Well, we're finally getting some information on what fans can expect from Season 5 of Arrested Development, and it sounds like the wacky comedy will be flexing some murder mystery muscles. After having Season 4, which aired in 2013, end with what appeared to be the murder of Lucille 2, series star Jason Bateman has confirmed that the show is, indeed, planning to pick up that major thread for the upcoming season. Here's what he had to say:
The central spine of that story of is the death of Liza Minnelli's character, and a bit of whodunit, who may have done it, who had something to do with it. That's sort of a central thread around which [creator Mitch Hurwitz] is going to braid in all the colorful plot complications that he knows how to do.
Oooh. Are you intrigued yet? Buster was arrested for the murder of Lucille 2 during the Season 4 finale, so it makes a lot of sense that this potential murder would have to be dealt with when Arrested Development returns to Netflix. It wouldn't do any good to have Buster rotting in prison for a murder he clearly didn't commit, especially since we can't be sure that Lucille 2 is actually even dead. In case it's been a while, Buster saw her body and what appeared to be quite a lot of spilled blood at the bottom of the Bluth family stair car, but Lucille 2's body quickly disappeared, leaving no concrete evidence that she's really a goner.
While we had heard before that the murder of Lucille 2 would factor into Arrested Development Season 5, Jason Bateman's words to Entertainment Weekly's Sirius XM radio show indicate that we can still be sure that the show will handle a murder investigation in the most AD way possible. Which is to say that it will be filled with insane comedic mistakes, confusion and general goofiness. And, isn't that good to hear?
Jason Bateman also noted that Season 5 is being planned as the second act of a three act story that Mitch Hurwitz wanted to tell after the show ended its original run on Fox from 2003-2006. He explained, saying:
The first act was done on the first batch of Netflix episodes [in 2013], and we're about to do now the second act of that story, and then the third act presumably will be done if we can all get it together at a later date, maybe in another few years.
Ah, nice! So, there's hope for even more Arrested Development after Season 5 gets off the ground. Jason Bateman also relayed some additional news that fans should be super happy to hear: after the set-up of Season 4, which featured a lot of standalone character stories that kept the cast mostly separate from one another on screen, Season 5 will feature the cast together a lot more. Hopefully, this means that an idea that was floated earlier this year of the show using flashbacks that would allow producers to cast different actors as much younger versions of the cast, has mostly been scrapped.
Jason Bateman and the rest of the Arrested Development team are set to begin filming Season 5 later this summer, with the new season popping up on Netflix sometime in 2018. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend and we'll keep you up to date on all the latest Arrested Development news as it becomes available.
