Apple is making another major signing to its Apple TV Plus streaming platform, and it’s one that Star Wars fans might want to sit up and take note of.
Set to make his first recurring TV appearances for a serialised show, Harrison Ford is set to appear in Shrinking, a new comedy series from Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein, the creative team behind another Apple TV Plus hit, Ted Lasso.
Shrinking, first announced in October, tells the tale of a grieving therapist who breaks their code of ethics as they come to terms with their loss. Ford will play cognitive behavioural therapy specialist Dr. Phil Rhodes, with Jason Segel taking the lead role.
Filming for Shrinking is set to start this month, with an expected release date in early 2023.
Prestige streaming
Though there was some initial trepidation from creatives about the move to streaming platforms – amplified during lockdown when cinema releases were ‘relegated’ to streaming debuts – increasingly we’re seeing big names coming to the likes of Netflix, Apple TV Plus and Amazon Prime Video before traditional network or theater releases.
Whether that’s because of creative control or larger paychecks, A-List stars can now more regularly be found in ‘small screen’ productions – the likes of which stars like Ford would once have turned their noses up at.
In the case of Apple TV Plus, for instance, it recently enjoyed bringing Samuel L. Jackson to the service in miniseries The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, while Oscar winner Gary Oldman is currently heading up Slow Horses on Apple TV Plus, too.
What started with The Sopranos and The Wire roughly twenty years ago has evolved into a TV climate where prestige is as often found on TV as it is on the silver screen. We can’t wait to see what Harrison Ford brings to the table.
