NEED TO KNOW
Jason Segel and the rest of the Shrinking crew are set to be joined by some very special guest stars in season 3 — including one person who will have How I Met Your Mother fans excited.
In an interview with TVLine published on Thursday, June 19, the Apple TV+ series’ co-creator Bill Lawrence revealed that Cobie Smulders‚ who first appeared in season 2 as a woman named Sofi, would be returning for the upcoming third season.
Sofi previously sold her car to Segel’s character Jimmy. She was also positioned as a potential love interest for the widower.
Courtesy of Apple
According to Lawrence, Smulders will now be a recurring character in the upcoming season.
“The cool thing about the show — and we even told all the actors and actresses this when we started — is that this is a show about a tiny found family that built a nuclear safety bubble around themselves to get through s—, and then people forgive and open up these doors,” Lawrence told TVLine.
“That’s why you see someone like [One Day at a Time alum] Isabella Gomez, who is playing a love interest for Luke Tennie’s character… you see Michael J. Fox coming in… [and] you see Cobie Smulders come in for Jason as a guy that — you know, you talk about moving forward, and whether or not [Jimmy] can find a way to even imagine himself being happy again,” he adds.
Apple TV+
Segel and Smulders reunited onscreen 10 years after HIMYM ended for season 2, episode 10 of Shrinking.
The pair’s first-ever scene together on the Apple TV+ dramedy involved Jimmy (Segel) arriving at Sofi’s (Smulders) home to buy a car as Jimmy’s next-door neighbor, Derek (Ted McGinley), tagged along.
HIMYM, which ran on CBS from 2005 to 2014 for nine seasons, centered on the romantic misadventures of Ted (Josh Radnor) and his group of friends, including Segel as Marshall and Smulders as Robin, as recounted by an older version of Ted (voiced by the late Bob Saget) in 2030.
Although some of the cast have reunited off-screen in the years since the original series ended, Segel and Smulders’ appearance together on Shrinking marks the first time cast members have hit the small screen together since the series ended over a decade ago.
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Segel stars on Shrinking alongside Harrison Ford, Jessica Williams, Christa Miller, Michael Urie, Luke Tennie and Lukita Maxwell. Newcomers to the series — which Segel co-created and executive produces — in its second season also include Damon Wayans Jr. and fellow co-creator/executive producer Brett Goldstein.
Smulders isn’t the only big-name appearing on season 3 of Shrinking.
In his TVLine interview, Lawrence also revealed that Goldstein is set to return for “multiple episodes” after he was introduced in season 2 as Louis Winston, the drunk driver responsible for the death of Jimmy’s wife Tia (Lilan Bowden).
“Forgiveness wasn’t just Jimmy’s story,” Lawrence shares. “It was Alice’s story, and Derek and Liz’s story, and Sean with his dad, and Gabby and her mom and sister, so this sense of moving forward exists for everybody, and we consider Brett’s character to be a major one after the second year.”
Michael J. Fox and Jeff Daniels were previously confirmed among the stars joining the new installment.
Seasons 1 and 2 of Shrinking can be streamed on Apple TV+.
