Harrison Ford Says He’ll Never Retire: “They Need Old People Too”

Harrison Ford recently shared that he has no plans to retire from acting. “That’s one of the things I thought was attractive about the job of an actor, was that they need old people, too, to play old people’s parts,” he said when asked about the future of his career.

Ford is now 83 and still going strong. From his early acting days to iconic roles like Han Solo, Indiana Jones, Jack Ryan, and Rick Deckard, he has built a legacy that spans decades. Now he’s earning praise in TV too, with standout turns on shows like 1923 and Shrinking.

In Shrinking, he plays Dr. Paul Rhoades, an eccentric senior therapist diagnosed with Parkinson’s. That role earned him his first Emmy nomination and glowing reviews for showing a softer, more vulnerable side.

Talking about his TV work with Variety, Ford keeps things simple: “I say the words, do the work, rinse and repeat,” he joked in an interview. Unlike films, streaming series allow him to gradually build a character over months. He refers to acting as layering bricks: small pieces adding up into a full house of personality and emotion.

Years after returning to characters like Han Solo in Star Wars and Deckard in Blade Runner, Ford says he came back not for the money but to explore how aging changes a person. That makes him a rare example of an actor continuing to push himself creatively rather than resting on past success.

His Shrinking co-star Jason Segel noted that Ford can be playful and funny, doing things on set that surprised everyone, like slapping a high-on-gummies version of his character at a party, earning massive laughs from the crew. Segel recalled Ford whispering to him, “I knew I was fu–ing funny.”

Director J.J. Abrams put it this way: Ford blends his own self with the characters he plays, shaping them in ways other actors don’t match. And it’s clear to fans that at this stage in his life, Ford is still hungry for new challenges.

He’s already filmed Season 3 of Shrinking, which wrapped two weeks ago. He even accidentally played a gag reel full of bloopers in front of the crew, a reminder that he’s still enjoying every moment of this career.

So while some of Ford’s peers collect lifetime achievement awards and retire from major roles, he sees no endpoint for himself. At 83, he’s still working, still growing, and still making us believe in his characters.

He sums it up best: “I love telling stories. I love pretending to be somebody else.”

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