Get ready for frozen bananas, vodka on the rocks and some savage insults from one of TV’s funniest families. The Bluths are coming back.
Netflix announced on Wednesday that the entire regular cast of “Arrested Developmet” and series creator Mitchell Hurwitz will return for a fifth season.
In true “Arrested Development” fashion, Hurwitz’s official announcement about the show’s return was riddled with shade directed at a certain first family.
“In talks with Netflix we all felt that stories about a narcissistic, erratically behaving family in the building business — and their desperate abuses of power — are really underrepresented on TV these days,” Hurwitz said in a statement. “I am so grateful to them and to 20th TV for making this dream of mine come true in bringing the Bluths, George Sr., Lucille and the kids; Michael, Ivanka, Don Jr., Eric, George-Michael, and who am I forgetting, oh Tiffany. Did I say Tiffany? — back to the glorious stream of life.”
The quirky series about Michael Bluth (played by actor Jason Bateman) and his eccentric family is a cult hit with a storied Hollywood history.
Low ratings prompted Fox to cancel “Arrested Development” in 2006 after three seasons, but viewers rallied for years to have it brought back.
Netflix answered the call and aired a fourth season in 2013.
That return only whetted fans’ appetite for more, and there was talk that new episodes were coming.
In January executive producer Brian Grazer stirred anticipation when he said Netflix was close to bringing the series back.
Grazer said in a statement on Wednesday that he loves working with Hurwitz.
“He is a genius and the rarest of original thinkers,” Grazer said. “He brings a richness to the characters and the storylines that makes the series memorably fun.”
Executive producer Ron Howard sounded relieved that the news was finally out.
“Whew! I can finally answer the question,” he said in a statement. “Hell yes! Warming up my uncredited narrator vocal chords. Now the only thing I will have to be coy about is all the craziness the Bluths are going to face this season.”
Bateman will be joined by fellow cast members Michael Cera, Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter, Will Arnett, Tony Hale, Portia de Rossi, David Cross and Alia Shawkat.
The new season of “Arrested Development” will premiere in 2018.
