It’s not going to take the help of any one-armed men to get Arrested Development back on the air, as we’re apparently getting a lot more of it, and it’s coming even sooner than we thought. Arrested Development Season 5 is definitely going to hit Netflix in 2016, and it seems like all the stars will be back for more Bluth-enasia. Everybody look away, as I just blue myself.
Mega-producer Brian Grazer, who has been a part of the show since its first incarnation on Fox, appeared on The Adam Carolla Show today and announced the news on the podcast. (Because unveiling amazing news like this on a podcast is just how things are done these days.) Here’s how Grazer put it.
I had a conversation with Fox today – this morning – and Netflix is determined to do more episodes, so we’re gonna do more episodes. The turn of the year – January, February – we’re gonna start it. It’s a lot of juggling of all these stars’ lives…I made the call to Mitch [Hurwitz, show creator] to say everybody’s into it.
Now that’s good timing, as Grazer explained he was actually in Adam Carolla’s waiting room when he called Mitch Hurwitz to tell him that everyone was on board. As the 15-episode Season 4 showed us, this cast is capable of finagling schedules in order to craft a fine product, even if the path from beginning to end has to be extremely convoluted in order to get it done. For those counting, that means more Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter, Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, Tony Hale, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat, David Cross and Ron Howard as the Narrator. Add to that at least 17 dozen more side characters and celebrity cameos, just to be safe.
Grazer says that a production start is planned for some time after January 1, 2016, and that audiences can expect for the episodes to hit Netflix around four months after that. That seems a bit fast, and Grazer does say that timeframe was how he saw it, so it could take a while longer. But I think it’s safe to plan for Arrested Development-themed viewing parties – complete with heaping pots of Hot Ham Water – for Summer 2016.
In previous reports, Grazer said that Netflix was signing on for 17 more episodes, which is more than either Season 3 or Season 4 got. Unfortunately, the producer doesn’t reiterate how many episodes we’ll see in Season 5, so we’ll just have to stay hopeful that we’re getting as much Arrested Development as we can, since it’ll probably be another 3 or 4 years until we start hearing concrete news about Season 6. (Assuming everyone doesn’t die at the end of this season.)
Is everyone ready for more Arrested Development?
