How to Get Cast on ‘Shrinking’

Created by Brett Goldstein, Bill Lawrence, and Segel, the series follows psychiatrist Jimmy Laird (Segel) in the wake of a terrible loss. While grieving his wife, Tia (Lilan Bowden), who died in a car accident, Jimmy begins to insert himself into his patients’ lives, breaching boundaries and disregarding ethics. With honesty at the heart of his new approach, Jimmy starts to see results, helping his patients make the life changes they’ve been working toward for so long. 

Jimmy’s fellow therapists, Gaby Evans (Jessica Williams) and Dr. Paul Rhoades (Harrison Ford), ultimately find themselves intervening in Jimmy’s life as they all deal with their own turmoil—proving even those who are trained to help can’t go it alone all the time.

“Shrinking” features a talented ensemble, all of whom are expected to return for Season 3, including:

• Jason Segel as Jimmy Laird
• Jessica Williams as Gaby Evans
• Harrison Ford as Dr. Paul Rhoades
• Luke Tennie as Sean
• Michael Urie as Brian
• Lukita Maxwell as Alice Laird
• Christa Miller as Liz
• Ted McGinley as Derek
• Rachel Stubington as Summer
• Devin Kawaoka as Charlie
• Wendie Malick as Dr. Julie Baram
• Heidi Gardner as Grace
• Brett Goldstein as Louis Winston
• Gavin Lewis as Connor
• Lily Rabe as Meg
• Lilan Bowden as Tia
• Kimberly Condict as Wally
• Kenajuan Bentley as Tim
• Courtney Taylor as Courtney
• Vernee Watson as Phyllis

Season 3 will also welcome veteran actor Jeff Daniels as he’s slated to play Jimmy’s father; this will be Daniels’ first comedic role in more than a decade. Sherry Cola and Isabella Gomez are also set to join Season 3 in unnamed recurring roles.

Debby Romano and Brett Benner (“Scrubs,” “Cougar Town”) of Romano/Benner Casting are the primary CDs on “Shrinking.”

While many actors feel they must memorize their lines before heading to an audition, Benner told us there’s no harm in having your sides handy. “We tell an actor to use the sides if needed, because nerves kick in when people walk in the room,” he said. “Even seasoned actors sometimes want a particular role badly, and they go up on their lines.” The CD simply suggests being as familiar with the material as possible. ”I know that many actors, especially those who have been doing this for a long time, can have seven to eight auditions in one day. There’s no way to expect them to be off-book for eight different sets of sides.”

Lawrence worked with Romano and Benner on a couple of successful comedies prior to “Shrinking”—“Scrubs” and “Cougar Town,” anyone?—so their partnership has spanned decades. It was the casting directors’ shared history with Lawrence that ultimately led them to cast Ted McGinley as Derek, Jimmy’s neighbor, in fact.

“We kind of called Bill and said, ‘This is the thing. We owe Ted McGinley this role, because he came this close to being Dr. Cox on ‘Scrubs,’ ” Romano told Deadline. “Literally, when we went into the network, we had John McGinley, we had Ted McGinley. We thought we were going to walk out with Ted McGinley, and we walked out with John. And it was all great and for the right reason. But poor Ted…. With this, we just called Bill and said, ‘We owe him and he would be perfect. He’d be amazing with Christa [Miller]. Can we please do this?’ It took like a week,” Romano noted. “I think there were a bunch of discussions, understandably so. And thank God [he landed the part] because he’s so great.”

Segel said of McGinley, “Talk about a scene-stealer. He is like a comedy assassin. He comes in with like two or three lines in a scene, and your job is to kill them, and he does it every time.”

Landing Ford—especially for a lead regular role—was not even on casting’s radar. “The Harrison Ford situation was mind-blowing,” Romano told Casting Networks. “He’s a neighbor of Bill Lawrence! I remember our first conference call with our producers to talk about that role because it was so important. We came up with five names that everyone was excited about, and we went through that list over Zoom. Bill said, ‘Listen, there’s one name on this list who is my neighbor. I would like to take a stab at that. I think he’s out of town, but we’ll figure it out. It might take a while.’ ”

But it didn’t take long at all. “Harrison was in London filming ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ and Brett Goldstein was also in London,” Romano continued. “Brett became the front-person to sell this to Harrison, and they just, like, fell in love. I think Harrison went to that dinner meeting ready to do the job and say yes in person.”

One day after Season 2 premiered in October 2024, Apple TV+ announced “Shrinking” had been renewed for a third season. And according to Miller’s Instagram, production was already underway in February! While there’s no estimate as to when Season 3 will debut, Collider confirmed this installment’s theme will be “moving forward.” (Season 1’s theme was grief, and Season 2’s was forgiveness.)

Currently, there are no known public casting calls for “Shrinking” Season 3. We recommend bookmarking our main casting page, which regularly updates with the latest listings. You might also want to check out our guide on auditioning for Apple TV+, which explores what goes into casting some of the streamer’s hit films and TV series.

Prioritize personality over perfection. For YouTube creator Claudia Sulewski, landing her Season 2 guest-starring role on “Shrinking” came as somewhat of a surprise. “I taped two scenes…and found out two days later,” she told us. “What I’m learning with television is that everything [moves] very quickly.” 

From her experience, she also learned that “it’s more interesting to show what you can add to this character versus trying to create a perfect self-tape,” she said. “Because you’re not getting any immediate feedback like you would in the room, there is this pressure to put on a perfect tape and try to guess what the casting director wants to see, when the magic is in flipping it back to yourself and asking yourself: What can I do different here? How can I show a piece of myself in this two-minute scene?”

Take every opportunity that comes your way. From “Ugly Betty” to Broadway, Urie has found success on many levels, but he didn’t get there by being picky. Instead, he treated every role as a chance to grow his skills and his career—something he recommends for all young actors. “It’s very important to treat every opportunity as real,” he told us. “This business is a marathon, and it’s a business of connections; but connections can come in a million different ways and at a million different times. You can’t expect one hit to immediately turn into two hits. You can’t expect a good review to get you the next job. When you’re starting out and opportunities begin to come, those opportunities are coming to you. And until you can’t, you should take them. You don’t know what a project will lead to. My advice is to hunker down, do the work, and say yes until you can’t.”

Protect your overall mental health. Williams supports mental health awareness both on and off the screen, and she wants actors at every stage of their career to protect their peace in what can be a rough business. “We have this job where, every day, we go out and audition, or we self-tape, and we are asking for something. Maybe they’ll pass on you for whatever reason, but you’re getting these constant nos—which, [compared] to somebody else in a different field, maybe they’re not getting those direct nos as much. Sometimes you don’t get [the part] because you’re tall; sometimes you don’t get it because of your race; sometimes you don’t get it because of your gender. That’s really hard,” she told us.

“Then, also, the only way you’re gonna be a good actor is if you have access to your emotions. That’s just, in and of itself, a mental health issue. We don’t process that,” she said. “Even though we get to do this gorgeous job of make-believe that’s so fun, there is this part of it where we’re doing something that literally involves our mental health, every day. So I would like to figure out more resources for actors to work through that and actually acknowledge that what we’re doing is quite strange and very vulnerable.”