James Ponsoldt to Direct Jason Segel's Shrinking - Collider

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Apple TV+ has had a lot of success with its original series offerings like Ted Lasso. One of the streamer's upcoming comedies, Shrinking, is coming with the help of Ted Lasso’s co-creator Bill Lawrence. Now the comedy series has found one of its directors and another cast member. According to Deadline, James Ponsoldt will executive produce and be directing multiple episodes of the project, including the pilot. Jessica Williams has also joined the cast opposite Jason Segel, Christa Miller, and Harrison Ford.

The series follows “Jimmy (Segel), a grieving therapist who starts to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ignoring his training and ethics, he finds himself making huge, tumultuous changes to people’s lives — including his own.” Williams will be playing the lead role of Gaby. Her character is described as a “therapist working in the practice with Dr. Phil Rhodes (Ford) and Jimmy (Segel). She’s all in on anything she’s passionate about, including her friend Jimmy, who she cares for and respects.”

The ten-episode series was created, co-written, and executive produced by Segel. Lawrence and Brett Goldstein of Ted Lasso fame are serving as writers and executive producers on the series as well. Additionally, Jeff Ingold and Liza Katzer are also executive producers. Warner Bros. Television is producing the project.

ted-lasso-brett-goldstein-social-featured — Image via Apple TV+

Williams has had a lot of genre experience throughout her young career starring in comedies like Booksmart and Corporate Animals. She also stars in the critically acclaimed HBO Max comedy series Love Life. However, most mainstream audiences will know the actress from her role as Professor Hicks in the 2018 Wizarding World sequel Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Williams will be reprising that role this month in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. The actress has also co-written and starred in HBO’s 2 Dope Queens.

Ponsoldt on the other hand has recently directed and executive produced the Facebook Watch series Sorry For Your Loss. Ponsoldt also has comedy experience as he has directed the pilot for Master of None as well as episodes of Shameless and Parenthood. His feature film experience includes directing The Spectacular Now, The End of the Tour, and The Circle. Ponsoldt is currently directing the musical drama miniseries Daisy Jones & The Six for Amazon Prime Video.

Because of all this, Shrinking is shaping up to be another show to look out for on Apple TV+. The concept of the series is very compelling and leaves a lot of room for gut-busting laughs. Given that this is Ford's first recurring TV role of his career, that also has to speak to the overall quality of this project.

There is a lot of talent behind this series and Ponsoldt and Williams only add to that. Now that Shrinking has one of its directors we should hear more news about the project soon like a start date for the production. Until then, there is a lot of comedic content on Apple TV+ like the previously mentioned Ted Lasso to keep you busy.