Not since army had half-a-day has there been such call for excitement as the announcement that Arrested Development would be returning for a fifth season. But much like Buster’s tour with the United States military, news of another round with Mitch Hurwitz’s beloved sitcom on its new Netflix home breeds lots of questions.
Beyond official announcement of the new season, via Variety, and confirmation that the entire Bluth-Fünke extended family will be back for the ride, we’re at a loss for any hard info just yet–notably, the when of it all, though the reports claim that the season should hit sometime in 2018.
But perhaps even more pressing a question is that of how Arrested Development season five will take form. Though fans were delighted to welcome Michael, GOB, Lucille, and the rest back into their homes when Netflix initially revived the program back in 2013, many weren’t exactly over the moon with the format of Arrested‘s fourth season. Popular complaints involved the season’s erratic time-hops–maybe too conceptual even for Arrested Development–and inconsistent (and often too long) episode lengths. But the biggest gripe of all: we rarely got to see the family members together in one room.
Admittedly, collecting a central cast of nine, all of whom have been busy with their own film and television projects (it’s actually quite amazing that not a one of them has fallen off the radar since the show’s original cancelation in 2006), is no mean feat. But it stands to reason that if you’re going to do an Arrested Development season at all, you may as well make sure it manages to bring the Bluths and Fünkes together as much as possible.
Hopefully, Hurwitz and co. learned their lesson from season four and aim to return Arrested to its true form as an ensemble comedy with the forthcoming string of Netflix episodes. Let us know what else you hope season five gets right!
Image:Â 20th Television
