Michael J. Fox Says “I’m Always Retiring” As He Returns to Acting in Season 3 of SHRINKING

After five years away from acting, Michael J. Fox is officially back and brings his signature humor with him. The beloved Back to the future The star, who previously announced his retirement in 2020, will take on a new supporting role in the hit Apple TV+ comedy Shrinking. Talking to People magazine, Fox joked, “I’m always retiring.”

This marks Fox’s first on-screen role since his guest appearance in 2020 The good fightand it seems his return was sparked by pure inspiration. After learning it Harrison FordDr. Paul Rhoades, has Parkinson’s disease, Fox decided he wanted to be on the show.

“I said, ‘You did a show about Parkinson’s and you didn’t call me?’ And he said, ‘Oh, do you want to do it?’ And I said, ‘I’d like to do that,’” Fox recalled. “So he said, ‘Let me think about it, let’s see what I can do.’ So he got to work and came up with this concept, it’s really cool.

Fox explained that his experience filming Shrinking was pleasantly seamless: “It was the first time I showed up on set and didn’t have to worry about whether I was too tired, or coughing, or anything. I just do it. It was really nice, because in the moments where I say, ‘I’m not going to be able to do this,’ then I say, ‘Well, I’ll just deal with the fact that I can’t do it in the scene.'” And you get through it.

The actor, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991 and made it public in 1998, continues to approach life with honesty and resilience.

“I wake up and get the message of what the day is going to be like, and I try to adapt to it,” Fox said. “I continue to face new challenges physically and manage to overcome them. I often ride around in a wheelchair and it took me a while to get used to it. You take the good and you take it.”

It seems like this return to acting has rekindled something in him, and he shared, “I see other people’s work and it makes me think that I might be able to find something that’s right for me as an actor and as a writer. And as a parent and a husband and a friend, I still have a lot to do.”

Harrison Ford also praised his co-star, telling Variety, “Michael’s courage and his fortitude and his grace, more than anything, are on full display. He’s a very smart guy, very brave, noble, generous, passionate and an example to all of us, whether we’re dealing with Parkinson’s or not.”

“You can’t help but recognize how extraordinary it is to have such grace… Parkinson’s is not funny. And I want to get it right. We need to be correct with what we do in relation to the challenge that Parkinson’s represents, and not use it for its entertainment value.”

Fox originally announced his retirement in 2020 through his memoir There’s no time like the futureexplaining that the effects of Parkinson’s were making memorization and long days of filming increasingly difficult.

“The nascent decline in my ability to download words and repeat them word for word is just the latest ripple in the pond,” he wrote. “There’s a time for everything, and the time I have to put in a twelve-hour workday and memorize seven pages of dialogue is the best I’ve got under my belt. At least for now… But if this is the end of my acting career, so be it.”

Fortunately, that wasn’t the end. Fox then found new creative energy in the Apple TV+ documentary Still, which revisited his life and career. He told Entertainment Tonight in 2024, “If something came up that I could put my reality into — my challenges — if I could figure it out,” he would consider acting again. “If someone offers me a [new] part, and I do it, and I enjoy it, fantastic.

It seems that “something” turned out to be Shrinkingand fans couldn’t be happier. His return to the screen is one of the most anticipated moments of the series Shrinkingit’s the upcoming third season.

It’s great to see Michael J. Fox still finding passion in telling stories and taking on new roles.