characters when they return. For Jimmy, he is last seen moving forward and meeting with Sofi (Cobie Smulders) after getting some wise advice from Paul. Lawrence makes it clear that season 4 is no longer the story of Jimmy’s grief, but it does raise the question of what his new journey will be, and whether Sofi is still a part of his life.

Part of Jimmy’s story will depend on what is happening with Jimmy’s daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell), who goes to Connecticut in the season 3 finale as a new student and soccer player at Wesleyan University. Her geographical proximity to Paul sets up the potential for season 4 to be primarily set in both California and Connecticut, exploring where Alice is at after multiple years of college and where Paul is at after multiple years of retirement.

Other changes will involve Brian (Michael Urie) and Charlie (Devin Kawaoka) as more experienced parents who have been raising a child for several years now, along with Liz (Christa Miller) and Derek (Ted McGinley) being well into their time as grandparents. After Gaby (Jessica Williams) and Derrick (Damon Wayans Jr.) get engaged in the season 3 finale, they will presumably be married, with Gaby’s trauma center probably well established at this point. Sean (Luke Tennie) will also be at a different stage of his career and personal life given the time that has passed.

After three seasons of stellar reviews for Shrinking, there is a high bar to achieve, but Lawrence has already proven with the Scrubs revival that he can use beloved characters to tell a new story that works. Shrinking season 4 is not a revival or reboot, but it is a new beginning for the characters as they take on the next chapters of their lives.

All episodes of Shrinking seasons 1-3 are now streaming on Apple TV.

Release Date

January 27, 2023

Network

Apple TV

Showrunner

Bill Lawrence

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