Will Ferrell And Paul Rudd To Star In 'The Shrink Next Door' Limited Series Based On The True Crime Podcast

Will Ferrell is reuniting with his Anchorman co-star Paul Rudd to star in the limited series The Shrink Next Door, a dark comedy based on the true crime podcast about a celebrity psychiatrist who slowly takes over his clients' lives.Deadline reports that Ferrell and Rudd will star in in the MRC Television limited series The Shrink Next Door, based on the Wondery and Bloomberg Media podcast of the same name. It will be a reunion for the two stars, who last appeared together in 2013's Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. The dark comedy follows Rudd's psychiatrist Dr. Isaac Herschkopf, who needles his way into the life of his longtime patient Martin Markowitz (Ferrell), and uses his charms and wiles to slowly take over his life. Here is the synopsis per Deadline:

Also inspired by true events, The Shrink Next Door is a dark comedy following the bizarre relationship between psychiatrist to the stars Dr. Isaac "Ike" Herschkopf played by Rudd, and his longtime patient Martin "Marty" Markowitz, played by Ferrell. Over the course of their relationship, the all-too-charming Ike slowly takes over Marty's life, even moving into Marty's home and taking over his family business. The series explores how a seemingly normal doctor-patient dynamic morphs into an unprecedentedly exploitative one filled with manipulation, power grabs, and dysfunction at its finest.

The Big Sick director Michael Showalter will helm the series, which will be penned by Georgia Pritchett. Ferrell, Jessica Elbaum and Brittney Segal will executive are producing The Shrink Next Door for Gloria Sanchez Productions, while Rudd and Pritchett also executive producer. Also serving as executive producers are Hernan Lopez and Marshall Lewy for Wondery and Jared Sandberg, Katie Boyce, and Francesca Levy for Bloomberg Media, with Joe Nocera as co-EP.

The podcast, which comes from the same podcast company that produced another successful true-crime series Dirty John, debuted in 2019 to rave reviews, including one from /Film's own Jacob Hall, who called The Shrink Next Door refreshingly different from the usual true crime podcasts by showing a different kind of psychopath than the average serial killer that dominates these stories.

Seeing Rudd as a malicious psychopath is very exciting, not just to see him play against type, but to see him butt heads with Ferrell, who plays the harried protagonist wonderfully. It's an exciting reunion for the stars of Anchorman and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, with Ferrell and Rudd proving that 60% of the time, they are a great onscreen pairing every time.