When Arrested Development returned with a fourth season on Netflix in 2013, it did so with a format very different to the original three seasons. Due mostly to the busy schedules of the actors during its production, the fourth season followed one character of the Bluth family for one episode with other members playing supporting or small roles in them. It also did not tell its story chronologically, instead bouncing back and forth between time periods as it revealed new information from a fresh perspective of one of the characters over the course of 15 episodes.
The new style of Arrested Development was an aspect of the season many fans were critical of. The jumps back and forth between times and characters were confusing and it hindered the show to see the family split up for so long. Series creator Mitch Hurwitz once talked about recutting the season into a chronological format like the original series, but nothing ever came of that until now.
In a statement he shared via the show’s Twitter account, Hurwitz explained why he was recutting the fourth season, which will premiere on May 4, now. He also revealed that news of the anticipated fifth season of Arrested Development is incoming and it will premiere on Netflix very soon.
“The original season four of Arrested Development on Netflix, as some of your know, experimented with a Rashomon-style of storytelling with each episode dedicated to the adventure of one member of the Bluth family,” Hurwitz said in his statement. “The goal was that by the end of the season, a unified story of cause and effect wild emerge for the viewer – full of surprises about how the Bluths were responsible for most of the misery they had endured… I also pursued it as a comedic experiment to see if new jokes and a new perspective would emerge from a remix that features all the Bluths in every episode, and where the simultaneity of the story plays out chronologically. And I’m really excited about the final result. It’s funny in a whole new way, and I believe it creates a really entertaining and hilarious new experience for the ‘viewer.’ And I only call you that because I don’t know how to pronounce your last name.”
The recut season, officially titled Arrested Development Season 4 Remix: Fateful Consequences, has recut its 15 episodes in 22 episodes and will follow all the family members in interwoven stories rather than individual episodes.
Arrested Development centers around Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) and his eccentric family comprised of his son George Michael (Michael Cera), his father George Bluth Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor), his mother Lucille (Jessica Walter), his brothers George Oscar Bluth II (Will Arnett), Buster Bluth (Tony Hale) and sister Lindsay Funke (Portia de Rossi), and Lindsay’s husband Tobias (David Cross) and their daughter Maeby (Alia Shawkat).
