‘Arrested Development’ Season 5 Sounds Way More Likely Now That Jason Bateman Has Officially Signed On

If anything about Arrested Development is true, it’s that fans of the critically acclaimed comedy series have been tortured with #FakeNews about the prophesied coming of a fifth season. Last summer, creator Mitch Hurwitz promised the long-awaited update to the Bluth family saga would involve the entire principal cast — sans Scott Baio. Actress Jessica Walter subsequently said the show’s chances were “looking real good,” but when Jeffrey Tambor “confirmed” preparations for the fifth season in September, the Transparent actor later backtracked by claimed he was misspoken. Executive producer Brian Grazer later said everything “should be happening soon” in January of this year, but by then fans didn’t know who to trust.

Enter prodigal son Michael Bluth himself, Jason Bateman, who on Friday tweeted it was “very probable” he would “put some miles on the Stair Car this summer.” Why? Because he had just “officially signed” to do more Arrested Development.

Bateman offered no other details about the matter, including whether or not new episodes would stream on Netflix, or return to broadcast television on Fox. Entertainment Weekly, however, followed up with sources close to the production:

[A] fifth season of Mitchell Hurwitz’s Emmy-winning series is in the works, with the writers already convening to brainstorm new adventures for the Bluths, EW has confirmed. Netflix and 20th Century Fox Television, which produces the show, could not be reached for comment. The hope is to start shooting new episodes as early as this summer. No date has been set for when new episodes might stream on Netflix.

So much for that Arrested Development movie idea.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

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