After Arrested Development was cancelled, I had little hope that the much-loved but poorly-rated series would ever return, but Netflix brought the show back close to seven years later, although it was unfortunately not quite the triumphant return which fans were hoping it would be. It was great to see the cast back together once more, but it was felt that too much time was spent on following the stories of the individual characters and not enough on the Bluth family as a whole. Thankfully, Jason Bateman has assured fans that the cast will be together much more in the upcoming season. The actor also shared a photo from a set which Arrested Development fans will be quite familiar with, as well as teasing that the Bluth's will be moving back in as production begins on August 8th.
Even after bringing the series back from the brink, I wasn't sure whether a fifth season was guaranteed, but after much wrangling of the schedules, another season of Arrested Development was officially greenlit back in May and all the regular cast-members will be returning. As for what type of misadventures the Bluth family will find themselves getting into, we're not sure, but Jason Bateman recently teased that the main story of the season will dive into the mystery surrounding the death of Lucille 2 (Liza Minnelli).
The central spine of that story of is the death of Liza Minnelli’s character, and a bit of whodunit, who may have done it, who had something to do with it. That’s sort of a central thread around which [creator Mitch Hurwitz] is going to braid in all the colorful plot complications that he knows how to do.
Jason Bateman added that Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz has a "three-act story" in mind. "The first act was done on the first batch of Netflix episodes [in 2013], and we’re about to do now the second act of that story, and then the act third act presumably will be done if we can all get it together at a later date, maybe in another few years. We’re kind of turning into a Michael Apted Seven Up! thing." I've certainly grown to appreciate the fourth season a little more after rewatching it a time or two, but I can't wait to see the Bluth's properly reunited.
Arrested Development isn't Jason Bateman's only series with Netflix, as the crime-drama Ozark, in which Bateman stars as a financial advisor who begins laundering money for a Mexican drug cartel, was just released on July 21st.