Shrinking is getting a major new addition to its third season. Deadline broke the news last week that Michael J. Fox would be joining the cast of the show’s third season, marking a return to acting for the actor. Fox’s casting on the show also marks a reunion with show creator Bill Lawrence, after the two first worked together on Spin City decades ago.
Although the details of Fox’s role have not been reported, it seems likely that his casting will be related to Harrison Ford’s Paul Rhoades, who revealed at the end of the show’s first season that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Fox has been living with the disease for decades, and had largely stepped away from acting in part because of the nature of his symptoms.
The implications of Fox’s casting suggest that Paul’s arc in the show’s third season could be particularly affecting. He has struggled with the disease in the world of the show already, but Fox’s character could give him a new perspective on what it’s like to live with it for years.
Of course, Fox is adept at both comedy and drama, and every time he’s reunited with Lawrence, the two of them have managed to strike that tonal balance effectively. There’s no reason to think that Shrinking will be any different. While we don’t know the details yet, it’s fair to suggest that Fox’s return to television will be meaningful in and of itself, and perhaps even more so because he’ll get to share some scenes with Harrison Ford. Two legends of ’80s cinema, uniting on screen decades later.