Brett Goldstein’s Shrinking Season 2 Role Isn’t Just Another Roy Kent

This article contains spoilers for the first two episodes of Shrinking season 2.

Apple TV+ dramedy Shrinking isn’t hurting for compelling actors. The series about a grieving therapist is filled to the brim with familiar faces, including co-creator Jason Segel as lead character Jimmy Laird and Literally Harrison Ford as his begrudging mentor Dr. Paul Rhoades.

Already blessed with an embarrassment of riches, Shrinking elected to add to its thespianic bounty anyway by bringing Segel’s fellow co-creator Brett Goldstein in front of the camera to play a key role in season 2, which just premiered its first two episodes on October 16. Goldstein is portraying none other than the author of Jimmy’s misery. He is the as-of-yet unnamed drunk driver who accidentally killed Jimmy’s wife in a collision. The character makes his debut in season 2’s premiere episode, in which he stops by Jimmy’s therapist office to apologize. Jimmy is understandably not receptive to these overtures.

According to Bill Lawrence, who created Shrinking alongside Segel and Goldstein, the character (who is cheekily dubbed “Double D” as in “Drunk Driver” in episode 2) was always a part of the series’ long term plans.

“When we pitched the show, we knew that character was going to be a major catalyst in the second year,” Lawrence tells Den of Geek. “We didn’t know who would play it, so we talked to a lot of really cool actors.”

It turns out that the right actor was under Shrinking‘s nose the whole time, or more accurately: in its writers’ room. If we had a nickel for every time Brett Goldstein began a Bill Lawrence-produced show as a writer before moving in front of the camera, we’d have 10 cents and counting. That’s because, of course, Goldstein got started on Ted Lasso as a writer before getting the nod to play cranky, aging footballer Roy Kent.

Goldstein’s work as Roy Kent proved to be iconic, netting the actor much acclaim and many awards, including two Outstanding Supporting Actor wins at the Emmys. The role was so iconic, in fact, that even the man who had a hand in creating it had a hard time seeing Goldstein as anything other than Roy.

“I didn’t see it at first,” Lawrence says. “I was like ‘What do you mean? He’s the angry, gruff guy. He’s Roy Kent!’ I’m a TV writer, by the way. The fact that I fell prey to believing someone was their character is so bad. It’s so annoying to me.”

Thankfully, Segel saw the vision even when Lawrence didn’t. Now he gets to spend the second season of Shrinking acting alongside his series co-creator, co-writer, and co-star.

“Man, he’s my really good friend,” Segel says. “I admire him, I respect him, and I look up to him. We had to do some really intimate, hard scenes. It was an honor.”

With 10 episodes to go (including a holiday-themed finale), Shrinking season 2 has a lot of ground to cover in the fraught relationship between Jimmy Laird and the man who upended his life. There’s no doubt in the show’s creators’ minds, however, that the once and future Roy Kent is the right man to unpack it all with.

“I think he kills it,” Lawrence says. “I’m a little annoyed by how talented he is. Because enough already! We get it!”

The first two episodes of Shrinking season 2 are available to stream on Apple TV+ now. New episodes premiere Wednesdays, culminating with a finale on December 25.