“Arrested Development” creator Mitch Hurwitz has made no secret of his desire to use the new Netflix season of his uncanceled comedy to drum up interest (and money) in making the long-discussed “Arrested” movie. So the idea that these might be the only new episodes ever isn’t in and of itself a surprise.
What is a surprise is that the CEO of Netflix very bluntly told investors he didn’t expect to make more than the episodes that will premiere in May.
As the Wall Street Journal reported, Netflix’s Reed Hastings was speaking with investors and referred to the “Arrested” revival as a “one-off” and “non-repeatable” event for Netflix.
A Netflix spokesperson clarified those quotes as accurate, but suggested things weren’t as cut-and-dried as Hastings was suggesting.
The discussion, the spokesperson said, spun out of Hastings discussing the difficulty in getting the entire cast from the FOX days assembled again, often having actors come in on their days off from their regular jobs. (As Hurwitz explained back at press tour, the new season will be structured differently, with each episode focusing on what each Bluth has been up to since the last FOX episode, with Jason Bateman as the only actor appearing in all of them, and with the episodes designed to be viewed in any order.)
“I think we all knew it was lightning in the bottle that we pulled it all together” for this batch of episodes, said the spokesperson, who added that Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos has been the point person for the “Arrested” revival, and who hasn’t yet given up hope of making more.
“We’re hopeful there will be more seasons,” the spokesperson said. “If anyone can pull it together, it’s going to be Ted. But by no means is this the end of it. We’re definitely planning to do more with them. We have first rights, so it’s not like you’d see it anywhere else. We’re absolutely hopeful there will be more