After two seasons of playing therapist Gabby on Shrinking, Jessica Williams has learned to take notes.
While filming the dramedy’s Season 2 finale, now streaming on Apple TV+, the Emmy nominee had a front row seat for “some of the best acting I’ve ever seen in my life” from co-star Harrison Ford as mentor and fellow therapist Paul.
“There’s this scene where Paul decides he’s not gonna take his Parkinson’s medication so much anymore because it loses its effectiveness,” she told Deadline. “Harrison showed up that day and had really worked the s— out of that scene. We were weeping, like, the camera crew was weeping. I’m getting misty thinking about it, but it was some of the most phenomenal acting I’ve ever seen in my life and that I’ve ever had the privilege to see in person, and I could not believe that monologue.
Williams, who earned an Emmy nomination for her performance in Season 1, explained, “Paul really means a lot to Gabby, I think in a lot of ways for Jimmy [Jason Segel] and Gabby, he serves as like the surrogate father figure and you know, him making that choice, it was really emotional and I cannot wait for everybody to see that because I think when there was cut, it was just silence. It was there. It was like, I get chills thinking about it, but it was just some of the best acting I’ve ever seen.”
After resolving her brief affair with Jimmy, whose late wife Tia (Lilan Bowden) died, Gabby develops a romance this season with Damon Wayans, Jr.‘s Derek, noting, “They’re like two peas in a pod. It’s really sweet stuff.”
Jessica Williams and Damon Wayans, Jr. in Season 2 of Shrinking (Apple TV+)
“I always wanted to work with him. I’ve loved his work for a long time,” raved Williams. “He is so funny and giving. He’s like really giving with jokes. Like if he thinks of a joke for Gabby, he’s just gonna tell you, like, he’s a machine. I mean, he’s a Wayans. So it was really exciting to work with him and I was really nervous. He was amazing. We build so many jokes together.”
Created by Bill Lawrence, Jason Segel and Brett Goldstein, Shrinking follows grieving therapist Jimmy (Segel), 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.