When Jason Bateman tweeted earlier this week that he'd made a
deal to return for a fifth season of Arrested Development, it made us hope that an official announcement about the show would swiftly follow. And, like a one-handed man trying to avoid a loose seal, it has arrived.
The pieces have apparently been mostly in place for a while now, at least behind the scenes, with creator Mitch Hurwitz laying out the plan for the new season a year ago, has kicked off the writers' room and was mostly just waiting for a busy working cast (including Bateman, Michael Cera, Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter, Will Arnett, Tony Hale, Portia de Rossi, David Cross and Alia Shawkat) to be available. "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 says. "I am so grateful to them and to 20th 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," says Netflix boss Ted Sarandos. "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." That's a telling phrase at the end there; while Season 4 suffered from scheduling issues and a split-storyline approach that didn't work as well as earlier seasons, hopefully the next will be a more consistent comedy outing.
With Buster (Hale) arrested for murder, we'll have to wait and see what Hurwitz and co. have cooked up for the story this time. The show is shooting this year and is aiming to be on Netflix next year.
Jason Bateman Signs On For Arrested Development's Fifth Season