NEW YORK, March 18 (UPI) — Younger and Ugly Betty alum Michael Urie says the birth of their daughter Sutton is at the center of his character Brian and his husband Charlie’s world in Shrinking Season 3.
“Charlie [Devin Kawaoka] is ready. Brian will never be ready. Charlie is sort of born to be a dad and what I love about this season so much is that Brian’s not ready and he’s not prepared and he’s certainly not equipped, but he, finally, I think, in the season, starts to learn how to put others before himself,” Urie, 45, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.
“The baby that he is, is becoming a dad and I love that. I love playing a character that grows and changes, which you can only do on television,” he explained. “I love that when we started this show, Brian thought he had all the answers. He KNEW he had all the answers. Season 2, he started to realize he didn’t, and it bothered him.
“And, now, in Season 3, he’s able to embrace his own flaws and also start to at least try to get better and be a better person and be a good dad and be a better husband.”
Helping Brian and Charlie navigate first-time fatherhood is their loving, but overbearing empty-nester friend Liz (Christa Miller).
“Brian is equal parts afraid of and obsessed with Liz,” Urie said.
“He needs Liz. She needs him, too. She certainly needs this outlet,” he added. “He and the baby fill a void for her in a really wonderful way, but I think it’s really good for him to have this really hard-ass teacher in Liz, who’s there for him and also won’t let him get away with anything less than being an amazing dad.”
With an ensemble as big as this show’s, Urie has enjoyed spending extra time with Miller this season.
“She’s hilarious,” he said. “She is a comedy surgeon. She is the No. 1 best line-reader I’ve ever worked with. She can spin a line in a way that no one else would ever say it and it’s always funny.”
Also serving as parenting role-models for the couple are Liz’s husband Derek (Ted McGinley) and Brian’s best friend Jimmy (Jason Segel).
“Jimmy, I think, is someone that will always isolate and explain a problem of Brian’s, a flaw of Brian’s, in a way that Brian can actually hear, and Derek is, in a lot of ways, the comforting and affectionate father that Brian never had,” Urie said.
“They’re both dads and Brian will continue, I think, to look to them to help him be a better dad, but they’re also both guys. Even though Brian is gay, he has chosen this best friend in Jimmy and now is becoming closer and closer to Derek,” he added.
“These guys are familiar to him because he grew up in a very straight environment,” Urie said. “So, he gravitates towards these guys, but they love him and support him in ways that maybe he didn’t get so much growing up.”
Co-starring Harrison Ford and Jessica Williams, the comedy airs Wednesdays on Apple TV.