Speaking from what we’re going to assume was an omniscient, slightly sardonic point of view situated permanently just at the edge of sight, Arrested Development executive producer and free-floating Bluth chronicler Ron Howard has said that writing is underway on the show’s long-prophecized fifth season. Talking to Good Morning America about his new fish picture In The Heart Of The Sea, Howard told interviewer Amy Robach that “Mitch Hurwitz, the creator of the show, is working with writers now. Netflix is behind it, 20th Century Fox is behind it.”
The only entity not “behind it,” in fact (where “it” is those 17 new episodes we were promised by producer Brian Glazer way back in April), is apparently time, which constantly stymies Hurwitz and company’s efforts to get their old cast into the same room together for more than a couple of minutes at a time, an ongoing problem that also contributed to the unevenness of the show’s Netflix-based fourth season. “What has happened,” according to Howard, “Is that the cast has become so freakin’ in demand and busy,” an assertion backed-up by the recent critical popularity of Bluth-backed projects like Transparent, BoJack Horseman, and the certain-to-be-announced-any-day-now The Switch 2: Switch Harder.
In the midst of wishing it a Good Morning, Howard then went on to remind America (or at least the TV-justice demanding, comedy nerd portions of it) how much it once craved a new season of Arrested Development. “Everyone wants to do it. Fans want it. I would be saddened if we didn’t achieve it. I’m the announcer and the narrator, and I have to get back to that microphone.”