‘Arrested Development’ Season 5 Update: Filming May Start in Early 2017

For five or six years between Fox’s canceling of Arrested Development and its official Netflix resurrection, Mitch Hurwitz and the show’s cast couldn’t do an interview without having to give a canned answer about when or how the beloved comedy might return.

Arrested Development premiered 15 new episodes in May 2013, but the cycle of obligatory question-asking has returned in earnest and, once again, everybody is consistently agreeing that they want to do more Arrested Development, but the exact specifics remain elusive. 

On Wednesday, Hurwitz joined fellow Lady Dynamite co-creator Pam Brady, Raphael Bob-Waksberg of BoJack Horseman and Bill Burr of F Is for Family on a Television Critics Association press tour panel about Netflix comedies and, naturally, the first question was about Arrested Development.

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“Of course that’s what we’re here to discuss,” Hurwitz cracked, before giving a hopefully nebulous answer.

“We’re very close,” he promised. “It’s a thing I really am desperate to do. We’ve got a lot of the stories broken. We’re kinda ready to go. I’m so appreciative of the fans wanting more, I hate to tease them with information that there is going to be more until we know for sure, but it’s what we’re trying to accomplish and if does happen, it looks like shooting would be at the start of 2017. That’s what I’m hoping.”

Having received that good news, Bob-Waksberg was quick to ask about a second season of Hurwitz’s short-lived Fox comedy Running Wild.

“There’s so many cliffhangers. I want to know,” Bob-Waksberg lamented.

We’re hardly immune, of course. When Tony Hale came in for a Facebook Live conversation associated with his recent Emmy nomination for Veep, the Arrested Development question came up. At least we held it for the end.