Listen, I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I don't think I'm alone in being a little disappointed with the fourth season of Arrested Development. And yes, OK, that makes me a spoiled brat. But with the revelation that Arrested Development Season 5 is fixing the only problem with Season 4, it's clear to me that sometimes demanding excellence from your favorite things in life totally pays off. I'm referring, of course, to the fact that most of the AD cast was unavailable to shoot together for the Netflix reboot, and thus used a green screen to patch members of the Bluth Family into scenes together.
Enter Tony Hale, who plays Buster Bluth on the show, and is pretty busy himself, with his Emmy-winning role on Veep. Hale did an interview with The Huffington Post for a Facebook Live segment, and he not only confirmed that the entire cast was on board for Season 5 — " I know for a fact that everyone wants to do it" — he also reassured us that producers are working hard to make sure everyone can be on-site simultaneously for their scenes. Turns out, no one is more interested in getting that vibe back than the actors themselves: "To be honest, I miss that, too. I miss working across from GOB or working across from Lucille or Tobias."
On the one hand, I understand, because waiting for in-demand actors like Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, and Alia Shawkat to all be available at the same time would've maybe taken years, and none of us wanted to wait that long. But, on the other hand, the interactions between the Bluths are one of the best parts of the show, and, watching without that, it was hard to feel we weren't missing out on that natural chemistry between the actors.
Obviously, Hale couldn't give us any exact details, because there aren't any yet, other than the vague assurance that Season 5 of Arrested Development is happening. We don't know when or who or what, but, if it's a matter of working around the cast's availability, I encourage Mitch Hurwitz and everyone involved in this project to take all the time they need. The lack of constant Bluth family togetherness in Season 4 really brought it down for me, and such an amazing show shouldn't have to work around the very thing that makes it a charming cult classic to begin with: the Bluths.
Image: Netflix; arresteddevelopmentgifs/Tumblr
