Bill Lawrence revealed during a panel at the ATX TV Festival in Austin that Candice Bergen will join the cast of Apple TV+’s “Shrinking.”
The announcement came during the “Bill Lawrence and Friends” event at the Paramount Theatre, where Lawrence mentioned that the “Murphy Brown” actress will appear in Season 3 alongside Harrison Ford and previously announced guest star Michael J. Fox.
He disclosed Bergen’s casting while discussing working again with Fox, who starred in his first sitcom, “Spin City.”
He’s one of the greatest people I’ve ever met. He’s one of my mentors. And man, what an inspiring dude, the way he’s living his life. So to get to have him back, working with him… I didn’t expect to have career highlights at this point in my career and I was on set about 10 days ago watching Harrison Ford and Mike Fox and Candice Bergen — oh a spoiler!
Lawrence said of Fox
Lawrence didn’t share any more details about Candice Bergen’s role in “Shrinking” beyond the mention. He co-created the show with Brett GoldsBraff is on board Lawrence’s potential “Scrubs” revival in development at ABC. “We’re all still friends,” Braff said.
Season 3 will also welcome new cast members Jeff Daniels, Sherry Cola, and Isabella Gomez, along with Michael J. Fox and Bergen. Bergen recently appeared as a guest on “And Just Like Us” and “The Conners.” Lawrence also talked about working with Fox on “Spin City,” which he created with Gary David Goldberg in his 20s. Fox left “Spin City” after four seasons in 2000 because of Parkinson’s symptoms. He later appeared in two episodes of Lawrence’s NBC sitcom “Scrubs” as a brilliant doctor with severe OCD.
I was lucky enough to had a mentor, and I created ‘Spin City’ when I was 25 years old. Mike Fox was saying things that I wrote, and I was so scared. I couldn’t give him notes, and I couldn’t do other things. And what broke the ice finally, and I think he did this on purpose. ‘Spin City’ was in front of a live audience, and people would line up in New York because it wasn’t LA, there was only one live sitcom. It was Michael J Fox’s show… [there was] a joke that I was convinced was gonna be fucking funny. And Mike’s like, ‘dude, not funny.’ This the first time I took a stand. I’m like, ‘I think it’s gonna be funny, Mike, this is the first scene. And he goes, I don’t think so. And I’m like, ‘I think it’s be funny.’ He’s like, ‘All right, I’ll do it.’ And the first scene with a huge audience that’s crackling with electricity. We get to that first joke. He says it, and it’s fucking crickets. Instead of going on with the scene, he just looked over in front of me. He goes, ‘you fucking happy now?’ There’s two lessons. One is he, by the way, had a smile on his face. So he was letting me know that it was okay, and it gave me so much confidence. But he was also letting me know that those of us that write don’t have to have that kind of egg on our face, if it goes south. So one of the things that we always tell everybody, is you do something silly and big and bold and go for it, and if it doesn’t work, I promise it won’t be on the show. I hope you guys like seeing Mike on TV again. He’s my hero.
Lawrence said
The panel with Bill Lawrence also featured Zach Braff from “Scrubs,” Brett Goldstein from “Shrinking” and “Ted Lasso,” Josh Hopkins from “Cougar Town” and “Shrinking,” Phil Dunster from “Ted Lasso,” and Charly Clive. Clive stars in Lawrence’s upcoming HBO series as the daughter of Steve Carell’s character, with Dunster also appearing in the show. Braff is on board Lawrence’s potential “Scrubs” revival in development at ABC.
We’re all still friends. People think this is like a lie, and we tell people we all really hang out. Donald and I are legitimately best friends. He’s staying in my apartment as we speak in New York. We’re all really, really close and and so when this, when it came up that ABC, Disney, wanted to do it. It just felt like a great the right time. And the idea of going and laughing all day long with this group of people that I love so much again this time felt like a really good time.
Braff said
Zach Braff is directing an episode of Lawrence’s upcoming HBO series, which stars Steve Carell, Phil Dunster, Charly Clive, and John C. McGinley.
When asked about a possible “Ted Lasso” revival on Apple TV+, Lawrence deferred the question to creator and star Jason Sudeikis, who was not present at the Austin event.
He is Ted Lasso, but he’s also the voice the show. And more than a creative partner, I was kind of riding on his coattails on that one. Unlike Bill, who breaks embargoes, I’m not allowed to say anything, because Apple has a sniper on the roof driving an eye on me right now. All I can say is, it is delightful to be back in the right through with everyone.
Lawrence said and then Added Goldstein, who joked at Lawrence’s Bergen slip
Source: Variety