Netflix has confirmed that Arrested Development will return for a fifth season on the streaming giant.
Set for broadcast in 2018, the show’s fifth run – and second on Netflix since it was cancelled by Fox in 2006 – will reunite creator Mitchell Hurwitz with the entire Bluth and Fünke families.
Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter, Will Arnett, Tony Hale, Portia de Rossi, David Cross and Alia Shawkat have all signed on for the ensemble sitcom that tells the story of the travails of an Orange County family’s lives after the patriarch is arrested for dodgy dealing.
During its original run, Arrested Development became a critical and cult favourite, but struggled to build a large audience. Despite winning six Emmys and a Golden Globe, the show was axed by Fox.
Netflix originally revived the show in 2013 for a fourth season, which was met with mixed reviews from viewers and critics alike.
“In talks with Netflix, we all felt that stories about a narcissistic, erratically behaving family in the building business – and their desperate abuses of power – are really underrepresented on TV these days,” joked Mitchell Hurwitz in a statement.
“I am so grateful to them and to 20th TV for making this dream of mine come true in bringing the Bluths, George Sr., Lucille and the kids; Michael, Ivanka, Don Jr., Eric, George-Michael, and who am I forgetting, oh... Tiffany – did I say Tiffany? – back to the glorious stream of life.”
Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard will also return to the show, working as both an executive producer and narrator.
“Whew! I can finally answer the question,” Howard said. “Hell yes! Warming up my uncredited narrator vocal chords. Now the only thing I will have to be coy about is all the craziness the Bluths are going to face this season.”
