The actor also talks about Sean moving out of Jimmy’s pool house.

Shrinking star Luke Tennie explains why Sean’s arc is the ‘ministry’ of the show: ‘Exemplary in his growth’

The actor also talks about Sean moving out of Jimmy's pool house.

By Ashley Boucher

Ashley Boucher is a senior TV editor at **. She has been working at EW for four years.

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April 1, 2026 12:00 p.m. ET

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'Shrinking' star Luke Tennie. Credit:

**This article contains spoilers from *Shrinking* season 3, episode 10, titled “The Bodyguard of Sadness.” **

If *Shrinking* season 3 is all about moving forward, Luke Tennie’s Sean might be the character embodying that theme the most.

Throughout the season, Sean has put everything he’s learned in therapy to practice, his food truck business is thriving, and he has a new relationship with Marisol (Isabella Gomez). By the penultimate episode, Sean has landed a new job with a prestigious chef and gotten a sweet deal from Derek (Ted McGinley) to live in his rental property, meaning he can finally move out of Jimmy’s (Jason Segel) pool house.

Sean is tested when his longtime friend and employee Jorge (Trey Santiago-Hudson) finds out about all of Sean’s changes and feels betrayed — Sean’s new sous chef gig means the end of the food truck, which Jorge was relying on. There’s a poignant scene where Jorge yells at Sean, but instead of reacting violently like he used to, Sean remains calm and in control.

“It's the result of him implementing all of his tools,” Tennie tells ** of his character’s moment of growth. “[Sean is] the client we see the most often on the show. So I think the most beneficial way for a writer, if their goal is to encourage people to use therapy or to find therapists, to check out cognitive behavioral therapy, explore that really for individual and personal benefit, Sean is the example of what it looks like when you commit and it works. So there's a big responsibility there, not just to show Sean improving, but to show how he's improving.”

Jessica Williams, Ted McGinley, Tennie, Michael Urie.

Tennie adds: "For me as the performer, this is like the ministry of *Shrinking*. These clear, visible steps that show exactly what it could look like when you commit to therapy and self-improvement. And Sean right now, in that moment, is exemplary in his growth."

Jorge’s reaction is about more than just his loss of a job, Tennie says, pointing out that Jorge and Sean have a vast history that includes serving together overseas. “For Sean to shut down this truck, it means a lot more than just, ‘Oh, I won't have a job anymore.’ It means, ‘I don't think you understand what it meant for me to do what I did for you when we were in Afghanistan.’”

By the end of the episode, Sean makes it up to Jorge by inviting him to be his roommate in his new place — but that also means Sean will have to break the news of his new living situation to Jimmy, who is struggling as both his daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell) and Paul (Harrison Ford) move to the East Coast.

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Tennie thinks that moving out will “actually strengthen” his and Jimmy’s relationship. “I think for the longest time, these two have had this… dual relationship. But now there's an opportunity to actually be friends as opposed to being what each other needs to, like, make it up out of this giant mental valley.

“It's gonna provide an opportunity where if they're seeing each other, it will be on purpose, it will not be by accident," Tennie says. "And that, to me, reveals the reality of a friendship, if it's a true friendship or not.”

The *Shrinking* season 3 finale airs Wednesday, April 8, on Apple TV.

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Shrinking”