Just three months sky of his eightieth birthday, legendary screen actor Harrison Ford is taking on his first starring television role in the new Apple Original comedy series, Shrinking, playing opposite Jason Segel. The series, to debut this spring, takes a lighthearted look at the world of cognitive behavioral therapy.
Segel is slated to play the role of Jimmy, described as “a grieving therapist who starts to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks” while Ford, Jimmy’s mentor, will portray Dr Phil Rhodes, a “blue collar shrink” whose recent Parkinsons diagnosis presents another set of challenges to his professional life and legacy, as well as to his relationships with patients, friends, and family.
The role will be Ford’s debut in a leading role on the small screen. In 2019, he was slated to star in The Staircase for Annapurna Television in the role of Michael Peterson, a novelist who’d allegedly murdered his wife, but that role was awarded instead to Colin Firth. Ford’s last significant TV role was in 1993, in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.
Ford is revered by film audiences for his performances in such cinematic extravaganzas as Blade Runner, Indiana Jones, and Star Wars, as well as features like The Fugitive, The Mosquito Coast, Witness, and Working Girl. He most recently appeared in Chris Sanders’s Disney/Twentieth Century Studios film adaptation of Call of the Wild, the celebrated 1903 adventure novel by Jack London. Ford is also reprising the title role in Indiana Jones 5, directed by James Mangold.
With his films grossing more than $9.3 billion worldwide over a career that began in the 1960s, Harrison Ford is one of Hollywood’s most productive actors. During his early years, he also played minor roles in several iconic television dramas, including Gunsmoke, Ironside, Kung Fu, The F.B.I., and The Virginian.
Shrinking is being produced by Warner Bros. Television and Lawrence’s Doozer Productions.
