Following Harrison Ford‘s emotional performance on the Season 2 finale of Shrinking, Bill Lawrence is unpacking the show’s depiction of Parkinson’s disease.
The 2x Emmy winner recently noted that he and Shrinking co-creator Brett Goldstein have “deep history” with Parkinson’s as both of their fathers have the disease, while explaining how his “mentor” Michael J. Fox also influenced the show.
“It’s cool to get to write about things you care about now,” Lawrence told People. “And Michael J. Fox is my first mentor. So we wanted to represent it in hopefully an inspiring and not sad or tragic way.”
He added, “I found the first mentor in my life and career, Michael J. Fox, to be so inspiring with the way he took it in stride and continues to work harder than anybody I know. And we want to kind of carry that spirit if we can into the show.”
Lawrence noted he “generally has kind of attacked tough situations with comedy” in his life. “It takes you a while as a writer to realize what your voice is — I think mine is hopeful and optimistic by nature,” he added.
Bill Lawrence attends an evening with Apple TV+‘s ‘Shrinking’ at Writers Guild Theater on Dec.12, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
“I suck in the inspiring people around me, and I steal from them as much as I possibly can,” said Lawrence, citing Fox as one such person.
Ahead of this week’s Season 2 finale, which saw Ford’s Dr. Paul Rhoades announce that he’s stopped taking his Parkinson’s meds as they’ve lost their effectiveness, Lawrence told Deadline he’s not sure when or how to approach the character’s eventual death.
“I’m saying this honestly, we’re just now writing a third season. I don’t know if I could stomach having to see that, and I haven’t decided yet,” said Lawrence. “I will tell you this: what we really care about, Brett and me, both with our family connections to Parkinson’s, is an accurate and inspiring representation of what people that have to deal with that s— go through, and what it means moving forward. I think that will be touching and hard to watch, and if I knew where it ended, I wouldn’t tell you, but I can be honest and say I don’t know where it ends yet.”
Fox revealed his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 1998, while working with Lawrence on the ABC sitcom Spin City (1996-2002), in which he starred as Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty. He’s since become a staunch advocate for the disease, raising money for Parkinson’s research through The Michael J. Fox Foundation.
Following their time on Spin City, Fox appeared as Dr. Kevin Casey on Lawrence’s NBC/ABC series Scrubs in 2004.
As for whether Fox could appear in Shrinking, the actor previously noted that he’s open to return to acting “if something came up that I could put my realities into it, my challenges, if I could figure it out.”