Shrinking creator explains how season 1 reaction changed season 2 plans
Bill Lawrence revealed the two things he didn't see coming when he first envisioned the show's arc.
Jason Segel's comedy-drama series Shrinking is returning to Apple TV+ for its second season, and while the the show's co-creators planned out most aspects of this new run ahead of the first, it turns out the reaction to season 1 did have some impact.
Bill Lawrence spoke exclusively with RadioTimes.com ahead of this new season, and revealed that the audience's responses to some of the show's supporting characters caused the team to deviate from their initial plans.
Lawrence said: "Yeah, there's two things, I'll tell you. We got very lucky because, I've said this 1000 times, I'm in the business of taking credit for other people's talent and I'm so grateful for it. I can write a little bit, but I can't do the things that all these people do. And the major changes to the show happened because of the cast. One is Ted McGinley.
"We always perceived him just as someone that would kind of stroll by and be a comedy assassin with one liners, and he was a guest star last year, but the response to him was so big, he's a regular character now. And we had to develop storylines and a backstory and a character for someone that we did not know would be such a big part of the show."
He continued: "So that's number one, and then number two, which is kind of liberating for the writing staff – Harrison Ford, Jason Segel, would have been justified to say we'd love the show to keep being predominantly about us.
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"But they have so not only embraced the ensemble, but everybody was blown away by how the young people, Luke Tennie and Lukita Maxwell, who play Alice and Sean, could hang with these comedic heavy hitters and icons.
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"And so kind of broadening the world into their lives and their stories was not something that we had necessarily intended to do. Sean was kind of a catalyst as a patient the first year, and then this year, we're kind of burying ourselves in his life a little bit. But it was earned, and it just means we're trying to lean into what's working."
McGinley plays Derek, the wife of Liz (Christa Miller) in the series, while Tennie plays Jimmy's patient and lodger Sean and Maxwell plays Jimmy's daughter.
Alongside the aforementioned cast, Jessica Williams and Michael Urie will also be back in major roles, while co-creator and Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein will appear as a special guest star in a currently undisclosed role.
Shrinking season 2 will premiere globally with the first two episodes on Wednesday 16th October on Apple TV+, followed by one new episode weekly, every Wednesday until 25th December 2024. You can sign up to Apple TV+ here.
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