Shrinking Season 2 Cobie Smulders Talks About Her how I Met Your Mother reunion with Jason Segel. The Apple TV+ sitcom stars Segel as Jimmy Laird, a widower and grieving therapist who breaks his professionalism to truly confront the issues facing his patients. On how I Met Your MotherSmulders and Segel played Robin and Marshall, respectively, two members of the tight-knit group of friends who surround Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) as he searches for love. Smulders made an appearance in the most recent Shrinking season 2 episode as Sofi, a woman who sells her car and comes into contact with Jimmy.
Smulders opened for The Hollywood Reporter about reuniting with Segel in Shrinking. After nine years working side by side in how I Met Your Mother, Smulders had nothing but praise for Segel and writing her new series, touching on the series' character work and how she found it easy to recapture her chemistry with the actor. She said:
I think so. I love playing with Jason. I managed to do that for nine years, which is crazy these days, so it felt very normal, natural. And again, the show is so well written that the character was already there even before we started working on it, and Jason is obviously a talented actor and also a wonderful human being, so I think we just clicked.
However, Smulders also relished the opportunity to try out a different dynamic with Segel following their off-screen personal growth as friends, and was eager to see how audiences would react to their dynamic. Check out Smulders' full response below:
I think it's really interesting, because as an audience, I'm sure people are used to the Robin-Marshall dynamic, but Jason and I grew up together off-camera. So, we have a lot of shared life experiences and it wasn't difficult to change that chemistry between us. He's so talented, and we just fell back into it. But I think it will be interesting. Then it's a new and interesting dynamic for people to see. But I only know him as Jason, and it's easy to transition from that relationship to the many different colors you can play on screen.
What does Smulders and Segal's new dynamic means to shrink
The HIMYM co-stars previously portrayed a mostly platonic bond
In how I Met Your MotherMarshall and Robin began as acquaintances through their mutual friendship with Ted, and would end up maintaining a somewhat distant relationship when compared to other members of the group. Although this was partly due to her fears of the “Mermaid Theory”, they still maintained a strong platonic relationship through their shared origins and love of sports, with Marshall coming to Robin's aid when she feels homesick during a low point in her life.
In contrast, Sofi in Shrinking has a dynamic with Jimmy that could lead to something much more than a platonic bond, despite Smulders only being cast in a cameo role in season two. She owns a car that Jimmy wants to buy and is also a single mother, although the circumstances of her previous relationship are much more unpleasant, which immediately fascinates the therapist. With a potential romantic relationship blossoming between the pair, its dynamics in Shrinking It's certainly a far cry from the stories that Marshall and Robin were the subjects of.
Our opinion on Shrinking's How I Met Your Mother Reunion
The pair's appearances represent a missed opportunity
With Shrinking Season 2, the audience was treated to a warm welcome how I Met Your Mother meeting. While the sequel series How I met your father expected to revisit the entire cast, only Smulders and Neil Patrick Harris were given the opportunity to reprise their roles. As such, Segel and Smulders' reunion will be appreciated by sitcom fans who could lose the series. However, with Sofi and Jimmy's potential romantic future possibly extending to Shrinking season 3, there may be more to come for this nostalgic on-screen pair.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter