“Negotiations Are Underway” For Arrested Development Season 5

Those crazy Bluths aren’t finished quite yet. Fans of the Fox cult comedy Arrested Development were over the moon when Netflix resuscitated the long-since-canceled series for a fourth season, despite the final product ending up as a slightly uneven, much less hilarious go-round than the first three seasons. Luckily, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos remains committed to giving creator Mitchell Hurwitz another chance to get the formula right.

At the Television Critics Association’s semi-annual press tour, Sarandos spoke at length about Netflix’s upcoming slate, revealing that BoJack Horseman would be coming back – and that Lilyhammer would not – in addition to a slew of upcoming originals. And when asked about the current status of a fifth season of Arrested Development, he seemed cautiously optimistic:

“We are plugging along… It’s a very long complex deal to make for these guys both because the talent is very busy and working on other shows, but also because the show is owned by Fox… It is our intent to have a new season of ‘Arrested Development.’ All the negotiations are underway.”

That’s a little less bullish than producer Brian Grazer’s comments back in June, when the producer said that production was going to kick off early next year with an eye to getting the fifth season out to Netflix subscribers in the late spring or early summer of 2016. Clearly, with the huge ensemble cast Arrested Development features, there are a lot of moving parts to consider in terms of arranging production dates and planning out storylines.

Many of Arrested Development‘s stars – including Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter and Tony Hale – are preoccupied with other ventures, so it might be a stretch to get all of them back in front of the camera for a fifth season, even if it does end up getting the green light.