Michael J. Fox to Guest Star in ‘Shrinking’ Season 3
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Apple’s hit comedy Shrinking already has some serious star power thanks to Harrison Ford, but now it’s about to add another legend to the roster. Today, the streaming service announced that Michael J. Fox will be joining the cast as a guest star when season 3 airs.
Best known for his work on the Back to the Future trilogy, Fox first rose to fame in the early eighties for his portrayal of Alex P. Keaton in the NBC sitcom Family Ties, where he effectively stole the spotlight and changed the show’s entire arc.
After reaching the heights of stardom in the late eighties, Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991 while filming Doc Hollywood. However, he didn’t publicly disclose that diagnosis until 1998, while filming the third season of Spin City. As his symptoms worsened, he was forced to reduce his acting work, turning the lead role over to Charlie Sheen in 2000. That same year, he founded The Michael J. Fox Foundation to fund advocacy and research aimed at finding a cure for Parkinson’s.
From 2002 to 2020, Fox published four sets of memoirs: Lucky Man, Always Looking Up, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future, and No Time Like the Future. He had continued acting sporadically throughout that period, with notable appearances on Designated Survivor and The Good Fight, before writing in his most recent memoir that he came to realize it was time for a “second retirement.”
Nevertheless, in 2023, Fox also appeared in an excellent Apple TV+ documentary, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.
Now, Fox is returning to the small screen in Shrinking, likely so he can be involved with a subject that’s near and dear to his heart. While Shrinking is a multi-faceted show, one of the character arcs is that of Dr. Paul Rhoades, a renowned psychiatrist living with Parkinson’s disease who is portrayed by Harrison Ford.
It’s also noteworthy that Shrinking is co-written and executive-produced by Bill Lawrence, a then-young writer-producer that Fox has credited with helping to sell him on the idea of doing Spin City. The two worked together on that show for years, and Lawrence was one of the first outside of Fox’s closest friends and family to hear of his Parkinson’s diagnosis. So, it’s probably not surprising that Michael J. Fox inspired how Shrinking portrays Parkinson’s disease, as Lawrence recently told Variety.
“It’s cool to get to write about things you care about now,” Lawerence said. “And Michael J. Fox is my first mentor. So we wanted to represent it in hopefully an inspiring and not sad or tragic way.”
Bill Lawrence is also one of the creators of Ted Lasso, co-writing that show alongside stars Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso) and Brendan Hunt (Coach Beard). Meanwhile, Brett Goldstein (Roy Kent) of Lasso fame has also joined the writers’ room for Shrinking and plays a recurring guest role of his own.
Shrinking season 2 wrapped on December 25, 2024, and has landed several award nominations, including nominations for SAG’s Outstanding Performance in a Comedy Series for the ensemble cast overall and Jason Segel and Harrison Ford specifically, and a BAFTA writing award for Brett Goldstein’s work.
There’s no word yet on when season 3 will arrive. When it does, Fox will reportedly be joined by several other new guest stars, including Jeff Daniels as Jimmy’s father and Sherry Cola and Isabella Gomez for roles that haven’t yet been revealed.
