With the cast close to signing on, filming for Arrested Development season 5 could start in early 2017. Here's what we know...
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In 2013, Arrested Development brought a wealth of on-screen talent and bankable promotions and publicity for Netflix. Now fully immersed in the original programing game, Netflix is expanding its ever-growing library at an extraordinary rate. The streaming giant no longer needs the Bluths. Now the real question is whether the series is capable of returning to a similar format that initially captured its cult audience all those years ago on Fox.
Here's what we know about the potential Arrested Development season 5...
Arrested Development Season 5 News: The Latest
TVLine, often a reliable source on exclusives, is reporting that Arrested Development season 5 could use a prequel-type plot (using new actors to play younger versions of the cast) to free up the cast for more family scenes. The report notes that while it isn't set in stone, this idea could alleviate the shooting schedule woes that tied up production on the fourth season.
According to a source: “More of the episodes can now include all of the original cast together, with lots of big group family scenes.”
Arrested Development Season 5 Release Date:
No official release is set, but those close to the project are optimistic shooting will start early in 2017.
Speaking to press while participating in Netflix’s panel at the Summer Television Critics Association press tour (he was there as the co-creator of the excellent Lady Dynamite) creator Mitch Hurwitz said that he hopes Arrested Development season 5 starts filming next year.
"If it does happen, it looks like the shooting will start at the beginning of 2017," Hurwitz said. He went on to say that the project is "the thing I'm really desperate to do." He said that the writers are “ready to go” and that several stories have already been mapped out.
Executive producer Brian Grazer offered the most positive status report on the proposed fifth season of Arrested Development yet. In an interview with The Wrap, Grazer gave an update on the cast contracts.
“I think we’re really close to pulling it off finally,” Grazer said. “All of the actors have agreed to do it and I think they’ve agreed to their compensation structure. That’s been the hardest–it’s all hard…But it should be happening soon.”
So once again, if the stars align, we’ll be getting more Arrested Development in late 2017.
Arrested Development Season 5 Cast:
Whether longtime fans see this as a good or bad thing, Arrested Development has always stuck with Mitch Hurwitz no matter what project he’s currently on. In the age of reboot, remakes, and revivals, that means at any moment we could be on the verge of Arrested Development season 5.
While Hurwitz’s original political-fueled plan for a fifth season (more details on that below) in 2016 wasn't realized, he’s confident more Arrested Development is on the way.
"I spent some time in the writers room developing an outline for the next season or seasons if we're able to make a deal. I'm trying very hard to get it done because we have a great story to tell," he told Esquire during promotion for his new Netflix series, Lady Dynamite.
He reassured fans: “It will definitely happen.”
Of course, season five is contingent on a large, busy cast returning. Executive producer Brian Grazer is optimistic that the cast is close to officially signing on.
Arrested Development Season 5 Plot
Netflix cannot be intimated by advertisers or public perception. They can buy all the Adam Sandler movies, double down on the expensive mistake that was Marco Polo, and make a Fuller House. Everything that’s old is new again when your model is nonlinear and your cash is as green and abundant as a leafy forest in the heart of spring.
With all the deals Netflix is cutting and the 31 scripted original series in production and slated for 2016, it’s an odd one that the streaming company has kept talk of an Arrested Development season 5 on the hush. After all, Arrested Development was building walls long before political troll and post-human Donald Trump constructed his campaign.
The time may finally be right to get excited about seeing the Bluths together again (and not just sprinkled briefly into character standalone episodes). At TCAs, Mitch Hurwitz gave us our first glimpse into what Arrested Development would look like in 2016. Weirdly enough, 2016 is exactly what Arrested Development looked like in 2013. If you blanked the “Netflix season” out of your memory, the Bluths tried to build a great wall of Mexico and the aloof Lindsay ran for office. To my knowledge, George Michael’s “FakeBlock” concept is sadly underutilized.
According to Deadline, Hurwitz said he’s been working on a fifth season and orignally planned to release it around election time, a natural vein to tap for comedy given the current political climate, and a chance to continue season four’s storyline:
Given the timeliness, he is chomping at the bit and hoping to get the new season out before the November Presidential elections, he shared in a party conversation.
As we now know, his election cycle plans were a bit too ambitious since the problems with making Arrested Development season 5 a reality are the logistics.
Working with a team of writers, Hurwitz has the season outlined, but complex negotiations with the cast over scheduling are still ongoing, and it is unclear yet who will be available to come back as all have other commitments. Once he knows which actors are signed, Hurwitz will start writing the scripts. One other reason he is putting that off until the last second — because there has been so much art imitating life over the past months that he’s had to constantly rewrite storylines.
One key cast member holding up the process was David Cross, who was already booked up for 2016. Den of Geek spoke with David Cross about his potential involvment in the new season, which was a no-go considering he just announced a major multi-city stand up tour for 2016. An Arrested Development without Tobias? That's something we couldn't picture.
For more, we'll have to speculate about the timeline, but we do have a sense of where Hurwitz wants to take series after season 4 ended with a mystery:
That set up Season 5, which will be a serialized murder mystery, Hurwitz said. When he originally mapped out the fifth season, he had no idea the genre would become white hot — first with Serialand The Jinx, and now with the Netflix phenomenon Making a Murderer. Season 5 of Arrested Development is in the vein of Making a Murderer, noted Hurwitz, a big fan of the real-crime documentary series.
Hurwitz is itching to start production soon, but as of right now, nothing is publically official from Netflix.
Arrested Development Season 5: Netflix's Take
Netflix made a big splash by reviving Arrested Development. The initial wave of Arrested Development fan pandemonium died down to a simmer after season four debuted to mixed reviews. Still, it wasn't until more than a year after season four released that we got evidence of interest from Netflix about bringing the show back for another run or movie. Netflix’s chief content officer, and the talent, Will Arnett, came forward with details on whether talks for a fifth season have been broached by the streaming service.
In speaking with USA Today, Netflix Chief Content Office Ted Sarandos said he was “positive” a fifth season of Arrested Development is on the table, adding “it’s just a matter of when.”
Going off Sarandos' comments, Will Arnett shared the same sentiment during an interview on the Today show. Arnett was a little more definitive in saying that “we’re going to do more Arrested Development” and it is “something we all want to do.”
While it’s refreshing for fans to see the talent and “network” excited, there is the matter of the lukewarm response to season four. Sarandos acknowledged this, stating that it was a “fair” criticism that the cast couldn’t come together because of their schedules. The result was a character-centric season with little of the family banter that made the original run so special. There was mixed reaction from critics and fans that binge-watched the entire season in one sitting. We took the slower approach in analyzing the return of the beloved FOX series one episode at a time, which you can take the trip down memory lane right here.
Do you want to see a fifth season of Arrested Development? Do you want to see a movie? Do you want to pretend season three was the real end? Let us know in the comments!