Arrested Development fans have spent the last six years begging and pleading absolutely anyone who would listen to deliver just one more season of the cult television show, and in 2013 all of our wishes will come true. For the last few months creator Mitch Hurwitz has been working with Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, Michael Cera, David Cross, Alia Shawkat, Tony Hale, Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter and Ron Howard filming 10 all new episodes for a very special fourth season that will be released on Netflix next spring. But guess what? Things are actually going to get even better than they are now.
According to Deadline, Hurwitz has come up with so many great ideas and has shot so many great extra footage for the new season of Arrested Development that he has requested an expansion on the episode order - and Netflix has agreed. While a specific number has not yet been announced, the site says that it will likely grow to somewhere between 12-15 episodes. Because the move will require more shooting time, the schedule has been expanded by a few weeks (it was originally supposed to be over right after Thanksgiving).
The move will, however, require a bit for time for development. 20th Century Fox TV, which is producing the show, put a pause on the production last week so that Hurwitz can look over the aforementioned extra footage and figure out exactly what he needs, which will lead to him creating a shooting schedule for the actors. Once that process is done the studio will find the actors needed for various new roles in the new new episodes. It's estimated that they will start filming again in January.
Said a Netflix spokeswoman to Deadline, "We are thrilled with the direction of the show, with the footage we have seen and with the relationship between Mitch, Imagine, 20th and Netflix. At this time, we are not confirming or announcing the final episode count but we are sure fans will be thrilled when we do."
