Really taking this whole “Arrested Development revival” gag to the next level, yesterday’s Netflix event at Las Vegas’ National Association of Broadcasters convention featured an appearance from creator Mitch Hurwitz and several members of the cast —Will Arnett, David Cross, Alia Shawkat, Jeffrey Tambor, and Jessica Walter—in which they avowed that, yes, they are really reviving Arrested Development after years of vague promises and reversals. And to make it up to you for that frustrating prolonged wait, they’re taking away any further delays (other than the actual production this summer) by debuting all 10 episodes on Netflix at once. That’s right: On one to-be-determined day next year, you’ll suddenly have the entire fourth season of Arrested Development to watch, and possibly the need to find a plausible excuse to get out of work.
Hurwitz, for one, is openly encouraging that sort of marathon viewing, saying he planned to take advantage of the season debuting in one big lump. “There's going to be some mystery sprinkled throughout this, [but] instead of watching one a week and try to get ahead of it, the hope is [fans] will watch them all together and then go back and look for clues and connections,” Hurwitz said while also hinting the technology could allow for additional material to supplement the story, and basically openly wishing for the gears of American industry to come to a grinding halt sometime in 2013. He also revealed that the new episodes would not, as suggested earlier, be self-contained stories focusing on reintroducing each individual character but would rather be “more like the old show again.” To that end he also obliged a suggestion that tertiary characters like Scott Baio’s Bob Loblaw should return, saying, “It's kind of a one-joke thing. But if you guys don't mind bringing it back, we'll give it to you.” (And in the distance, the mournful cry of “Steve Holt” is answered by a coyote’s howl.)
But even with these promising, concrete details, it just wouldn’t be an Arrested Development reunion conversation without some good old-fashioned getting some hopes up and then dashing some others. Most notably, Hurwitz and the cast pointedly sidestepped any talk of the movie that was supposed to follow the new season, even though the movie is what started this whole conversation in the first place. In fact, it doesn’t even sound like it’s part of the plan anymore, as Hurwitz also started dropping hints about a fifth or even sixth season of the show, saying, “We would love this to be the first of many visits.” So, stop petitioning for an Arrested Development revival, and get ready to start petitioning for a revival of the revival. [via Vulture]