'Arrested Development' Season 5 Reportedly Set to Premiere This Summer

The fifth season of Arrested Development will premiere at last this summer, according to actor [...]

The fifth season of Arrested Development will premiere at last this summer, according to actor Henry Winkler.

Winkler plays Barry Zuckerkorn in the series, the unhelpful attorney of the Bluth Family. He is out promoting the new HBO comedy Barry, where he has a central role as acting coach Gene Cousineau, but during an interview with Decider, he spared a moment to update fans on Arrested Development.

"That will be on midsummer," Winkler said when asked about the cult classic series. "We just shot it before Christmas."

The outlet notes that Winkler may not be a reliable source on that information, as actors aren't always kept up to date on release schedules. A representative from Netflix would only say that season 5 "is coming soon."

As a show, Arrested Development has had one of the strangest journeys in television history, with the fifth season coming 15 years after the series premiered. The show ran for three season on Fox starting in 2003. It was critically beloved, earning six Primetime Emmy Awards and one Golden Globe, yet it's outspoken and loyal fan base couldn't make up for its low viewership and ratings.

Fox cancelled Arrested Development in 2006. There were rumors of a revival or even a feature film up until 2011, when Netflix picked up the show and announced a new season exclusively on its streaming service.

However, season 4 didn't scratch the same itch for many of the show's die-hard fans. It premiered in May of 2013, and it picked up years later in the show's timeline. Some were put off by the changes and developments in continuity. In addition, each of the 15 episodes took place over about the same amount of time, gradually building on each other to present one clear summary of the Bluth family's disparate lives.

The format served the show's self-referential humor, but it made for very little interaction between the characters themselves, which was disappointing to many fans. Winkler himself told Uproxx in November 2017 that the cast had barely been together in one place to shoot the season.

The show's creator and executive producer, Mitchell Hurwitz, originally stated that the fourth season was an adaptation of a movie idea, and he intended for it to be the end of the series. However, in 2015 the creative team and Netflix confirmed that more episodes were in development. After a dozen years, season 5 may finally be the Bluth comeback that fans have been waiting for.

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