A man in a pink button-up shirt and a young woman holding an open book sit side by side on a beige couch, both looking slightly off-camera with serious expressions in a cozy living room setting.

Lukita Maxwell gets messy in season three of ‘Shrinking’

For two seasons, the Indonesian American actress has played a grieving teen, now her character is off to college

Jason Segel and Lukita Maxwell in "Shrinking."

Apple TV

Words by Anjana Pawa

Shrinking returned on Jan. 28 for its third season on Apple TV+ and this season, things get even more intense. The comedy-drama follows Jimmy Laird (Jason Segel), a therapist who is slowly unraveling after the sudden death of his wife. The fallout of his grief ends up expanding outward—towards his colleagues, his friends, and most directly, his teenage daughter, Alice, who is played by Indonesian American Lukita Maxwell.

Alice is introduced in the first season as a 17-year-old girl navigating the aftermath of losing her mother, Tia (played by Asian American actress Lilan Bowden in flashback scenes), in a tragic drunk driving accident. The loss of Tia has also left her father emotionally adrift, leaving Alice largely to her own devices, and forced to reckon with the loss of a parent while also trying to forge a new connection with a father who was often unreachable while facing his own grief.

Maxwell’s character has been the show’s emotional anchor for the past two seasons, especially when the viewers watch her relationships with other characters. She spends much of season one parenting her grieving father and quietly managing her own pain while trying to keep their household intact. That survival instinct that she built deepens in season two, particularly through Alice’s relationship with Louis (Brett Goldstein), the man responsible for her mother’s death.

Now, season three places Alice on the brink of adulthood. College is approaching, routines are shifting, and the stability she spent years rebuilding at home is about to change again. The audience gets to see a version of Alice that they haven't seen before: one that gets to be messy, makes real adult decisions, but also frivolous teenage ones—like how to style her hair for a soccer game, or what dress to wear to prom. “She’s dealing with a lot of change,” Maxwell tells JoySauce about her character this season. It’s a moment in the character’s arc that demands both emotional recall and forward motion, something Maxwell is deeply conscious of when she steps back into the role of Alice Laird.

A woman and man sit at a café table by a window. The woman shows the man something on her yellow smartphone. Both appear focused. There’s a coffee mug and a small plant on the table. Posters are visible on the window.

Brett Goldstein and Lukita Maxwell in "Shrinking."

Apple TV

As the latest season unfolds, Alice’s story feels much less about surviving and more about choosing who she wants to be next, even amidst change, uncertainty, and loss. JoySauce caught up with Maxwell ahead of the season premiere of Shrinking to chat briefly about her character’s role in the upcoming episodes and how she approaches playing Alice.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Anjana Pawa: Hi Lukita. I’m Anjana and I am from an Asian American outlet called JoySauce. How are you?
Lukita Maxwell: I’m well, how are you?

AP: I’m good! You look great. I love this new hair on you, and I’ve loved seeing it throughout the season, especially seeing how you style it for your soccer games. It’s been so fun to watch.
LM: I’m glad, thank you!

AP: Speaking of the season, it’s so much fun. Your character, Alice, is dealing with a lot of change: going off to college, leaving home, having to deal with a lot of her remaining grief and impending grief. When you step into Alice, what is your biggest challenge and what is your biggest joy in getting to play this character?
LM: I think my greatest challenge has been trying to find the balance and the nuance in scenes. Her writing is so rich. Her character arc is so thorough, but I think from scene to scene, my challenge is wanting to make sure that I’m infusing this present moment with all of the moments of the past.

Alice is such a perceptive character, and I think also having this layer of knowing and understanding of where things are going to go. I would say that’s also the greatest joy. She’s a hopeful character. Even in the most difficult periods, there’s a direction that she wants to go. There’s a clarity, and she’s very present.

Three people are in a modern living room: a man in a brown shirt stands on the left, a woman with arms crossed stands in the middle, and a man in a blue shirt sits at a table on the right. They appear to be focused and serious.

From left, Jason Segel, Lukita Maxwell, and Luke Tennie in "Shrinking."

Apple TV

AP: That’s so true. And you get to see that in her relationship with the other characters—her relationship with Paul (her therapist), her relationship with Louis. She has so much hope and youthful energy that comes with the juxtaposition of the people around her aging and becoming more vulnerable.
LM: Definitely, and you see that this season.

AP: In season three, Alice gets to be young. She gets to be messy. She gets to be angry. That’s really important for viewers to see, especially young Asian American viewers. How does it feel to get to play all of those versions of her?
LM: As an actor, that is the dream—to be able to play a full spectrum of emotion and get into different facets of a character’s brain. In season one, she had to be the parent in the dynamic with Jimmy and kind of have her sh*t together a little bit. I loved that they let her start to come apart at the seams in season two, make mistakes, learn how to deal with the consequences of that, learn how to apologize, and learn how to be there for the people that she loves.

She has good intentions at the end of the day, and it all comes together for her and works out.

Published on February 10, 2026