For over four decades, Harrison Ford has been such an accomplished movie star that doing television for anything more than a guest appearance would be beneath him. However, the streaming era of Peak TV has changed the television landscape, and now Ford is ready to co-headline his own comedy series.
Via Deadline, Ford is slated to star in Shrinking, a new Apple TV+ original comedy opposite Jason Segel. From the description provided by Apple TV+, Segel’s role is the main character. He is described as a grieving therapist who starts to “break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ignoring his training and ethics, he finds himself making huge, tumultuous changes to people’s lives…including his own.”
Ford will portray Dr. Phil Rhodes, “a down-to-earth, sharp as a tack blue-collar shrink, blunt but with an ever present twinkle. Phil is a pioneer in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy who has built a successful practice over the years that he shares with his two young proteges, Jimmy and Gaby.” The description also notes that Phil is forced to deal with his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, “which forces him out of his comfort zone as he grapples with intrusive friends, his estranged family, and his legacy.”
Ford’s last guest appearance on television was in 1993 for an episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. He will reprise his role as Indiana Jones in an upcoming sequel that is set to be released next year.
Segel is best known for his nine seasons on How I Met Your Mother, the 2011 reboot of The Muppets, and several Judd Apatow comedies including Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Shrinking will be written and executive produced by Segel alongside Ted Lasso co-creator Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein. Warner Bros. Television will produce the series for Apple TV+ in conjunction with Lawrence’s Doozer Productions. A start date for the new series has not been announced.
