Does Liz give him a rock, too?
“Shrinking” Season 2 introduced some new characters — including a love interest for Jessica Williams, who plays Gaby.
Damon Wayans Jr. made his debut on the Apple TV+ comedy in episode 4, titled “Made You Look.”
“Aww, I want a Derek,” Gaby says after Ted McGinley’s Derek gives Michael Urie’s Brian some words of encouragement alongside Christa Miller’s Liz.
“Then I have the greatest coincidence ever. This is my best buddy from my old job, Derek,” he replies as the new “Derek 2.0” walks in.
Williams, 35, joked to the Post that giving the character the same name is, well, dumb.
“That’s stupid. It’s really stupid!” she exclaimed. “I love it. Yeah, it’s great. It’s really great. He’s the best. This season is a delight. He’s also really funny and he’s just like, ‘What do you want to do? Let’s do it. Let’s do it, Let’s go.’”
Their new relationship was written in after Gaby ended her friends with benefits situationship with Jimmy (Jason Segel).
“I love working with Jason. He’s like my favorite person to work with. He’s a very giving actor, very thoughtful actor. And he’s just down to play,” she said.
“My love language is spending time with people and me giving a joke and then listening and responding. I like that with all the actors. Michael Urie is really good at it to where I can just give them an offer and they’re going to take it and eat it up and just give it back to me. And Jason’s really great about that. And so it’s my favorite thing.”
“Shrinking” was quickly renewed for a third season in October. Creator Bill Lawrence has always envisioned three chapters for the series, with Season 2 focusing on forgiveness. He did, however, tell the Post that he’s game for a fourth season if it happens.
In addition to Wayans Jr., Season 2 brought on co-creator Brett Goldstein as Louis. Viewers learned that Louis was the drunk driver in the accident that killed Jimmy’s wife, Tia (Lilan Bowden).
“If you’ve gone through some kind of catastrophic event with your family or friends, and we’re all kind of just a couple of steps removed from that, there’s no moving forward until you kind of get over that forgiveness hurdle,” Lawrence told the Post. “And I think sometimes people just go, that could be just like a daughter forgiving her father, for dropping the ball during the worst year of her life. But it’s not always forgiving to someone else. Sometimes that means forgiving yourself.”
He added: “Some of the saddest things in my family are are rifts that still exist, you know.”
As Jimmy and his daughter, Alice (Lukita Maxwell), continue to deal with the aftermath of Tia’s death, Alice and Brian have struck up a bond with Louis. After Jimmy found out, he secretly went to Louis and told him to cut ties with Alice.
“Shrinking” also stars Harrison Ford, Luke Tennie, Devin Kawaoka, Rachel Stubington and Wendie Malick.
“It just feels like playing. And so any time I get to do that, even when our characters are arguing it’s really fun to do. I feel like there’s no no boundaries,” Williams told the Post of working with the cast.
“I like the joy of working. I like when it feels like I’m having fun because that’s Gaby,” she continued. “Now we understand the dynamics of season one, so we just get to come in and do that even more. So it’s really sweet.”
All episode of “Shrinking” Season 2 are now out on AppleTV+.
