Brett Goldstein, who co-created Shrinking alongside Jason Segel and Bill Lawrence, is headed to the screen this season, thanks to the urging of Segel.

Season two of the Apple TV+ comedy following grieving therapist Jimmy (Segel) as he breaks the rules and tells his clients exactly what he thinks sees Goldstein joining the cast in a surprisingly dark role; Lawrence admitted he initially shot down the Ted Lasso star for the part, until Segel changed his mind.

I made a mistake that I think audience members make sometimes when you equate somebody to a part they played. This needed to be an empathetic, sweetheart of a guy and in my head Im like, No, Bretts more like [Ted Lasso character] Roy Kent. And then Im like, What am I talking about? Hes such a sweetie and hes so lovely as a person,' Lawrence told The Hollywood Reporter at the shows L.A. premiere on Tuesday. Jason Segel really rallied and was like, What are you doing man? We should just have Brett play this part. Im not going to spoil it but the show would only work if you end up rooting for this guy, and I think he kills it. Segel explained of going to bat for Goldstein, I knew, secretly, that he wanted to play that part and I knew he would kill it. I have a lot of experience being Marshall Eriksen [in How I Met Your Mother] and then working to have people see me as other characters; I know he probably deals with that as Roy Kent, so I just wanted to be the voice to say no, do something totally different, lets break that now. And hes amazing in the show.

Lawrence joked that another benefit of casting Goldstein was making him be clean-shaven for the role, teasing, Theres very few things that were dealbreakers to me but I wanted him to shave the beard, not really for the character as much as for how I knew it would make him slightly miserable.

Jason Segel, Harrison Ford and Jessica Williams practice their prom pose at the premiere of #Shrinking season two pic.twitter.com/6QRvBT0rUK

The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) October 9, 2024 Last season also saw the reveal that Harrison Fords character is battling Parkinsons disease, something that will be explored further this year.

Segel said they approached Fords storyline the same way we approach all of the kind of tough subjects on the show, just with humor, as Lawrence explained the personal connection, with his grandfather and Goldsteins father both diagnosed with Parkinsons, and the writer having begun his career on Spin City with Michael J. Fox.

Its really important to us to kind of represent it in an authentic way and honor it and I think Harrisons just absolutely crushing, Lawrence emphasized. It really makes me proud to watch what hes doing.

He also noted the pushback they got over the first season, with people going, A real therapist would never do what Jimmys doing, there would be consequences. Were like, No duh, thats what the finale is going to be about!' Lawrence added, though, the therapy community has been kind and really embraced us because they know its a fictional story and I think at its core, I think every therapist character is out there trying to be of service and trying to help people. I think theyre vibing on that.

Shrinking season two, which also stars Jessica Williams, Christa Miller, Luke Tennie and Lukita Maxwell, starts streaming Oct. 16 on Apple TV+.