Bill Lawrence says a new story is coming to Shrinking, but the whole cast is staying there. Now that the series is wrapping up Season 3, co-creator Bill Lawrence is already teasing what’s next. The showrunner said Season 4 will be a creative reset, with a new story and the same cast.
“We always pitched a three season story on #Shrinking grief-forgiveness-moving forward. We wanted to stay true to that and end the way we planned. (So excited to do Season 4 and a new story with the same cast.)” Lawrence posted on X.
The series finale airs on April 8. The episode, “And That’s Our Time,” was made available one day early on Tuesday, April 7, to some subscribers. Once it airs, the three-season story arc that revolves around grief and forgiveness is officially closed.
Shrinking Season 4
Later, on X, Lawrence said the story arc was ending: “there is a Season 4 with the EXACT same cast (that’s why we are doing it, we love each other)” and “we are ending the 3 Season story we pitched so have to tell a new one S4.”
The series stars Jason Segel as grieving widower Jimmy Laird, a therapist trying to rebuild his relationship with his daughter. Harrison Ford co-stars as his mentor, Dr. Paul Rhoades. The show also features Christa Miller, Jessica Williams, Luke Tennie, Michael Urie, Lukita Maxwell, and Ted McGinley. Segel, Ford, Williams, and Urie have all received Emmy nominations for the series.
Lawrence explained the creative rationale behind the decision in another conversation with Deadline. “The way that Shrinking if the fourth season kicked off and Jason Segel wakes up and goes, ‘you know I’ve been thinking about it and I was still super sad about my wife,’ everybody’s like, What are you doing?”
“We’re like, We saw that already. But as a writer, he told 36 stories with these actors and actresses. So we have a new story to tell, and that’s going to either be, two- or three-season story, or it isn’t,” he added.
Apple gave the show an early Season 4 renewal in January, before Season 3 even premiered. It is a big bet. It’s a strong bet that the show is going somewhere, even as the current story ends.
Lawrence is never afraid to finish a storyline cleanly rather than stretch it until it tears itself apart. Whether Season 4 is a reset will be a story for another year, but for now, the cast is staying the same.
