After being canceled by Fox in 2006, Arrested Development pulled off an improbable resurrection in 2013 with a fourth season on Netflix. In theory, that season was meant to lead into an Arrested Development movie that has yet to materialize.
However, there may still be hope for fans of the dysfunctional Bluth family. While being interviewed at SXSW by Grantland‘s B.S. Report (via Coming Soon), Arrested Development executive producer Brian Grazer made some surprising comments about the future of the series.
“I love Arrested Development, but it was never a huge thing,” said Grazer. “But people are loyal to it, and we’re going to do another 17 episodes. So stay tuned for Arrested Development.”
Grazer didn’t specify when those episodes of Arrested Development would be made or if they would be split over multiple short seasons. It’s also unclear if Netflix will continue to produce the series, although Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has repeatedly expressed a desire to do more with Arrested Development.
The problem facing a new season of Arrested Development is the same one that the fourth season had. The main cast members, including Jason Bateman,Michael Cera, Jeffrey Tambor,Jessica Walter), Will Arnett, Tony Hale, Portia de Rossi, David Cross and Alia Shawkat have commitments to other movie and television project that may preclude them from being available to film at the same time. The fourth season got around that by focusing on individual characters within each episode in a non-linear narrative.
You can watch the video of Grazer’s interview below. His response about the potential future of Arrested Development comes at the 24:30 mark.
