Netflix has officially U-turned on the decision not to renew the streaming rights for Arrested Development, keeping the show on the streaming service for the foreseeable future.Netflix's official Twitter posted a celebratory announcement that the show is saved, more than a month after the company initially stated that all five seasons of the show would be disappearing from the platform on 15 March, which did not happen. This would have included the two seasons made for Netflix, which are not currently available anywhere else, although the first three seasons can currently be streamed on Hulu. Netflix has now renegotiated rights to the show, which means that it has become the exclusive streamer of Arrested Development and the original three seasons will be departing Hulu later this year.
What Happened to Arrested Development Season 4?
Now that the show is safe on Netflix, fans have another request: Restore the original cut of Season 4. Filmed six years after the third, the fourth season had to work around the busy schedules of the original stars, which made it impossible to shoot every actor together. As a result, every episode of Season 4 focused on a different character, covering the same period of time from a different perspective. A version of the season recut into chronological order, Season 4 Remix: Fateful Consequences, was released in 2018, with the original cut then being removed.
The original run of the show aired on Fox between 2003 and 2006, before being canceled after just three seasons despite critical acclaim and numerous Emmy wins. It was revived by Netflix for a fourth season in 2013, becoming one of Netflix's earliest original series and beginning a tradition of the streaming service reviving beloved canceled network TV shows. While Netflix is now itself known for disappointing cancelation, it has also revived or continued popular shows like Fox's Lucifer, Channel 4's Black Mirror, Lifetime's You and YouTube Red's Cobra Kai.
The fifth and final season, which re-revived the show after another significant gap, was released in two parts -- the first in May 2018 and the second in March 2019. Jeffrey Tambor's sexual misconduct allegations, which saw him removed from the cast of Transparent, did not impact his role in Season 5. This, along with allegations of verbal abuse on the Arrested Development set, caused controversy ahead of the season's release. Portia de Rossi, who retired from acting in 2018, made an exception to return for five episodes of the final season. Arrested Development stars Jason Bateman, de Rossi, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat, Tony Hale, David Cross, Tambor and the late Jessica Walter.
All five seasons of Arrested Development are available to stream on Netflix.
Source: Twitter