The day has finally come for Shrinking fans to be reunited with Jimmy (Jason Segel), Paul (Harrison Ford), Alice (Lukita Maxwell), Sean (Luke Tennie), Gaby (Jessica Williams), Liz (Christa Miller) and the rest of the characters in the hit Apple TV+ hit for Season 2. The thoughtful and emotional comedy is still among the best show’s to watch, leaning into the elements we loved from Season 1, while still evolving its characters in a really satisfying way.
That includes Alice, with actor Lukita Maxwell excited about her character feeling more like a teen in Season 2. Opposed to Season 1 where she had to be particularly responsible as her father, Jimmy, wasn’t coping well with the grief of losing his wife.
“Alice definitely gets to explore new relationships and deepen some relationships,” Maxwell told Yahoo Canada. “I also think, going into Season 2 after almost two years of hiatus, … I was really excited to dive into her mentality, going from a rock, an anchor in Season 1, to seeing her make mistakes and go through chaos and learn how to ask for help, and ask for forgiveness.”
“Season 1 was hard to shoot. … During Season 1, shooting scenes with Jason that were really intense all the time, obviously he’s incredible as an actor and a human, and was so supportive and always made the space feel really safe, but it was nice in Season 2 to kind of have a more amiable relationship with him and more trust in our characters. She’s just looking out for him. She wants to make sure he doesn’t fall back into his old chaos.”
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At the forefront of Maxwell’s process of evolving Alice was letting her be “young.”
“I was really particular about wanting to make sure that she still seemed young,” Maxwell said. “I think in Season 1, we do see her as a very adult character and we shot that when I was closer in age to the character of Alice.”
“From Season 1 to Season 2, she’s the same age, but I’m getting older. I’m two years down the line and so I was hyper vigilant, making sure that I kept her youth and then brought it out even more in this space of Season 2. Of her being able to be more open and more trusting to Jimmy, and to her friends in her journey of grief.”
For another beloved character, Sean, while there was a significant focus on his anger in Season 1, we get to move beyond that, looking deeper into Sean as a person in Season 2, in addition to his relationship with therapy.
“What’s so fascinating about mental medicine, at least from my perspective as a performer, is it’s so obvious when things are physical,” Tennie said. “Perhaps you’ve got a headache, if you’re taking an ibuprofen, you didn’t have a headache because you lacked an ibuprofen, something is going on that’s causing the headache, and the same will be true for Sean’s state.”
“He’s not angry because he needs therapy, he’s angry because there’s other things in his life that he needs to address, and therapy is the tool through which he can address those things. So as Sean is learning that, it’s hard for him not to get caught up on this idea that therapy will fix me and he has to learn that therapy gives him the tools through which he can continue working through his anger. It’s not a pass-fail. It’s not, ‘I show up to therapy, I’m no longer angry.’ And that’s a very discouraging thing to realize for somebody who’s seen so much success. He’s kind of just like, ‘I thought I was done.’ But no, that’s not how this works. It’s a journey. And for Sean to be continually reminded that he’s on this journey is humbling. And for me as a performer, it’s truly a pleasure and an honour to play.”
While Sean seems to be making significant strides, he’s also a character that has significant trauma from his days in the army, something he confronts in Season 2. In terms of getting into Sean’s headspace, Tennie shared that he’s really led by the overall theme of the story.
“I don’t always think just about my character, I know some actors really kind of isolate that and I admire that, but for me it’s important that I understand what’s going on throughout the course of the whole show,” Tennie explained. “I like themes. I like to know what’s going on. Why are we watching this? Why are we making this? And for me, in Season 1, the the big theme seemed to be about committing to making a change and when we see Sean commit, what that does is it demonstrates to the viewer that there are benefits to committing to improvement, committing to becoming better.”
“In Season 2, that theme doesn’t just disappear. We add on to it and the theme becomes about, when you’ve made that commitment, you now also have to face your past, and it’s so rewarding and it’s so inspiring. So for me, that’s one of the the biggest draws about being able to come back to this show. But the way that influences my preparation is just every time I make a choice on Sean’s behalf, I just check it. I run it by that theme, that overarching objective for us, and I make sure that I’m sticking true to that and it really influences the work in a positive way.”
For both Maxwell and Tennie, a highlight of working on Shrinking is being able to collaborate with Harrison Ford.
“I love working with Harrison,” Maxwell shared.
“Every time I get to work with Harrison I learn so much. Some days it’s I’m learning so much about acting. Some days I’m learning so much about presence. Some days I’m learning so much about how he commands the space and some days I’m learning about how he can remove himself after the day of work. Like he goes on, he does it and then he’s back into him.”
“Harrison is so kind and so warm, but he’s also intense, which is so much fun because I admire and respect enthusiasm.” Tennie said in a separate interview. “There’s so much that I get when somebody is excited about the work.”
Without revealed too much, we’ll tease that Tennie gets more screen time with Ford in Season 2 of the show, but there’s one moment on set with Ford that really stands out Tennie.
“One time we wrapped this really funny scene and he just killed it, because he’s one of the GOATs, and he comes into the room where we relax, back in the green room, and he says, ‘Can you believe they pay us for this?” Tennie recalled. “I’m looking over at Harrison Ford and I say, ‘No, I can’t believe it.'”
“So his enthusiasm, his excitement, that ferocious intensity that he has is contagious. Makes me want to show up to work even more.”