Jason Segel is giving the people what they want with Shrinking Season 4: a return to playing the lovelorn rom-com lead.

After years away from the genre following hits like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, and The Five-Year Engagement, the How I Met Your Mother alum is tapping back into the clumsy and silly world he became all too familiar with in the 2000s and 2010s. Speaking with DECIDER at Televerse 2026 in Los Angeles, Segel shared that the time jump explored in the upcoming season of the Apple TV comedy is giving him a reason to come back to the genre he left behind.

“I just think that somebody trying to date again at 45 with kids and with life experience and with tragedy in their past, it’s all a bit clumsy and new,” he explained. “And I’ll tell you, one of the reasons I got bored with rom-coms is because I feel like at some point, as you get older, a lot of rom-coms are about being afraid of girls. It’s like a guy learning to stand on his own two feet, you know, and as you get older it becomes less and less honest. I think that what you get to do at this age is, it’s not about a guy who’s afraid of girl, it’s a guy is afraid of himself, you know? And so exploring that in a dating realm, I think, is just a really It’s an interesting thing.”

Season 3 of Apple TV’s hit comedy — which scored a whopping 18 Emmy nominations, including one for Segel in Best Actor in a Comedy Series — left off with Paul (Harrison Ford) pushing Jimmy to get back out there and put his heart into dating again, specifically setting him up on a lunch with Sofi (Cobie Smulders). As for the status of their relationship headed into Season 4, details are unknown but series creator Bill Lawrence has indicated that she will return, as will Michael J. Fox’s character.

Elsewhere, news broke earlier this year that Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Who alum Karen Gillan will be joining the series for the fourth season, with many fans speculating that she, too, could be playing a love interest for Segel’s character. Also joining for Season 4 is Christian Slater, who will play an unknown role.

While fans wait for Season 4, Segel and the rest of the Shrinking team are focused on celebrating the work that the world has already received, including the Emmy-nominated performances that moved the characters and storylines forward. For the actor, that includes having to guide Jimmy through the pain of losing his wife and failing as a father, and then giving him the grace to forgive himself for the lapse. Three seasons of work come to a head as Jimmy finally faces his fears and blows up on Paul in the penultimate episode, “The Bodyguard of Sadness.” While it may have been jarring for those watching at home, it could not have been more cathartic for the actor at the center of the storyline.

“To me, we’re trying to get Jimmy out of this hole of grief and work through whatever he needed to to be able to move on with his life. And I think that there were two moments over the three seasons; one is when he gave this speech to Alice and said, ‘I blew it as a parent, and I’ll never forgive myself.’ I think, that was the first thing that needed to be said,” Segel shared. “And I think the last thing that he had to say was, ‘Who’s gonna want me now? What’s the point of even trying to move forward? I’m all scarred up, you know? I’m not fresh and clean anymore. Who could possibly want me?’ And so getting to do that scene with Paul, I was like, ‘This is the last thing he has to say before he can try again.’”

Segel added of his Season 3 performance, “I’m always interested in like, ‘What is a character not saying?’ Because a character’s dialog is what they’re willing to say. But most people are trying to hide their feelings. I call it the dirty underneath. What is holding him back?”

As for what will be holding Jimmy back in Season 4… we’ll just have to wait to find out.

Shrinking Seasons 1-3 are now streaming on Apple TV. Season 4 is expected to premiere in 2027.

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