Arrested Development to return with 17 episodes, says producer

A fifth series for the cult comedy has looked hopeful for a while, but executive producer Brian Glazer now seems to have confirmed another series is planned – with an unusual number of episodes.

“People are loyal to it, and we’re gonna do another 17 episodes,” Glazer said during a South by South West festival interview (below, around 24 minutes in). “So stay tuned for Arrested Development.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOy6WYr9jxQ

Cast member Will Arnett and creator Mitch Hurwitz had previously indicated a fifth series would happen, but Glazer’s comments would seem to be the most concrete sign yet (if only for that oddly specific number of episodes) that another outing for the dysfunctional Bluth family is coming in the near future.

Starring Arnett alongside Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Jeffrey Tambor and Tony Hale, Arrested Development ran for three series on Fox between 2003 and 2006, attracting a cult following as well as a string of awards.

Cancelled by the network in 2006, the show was picked up by Netflix for a fourth series in August 2012 with fifteen new episodes launched on the online streaming service in May the following year.

It’s unknown whether the fifth run would return to the streaming service, but considering the multi-year contract series creator Mitch Hurwitz signed in 2014 to develop new shows for Netflix and various comments to that effect from Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos, it seems likely.

When contacted by RadioTimes.com Netflix declined to comment on the matter.