Apple TV's 'Shrinking' Is Breaking Its Own Formula for Season 4

Published Oct 21, 2026, 8:31 AM EDT

Giovana Gelhoren is a High-Trending Topics Writer at Collider, covering the most-talked-about stars, movies, and TV shows. Before joining Collider, she was a Digital News Writer at People Magazine and served as Associate Editor at SheKnows, where she honed her expertise in celebrity coverage and entertainment journalism.

A proud Latina from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Giovana graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Journalism and International Studies. She has interviewed countless celebrities, including Anne Hathaway, Halle Berry, Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Brenda Song, and is known for her encyclopedic knowledge of film, TV, and pop culture.

When it comes to making a TV show, nothing is a guarantee. While some new shows can become unexpected overnight hits, others can get canceled and fade into oblivion as quickly as they started. For Apple TV's Shrinking, for instance, the Jason Segel and Harrison Ford-led series quickly blossomed into a fan-favorite, heartwarming series for the platform, with no sign of it ever slowing down or losing its momentum.

​​​​​​But, as creator Bill Lawrence recently revealed, Shrinking was initially thought of as a three-season series. And, given that the series earned a Season 4 renewal, the upcoming season will introduce a whole new story, see beloved characters in new settings, and test the writers' room to create the same kind of magic that made seasons 1 through 3 so moving.

'Shrinking' Was Originally Planned as a Three-Season Arc

If you've watched the finale of Shrinking Season 3, then chances are you thought to yourself that it must be a series finale. As it turns out, it kind of was. "This is the ending of the three-season story we pitched," Lawrence told The Hollywood Reporter in April 2026. In the original proposal, Lawrence pitched "a beginning, middle and end" to the main characters' storylines, including Segel's Jimmy, who starts Season 1 picking up the pieces after his wife's death. “The first year of Shrinking is about grief and the second year is about forgiveness, and the third year is about moving forward through it," Lawrence explained.

As a result, Season 3 wrapped most of its plotlines. Jimmy officially moved forward in his personal life by going on a date with Sofi (Cobie Smulders), Paul (Ford) retired and moved to Connecticut in order to be closer to his daughter, Meg (Lily Rabe), Brian (Michael Urie) is figuring out fatherhood, Alice (Lukita Maxwell) is on her way to play soccer at Wesleyan University, and Gaby (Jessica Williams) is finally living out her dream to open a trauma center. Plus, Sean (Luke Tennie) has just been hired to become a sous-chef at a high-profile restaurant and Liz (Christa Miller) and Derek (Ted McGinley) are set to become grandparents for the first time. The beloved characters all found happy, satisfying endings, with no cliffhangers in sight.

Season 4 of 'Shrinking' Will Flip the Script

By wrapping up all these storylines by the end of Season 3, Lawrence has given himself a blank slate. No stories need to be opened up and rehashed, and new stories can now be introduced instead. "I hope that people will dig it that when we come back, that they’ll feel like we’re telling a completely different story," Lawrence said. So far, while Lawrence hasn't teased too much about the upcoming season, Season 4 will see a two-year time jump from the events in the Season 3 finale, and will have a total of 12 episodes, the same number of episodes as Shrinking season 2.

Season 4 of Shrinking, therefore, will not only introduce a whole new set of stories for the characters fans know and love, but will officially be turning the page on the storylines from before. Shrinking will no longer be interested in Jimmy's grief journey, or even Sean's anger issues. "If we turned on the fourth season and Jimmy was just sitting around saying to Paul, 'You know, I’ve been thinking about it, and I’m still super sad about my wife,' I’d be like, 'I don’t f--- want to watch this anymore. I already saw this!'" Lawrence said, adding that Season 3 was "the end of that story." Instead, it'll see a real new chapter for the characters, giving Shrinking room to reinvent itself while preserving what made the show work.