It doesn’t take a therapy session to understand why Harrison Ford has received some of the best reviews of his career for his work as Dr. Paul Rhoades on Shrinking.
But the latest season brought something even more unexpected from the Hollywood icon — a chance to get meta. Historically, Ford has not been a fan of discussing his past work or calling attention to his status as the man behind two beloved pop culture characters, Indiana Jones and Han Solo. Yet, Shrinking referenced the whip-wielding archaeologist not once, but twice in Season 3.
In one episode, Paul returns to his practice singing the Indiana Jones theme song as he enters the room, announcing, “The GOAT has returned.” Turns out, the music cue was not exactly planned.
Ahead of an Emmys FYC live table read of the season finale at the DGA Theater, the cast and production team gathered to discuss their work and what lies ahead. There, Jason Segel, who stars as grief-stricken therapist Jimmy Laird, revealed that Ford claimed not to have realized he was bringing his classic character’s motif into this world. “He apparently didn’t know that the Indiana Jones theme song was the Indiana Jones theme song,” Segel says. “We had him walk into a scene go like, ‘Boom!’ And then later he was like, ‘What was that?’”
However, once he’d shot the scene, Ford did help ensure the serendipitous moment made the final cut. “I have never got Harrison to do anything,” quips creator and showrunner Bill Lawrence. “He did it on his own. But he got permission for us to use [the music] after he did it because he did it without asking anybody.”
Lawrence did, however, sneak another Indiana Jones reference into the season. When Paul returns to offer Jimmy some long-withheld gratitude and push him into a second chance with Sofi (Cobie Smulders), he gives Jimmy a choice between going home and being alone, or taking a chance and earning new (emotional) scars. “Choose wisely,” he advises Jimmy with a wink.
Fans of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade will recognize the quote from the scene where Indy must select the Holy Grail from a shelf of impostors. Ford, however, didn’t realize the meta joke he was making. “Once he found out he was a little annoyed at me,” Lawrence adds.
Another Ford highlight from Season 3 came courtesy of Segel and Michael Urie, who stars as Jimmy’s best friend, Brian. While the duo are in the car with Paul, they start singing the “Confrontation” from Les Misérables, with Urie taking on Javert and Segel playing Jean Valjean. Segel has a well-documented love for the musical theater number, regularly breaking out into it — most famously with Neil Patrick Harris during a past interview.
As Segel explains, “It’s one of my favorite things to do, that confrontation. I can do both parts. I’ve done it since high school and I just f–king love it. It’s the best. Bill knew it and just was like, ‘All right, we’ll use that. We’re behind on scripts. We’ll have these guys sing Les Mis.’” Urie, a Broadway vet, adds that the experience was unforgettable: “To play Javert, opposite Jason Segel, and for an audience of Harrison Ford, we were giddy.”
It’s Ford’s reaction that makes the scene work, as Paul moves through confusion, joy, delight, and anxiety in a matter of moments. “He’s so good,” gushes Urie. “You watch him in that scene and you see why he’s a movie star because he has no lines and he’s the most interesting part of the scene. He goes through every human emotion. He’s confused. He’s excited. He’s sad. He’s scared we’re going to crash. He’s delighted. He’s goofy.”
Urie also has plenty of meta moments on the show. Brian and his husband, Charlie (Devin Kawaoka), welcomed a baby girl and named her Sutton in honor of Broadway star Sutton Foster. Since Urie has shared the stage with Foster — starring opposite her in the revival of Once Upon a Mattress — he has taken every opportunity to share details with the baby’s real-life namesake.
“On set there’ll be a prop table and it’ll be like ‘Sutton’s binky’ or ‘Sutton’s bib,’” Urie explains. “Or on the call sheet, it would be like Sutton’s hair and make-up call time. I take a picture and send it to Sutton every time. It makes me so happy that it’s her.”
While much of the evening centered on celebrating the best of Season 3, the Shrinking team is also looking forward to their upcoming fourth season. The show was originally only slated to run for three seasons, meaning this season finale was conceived as the series’ conclusion. From a storytelling perspective, that would have worked out perfectly.
“We came close to sticking the landing,” says showrunner Neil Goldman, “in terms of the season long story we were telling and the end of the three-season story Bill put out there.”
But the team decided to come back for more — and Lawrence has already teased that Season 4 will jump ahead two years in time. Goldman notes that the leap forward will be significant: “It will definitely be one of those time jumps that feels like a time jump. Each of the characters over the course of those two years has made some significant strides, and in some cases, have taken some significant setbacks. At the start of Season 4, for the first time, Jimmy is in probably the best place of anyone. It’s going to be a new color on Jimmy given that he’s never completely healed from the types of things he went through, but he’s healed enough so that he’s able to move forward.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean everything will go exactly the way Jimmy hopes or expects. Segel points out that life rarely moves in a straight line, saying, “We were trying to figure out this new arc and one of the things that we stumbled into was just because you decide, ‘Right, I’m ready to be happy,’ doesn’t mean that it’s going to be easy. Sometimes you’re like, ‘All right, I’m ready. I’m going to go out there and take it for a spin. I’m going to start dating again.’ And then it does not go how you think it’s going to go.”
One tradition that will continue as expected is Liz’s (Christa Miller) gifting of rocks as a way to express her admiration and approval. Miller even gave Sesame Street’s Elmo a rock recently, playing on her character’s hobby and Elmo’s famously complicated relationship with his nemesis, Rocko.
“We just started shooting and it’s already been brought up,” quips Miller. “That’s a teaser I’ll give you. It’s already been brought up in the first episode.”
After a rollercoaster of a season, Gaby (Jessica Williams) also ended things on a high note by proposing to “other” Derrick (Damon Wayans Jr.). Will the time jump mean viewers miss the wedding entirely?
“I try and detach myself from that because when I’m like, ‘Oh, I want this to happen and not to happen,’ It’s not as fun,” says Williams. “You’re trying to control something that’s uncontrollable. It’s a show that is its own machine, and I do this small part, but I just want her to be happy because I really care about her. But, you know, conflict breeds story.”
Much like Jimmy, Sean (Luke Tennie) is also moving forward, finally moving out of Jimmy’s pool house.
“My hope for him is that he does well,” reflects Tennie. “I want him to be challenged. I would love to see how he maintains his relationship with Jimmy. Now that they’re not therapist-client anymore, the only option there is friend. What does that look like? Is Sean playing pickleball with Jimmy? Is Jimmy at the MMA gym with Sean? I want to see some of that.”
Audiences want to see that too. But first, there’s the matter of whether Shrinking will add any Emmy nominations or wins to its roster for a season that brought immense growth and healing for all of its characters.
