Following Jason Bateman’s announcement on Twitter about returning to “Arrested Development” this summer, Netflix has made it official: the show will be back for season 5. And the entire Bluth family cast is returning including Bateman, Michael Cera, Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter, Will Arnett, Tony Hale, Portia de Rossi, David Cross and Alia Shawkat, with series creator Mitch Hurwitz again leading the charge.
“In talks with Netflix we all felt that that stories about a narcissistic, erratically behaving family in the building business — and their desperate abuses of power — are really underrepresented on TV these days,” Hurwitz said in a statement. “I am so grateful to them and to 20th Century Fox TV for making this dream of mine come true in bringing the Bluths, George Sr., Lucille and the kids; Michael, Ivanka, Don Jr., Eric, George-Michael, and who am I forgetting, oh Tiffany. Did I say Tiffany? — back to the glorious stream of life.”
“Arrested Development brings us structures, outerwear and choreography like no other comedy in history,” Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said. “Season four marked the first foray by Netflix into original comedy programming and this time, the Bluths will collectively be spending more quality time with their millions of fans around the world”
Critically acclaimed “Arrested Development” ran for three seasons on Fox from 2003 to 2006. The show even won an Emmy for Best Comedy in 2004, but poor ratings forced the network to cancel the show during its final season (which ran in a truncated form). After much cult fandom chatter and growing appreciation for the show, Netflix rescued the series in 2014 for a fourth season. However, the complicated timeline of the narrative confused viewers and led to mixed critical reception.
Presumably, Hurwitz and crew have learned from their mistakes and will deliver a more stripped down, easier-to-digest fifth season. Season four ran 15 episodes and we’d expect the same from this new season. Bateman’s claim of a summer start has not been confirmed, but apparently, the writer’s room is already in full swing.