While details of Fox’s role are currently being kept under wraps, Deadline speculates that his character may have some connection to Harrison Ford’s Paul Rhodes, who was revealed to have Parkinson’s disease at the end of season one. Fox has been living with the disease since 1991, and has since become a major advocate through the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which funds research and the search for a cure.
Fox’s arc on Shrinking also serves as a reunion with series creator Bill Lawrence, who previously directed the Back To The Future actor in his first series as creator, Spin City. Fox starred for four seasons from 1996 through 2001, before leaving when he felt his symptoms getting worse. “One of the reasons I left Spin City was that I felt my face hardening. My movements were constricted,” Fox told The New York Times of the decision in 2019, describing the effort of “pull[ing] a face” like he used to as “too burdensome.”
Despite this new burden, it was Boston Legal that convinced him he had to stay in the business. “I remember the smell of the arclight while we shot. Something about that smell made me think, Acting is what I do. And I needed to find a way to do it with my new instrument,” he continued. In the years after Spin City, he went on to appear in a number of different projects including The Michael J. Fox Show, Rescue Me, The Good Wife, Designated Survivor, and Scrubs, another Lawrence show. Overall, he’s earned 18 Emmy nominations and five wins throughout the course of his career.
Apple TV+ has not announced an official Shrinking season three premiere date as of this writing, but Fox will be joining Ford, Jason Segel, Jessica Williams, and other new cast members Jeff Daniels, Sherry Cola, and Isabella Gomez whenever it arrives.
