Jason Segel on Why Cobie Smulders Is His ‘Shrinking’ Soulmate

Shrinking is already renewed for Season 4, and Season 3 hasn’t even come out yet. Apple TV renewed the Emmy-nominated comedy the day before its Season 3 premiere (Wednesday, January 28). What does that mean for Jason Segel‘s Jimmy in Season 3? Here, the actor previews what’s to come.

Shrinking Season 3 is defined by moving forward, even when you don’t feel ready. That manifests in Paul’s (Harrison Ford) progressing Parkinson’s symptoms, Alice (Lukita Maxwell) preparing to go to college across the country, Gaby (Jessica Williams) being forced to share space with Louis (Brett Goldstein), when she’s not interested in forgiving his role in her best friend, Tia’s (Lilan Bowden), death, and more. As for Jimmy, he’s starting to move on romantically, but the widower is grappling with whether it’s right to love again after Tia at all.

Cobie Smulders returns as Sofi, Jimmy’s potential love interest introduced in Season 2. Here, Segel explains why casting his How I Met Your Mother costar was like cosplaying soulmates in Season 3, and how new cast members Michael J. Fox (playing a Parkinson’s patient connected to Paul) and Jeff Daniels (playing Jimmy’s dad) help color in the rest of the picture when it comes to Jimmy and Paul’s dynamic.

The last time we saw Jimmy, it was a pretty high-stakes moment with Louis at the end of Season 2. What’s changed between them since?

Jason Segel: I think very much like a movie about possession, when they’re fighting demons in horror movies. When you say its name, it loses its power. And I think that’s true of when you are possessed by grief or possessed by resentment or rage. There’s something about naming it and saying it and looking at it in its face that forces it to lose its power. Jimmy and Louis looked at each other, they nodded, and they said, “God, this was horrible.” They named it. This was horrible. And so now they’re on the other side. There’s a little bit of calm after the storm, and they’re both looking forward to figuring out, “OK, so what now?

The big theme for this season, as you say, is moving forward. With Alice leaving for college across the country, how will that impact Jimmy’s ability to move forward?

It’s interesting because I think when you picture moving forward, you picture moving towards something, right? But I think the reality is for a lot of people, and especially Jimmy, moving forward is actually moving into the unknown. It’s not like he has any idea what he’s supposed to be moving towards. That’s what’s really scary about this moment for Jimmy. A big part of him wonders if the best part already happened, and, “Now is the rest of your life just kind of existing? Alice leaves. My wife has passed on. Do I now just putter around the house, go buy coffee, and try to make a day of it?” Jimmy’s really scared.

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Jimmy kind of treats that as the proper way to mourn Tia this season. So, how will he be pushed?

To go back to naming the thing, figuring out what you’re afraid of, what the big block is, is really the answer to a lot of these questions for all of the characters. What is it that you’re afraid of that’s stopping you from stepping into the unknown? For Jimmy, there’s another big question of, well, what if I was sitting across from the love of my life and I’m still a mess? What then? What use is it even finding somebody? I’m still a mess.

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Being a mess doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be loved. He might have to figure that out for himself.

There you go.

Were you on set when Harrison Ford and Michael J. Fox filmed their scene together? What was that experience like?

I wasn’t there for that scene. I got to do another scene with Michael. The biggest thrill for me, in addition to just the bravery of the performance and how cool it is and all that, [is] I got to tell him that in my 20s, when I was trying to do a TV show and make a movie at the same time and didn’t know if it was possible in terms of just making it through, we would all say to each other, “Michael J. Fox did it.” Me and my cohort, this was a guy that we pointed to as an example that it was possible. I don’t know without him blazing a trail that I would’ve even known that I could pull something like that off.

Eric Dane, who has ALS, just played a character with ALS on Brilliant Minds. And then you have Michael playing a character with Parkinson’s here. Do you think that actors may continue this trend of raising awareness about these illnesses through these artistic mediums of TV and movies?

I have no idea, but I do know that being witness to any of it is like an incredible act of bravery, and to me, the real definition of art. To perform an act of self-exploration so honest in front of the camera is like the ultimate example of what you’re trying to do out there on a daily basis. To see it in its most extreme and brave version is just awe-inspiring.

Apple TV

Did Michael suggest anything that was used in Paul’s storyline this season as Paul’s Parkinson’s symptoms progress?

He’s been a constant point of reference for that storyline. He and Bill [Lawrence, co-creator] are very close, and I know he’s been really instrumental in shaping that and also answering some of the emotional questions about how he’s felt during the process.

You have Cobie Smulders coming back as Jimmy’s potential love interest, Sofi. You and Cobie played very platonic friends on How I Met Your Mother. Was it at all strange to play love interests, or was it easy because you know each other so well?

It was all so wildly easy and natural. I’ve just thought a lot about why it felt that way and why it feels the way it does on screen. And it’s because I think that the magic trick of knowing each other for 20 years, but playing people who just met, is literally like the cosplay of what a soulmate is supposed to be. Someone that you have just met, but it feels like you have a history together, like a lifetime together. That’s kind of what we manufactured. These characters have just met, but Cobie and I have known each other for 25 years through thick and thin, so you feel this history between them.

You have Jeff Daniels playing your dad this season. Did he bring anything to your scenes together that helped you understand Jimmy in a different light?

For sure. I mean, that whole triad of me, my real father, and my surrogate father, Paul, it informs so much. Jeff’s performance informs so much of why I’m so desperate for Paul to just say, “Good job, kid.”

Shrinking, Season 3 Premiere, Wednesday, January 28, Apple TV