It’s looking more and more like the plan for the next chapter of Arrested Development is a movie before a fifth season.
A couple weeks ago, creator Mitch Hurwitz and Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos engaged in a Q&A at the Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal. There, Hurwitz was asked if the show would be returning. His response was “definitely.”
Chortle recapped the conversation, including this quote from Hurwitz:
‘I keep thinking about it, and why don’t we do the movie version of this and then do the series, because this series kinda peaks with the story?…I kinda go back and forth between that and a series. But here’s the most important thing, whatever we do, I want to get the cast all together and not do another anthology thing, and that’s why I keep thinking about kicking off with a special or a three-part show and then going into a series.
Empire spoke with Hurwitz for about a half hour in their podcast, in which he spoke about the possibilities, and it sounds like a movie is what we’re most likely going to see next. A movie for Netflix, that is. But the ball is apparently in Fox’s court.
“I think if we do a movie it would probably be with Netflix as some kind of partner,” he says. “I love those guys. I really do. I never had an experience like this…”
It would be interesting to see if this would become a theatrical release or would be simply only available to Netflix subscribers.
Regarding the movie, Hurwitz says, “It’s not definite because it’s not my decision to be…you know, it would be like me saying, ‘I’m definitely going to make a James Bond sequel. I may want to, but other people get to weigh in on that, but I definitely have a plan to in my own brain, and I know the cast is game, and I think Netflix would probably be game…but you know, FOX owns it, so it’s kind of their call…notice how I’m not making a joke at their expense right now? That’s why!”
“One of the reasons I want to do a movie next is because we’ve gotta have all the characters together,” he says. “I mean, by the nature of the story, and the fact that the actors all have other gigs we had to do this kind of separated anthology idea, but from here on in, it’s like the family comes together.”
Regarding season 4, Hurwitz says, “I think it’s been a big success for Netflix. They don’t share those numbers, but I think it’s been very, very successful for them, but I don’t know. It’s certainly been successful with people who found it successful.”
Hurwitz notes during the interview that Sarandos is a “funny guy,” and that when the two of them do panels together, Sarandos usually gets the big laugh. “So, he’s kind of an asshole that way,” Hurwitz joked. “No, he’s a wonderful guy, and they took all sorts of risks with the show, and they embraced it and encouraged it.”
He also mentions that there wasn’t more Buster in the fourth season because HBO wouldn’t let them have him (actor Tony Hale is in the HBO show, Veep).
Season 4 has earned three Emmy nominations.
