Since Arrested Development miraculously returned to the world for season four on Netflix, there's been one question on every fan's lips: When will we get season five? And not only because season four was a little lackluster and was missing Arrested Development's trademark wit and hilarity that so enchanted devoted fans during its original three-season run on Fox — but also because, despite the show's shortcomings in season four, we're all confident as fans that the show can and will do better. Season four just won't do, we need season give (and a movie too. You know, if they're up to it.) So, consider this the best news possible: Arrested Development season five is happening. Netflix is in, and the cast and crew are in — at this point, it's just a matter of when it's happening.
This news comes straight out the mouth of babes — or, in this case, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos. From USA Today :
Sarandos is also "positive" that another season of Arrested Development is in the offing: "It's just a matter of when," he says, adding that sorting out actors' schedules is a concern: It was "a fair criticism" of last year's revival of the cult comedy "that the cast didn't appear on screen often enough together."
Let's stop a moment and look at this line: "the cast didn't appear on screen often enough together." Exactly! This is why I'm confident that season five will be infinitely superior to season four. Netflix realizes the problems the show faced, and the writers have said they realize it too. In fact, season four was shot the way it was (with character-centric episodes that lacked scenes where cast members interacted, but instead focused on specific members of the Bluth family) primarily because the actors weren't all available at once, so writers had to improvise. If they start planning this thing now, there's got to be some time each of the busy stars can carve out of their schedules to do one more season.
As for when — like I said, it's definitely going to take some time to ensure all the cast members can be available at the same time, so season five might not be for a while. But hey, we all waited seven years for a new season once ... we can do it again.
Image: Netflix
