It’s been two and a half years sinceSeason 4ofArrested Development, and while we knowSeason 5is coming, it still hasn’t been confirmed when production will begin, or when the season may debut on Netflix. Last summer, executive producerBrian Grazerteased that they were hoping to get production started in either January or February this year, with the new episodes debuting “about four months after” production gets under way. While the production schedule still hasn’t been confirmed,Deadlinecaught up with series creatorMitchell Hurwitz, who revealedSeason 5will have connections to both Presidential candidateDonald Trumpand the white-hot Netflix documentary seriesMaking a Murderer.
Oddly enough, the seeds for these connections were already planted inSeason 4ofArrested Development. Part of that season featured the Bluth family setting out to build a wall between the United States and Mexico. Lindsay Bluth’s (Portia de Rossi) passionate “Put up a wall” speech was so popular she decided to run for office on the Republican party ticket. If you’ve been following the news lately, you’ll know that Republican presidential candidateDonald Trumphas often spoke about constructing a wall between the United States and Mexico.
Series creatorMitchell Hurwitzis reportedly so excited about these developments that he’s hoping to haveSeason 5ready to air onNetflixby the time the Presidential elections roll around in November. Unfortunately, negotiations with the cast members is still ongoing, and he doesn’t know which cast members will be back, and which won’t be returning. The series creator has several stories outlined, but he has held off on actually writing the scripts, because he has been constantly rewriting story lines due to strange connections from his plots unfolding in real life.
Season 4ended with the murder of Lucille Austero (Liza Minnelli), whose body ended up disappearing. Series starJessica Walterrevealed this summer thatArrested Development Season 5opens with Buster Bluth (Tony Hale) being arrested for the murder. Buster was Lucille’s on and off lover, so it would make sense that he takes the rap for this bloody murder, but whatMitchell Hurwitzwasn’t anticipating was the success ofMaking a Murderer, which follows the murder case ofSteven Avery.
Long before Making a Murderer debuted,Mitchell Hurwitzwas planning on makingSeason 5a murder mystery, with Buster’s arrest serving as the catalyst for this season. The lengthy delay betweenSeason 4andSeason 5also caused the series creator to discard another ironic story development. He originally wantedJeffrey Tambor’s George Bluth to become a woman, which would alter the relationship with his son Michael (Jason Bateman). That was discarded after the actor went on to star in the critically-acclaimed series Transparent, where he plays a trans-gendered woman.Mitchell Hurwitzhopes to start production soon, but there isn’t a shooting schedule locked in place yet. What do you think about these new developments forSeason 5ofArrested Development?
