Things We Saw Today: Harrison Ford Joins Apple TV+ ‘Shrinking’ From ‘Ted Lasso’s Brett Goldstein and Bill Lawrence

Harrison Ford has led quite the storied career, but it’s never included an ongoing role in a television show. That’s changing with the new Apple TV+ series Shrinking from Ted Lasso‘s Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein! According to The Hollywood Reporter, Shrinking, which also stars Jason Segel as Jimmy, is centered around a grieving therapist (Segel) who begins breaking rules and telling patients what he really thinks instead of what he’s supposed to say to them in sessions.

In return, his honesty (while against his training and ethics) begins to help make actual changes in people’s lives as well as his own. Ford will play Dr. Phil Rhodes, another doctor in Jimmy’s practice (along with a third character named Gaby) who has recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. His character will be unpacking what his diagnosis means and how he’ll cope with the change in his life and his relationship to his friends, family, and co-workers.

For fans of Ted Lasso, the producing team does include both Bill Lawrence (who produced the show) and Brett Goldstein, who plays Roy Kent on the show and is also a writer and a co-producer of the series. IMDb does have Goldstein writing on Shrinking as well!

Harrison Ford hive, our time is now!

Prior to coming to work at The Mary Sue, I used to host a podcast called The Fordcast: A Harrison Ford Podcast where we went through Harrison Ford’s entire filmography because I have had a lifelong appreciation for his work. So to now see him taking on a recurring role in a television series is a pretty big deal.

Pair that with my love for Ted Lasso and the work of Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein and Jason Segel and this is a dream come true that I didn’t even know I had. Again, this is the first time we’ll see Ford in a more serialized format. We’re used to him tackling franchises and exploring the same big-screen character time and time again but a television series is a different ball game entirely.

He was on television in the earlier part of his career and he did, famously, join The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles for an episode but this is different. Seeing him in a comedy with Segel and working with Goldstein just feels like a fun new energy for Ford in his career and I know I’m beyond excited for Shrinking.

Here are some other stories we saw out there today:

• The new Amazon Worker Chat App is said to ban words like “union”, “pay raise”, “restrooms”, and more. (via The Intercept)
• Britney Spears is writing a memoir! (via USA Today)
• Remember This Pod is tackling the way sex and sexuality were explored on-screen in the 1980s. (via Twitter)
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind will open at Walt Disney World in May (via Forbes)

Anything we missed out there today, Mary Suevians? Let us know what you saw in the comments below!

(image: Amy Sussman/Getty Images)