There's been an unnatural and, frankly, unsettling amount of positivity surrounding the return of Arrested Development, which has upset the natural order of things by promising a happy ending after years of being the abused underdog. Fortunately, creator Mitch Hurwitz has once again assured fans that they're not going to get exactly what they hoped for: "The show will look very different," Hurwitz tells USA Today, explaining that the fourth season is being compiled as a "very, very complex puzzle" from various scenes shot out of sequence, and that the episodes will have a "different rhythm" than fans are accustomed to—primarily because each one will be focused entirely on one character (an assertion seemingly backed up by these leaked episode titles), and more or less lacking the layered multiple storylines for which the show is known.
In fact, in examining how the Bluths went their separate ways after the 2006 finale, then tracking each one to the present day, it seems this Arrested Development reunion lacks, well, an actual reunion. "You don't see them all together until you see the movie," Hurwitz says, calling this new season "the first act" of the movie that isn't actually confirmed yet and still may never happen. Nevertheless, Hurwitz swears that if fans "watch it all at once, it will seem like a giant Arrested Development," saying it's "tailored for Netflix" and praising the service for encouraging "the complexity that had been discouraged before." (Now contributing to that complexity: Michael Cera, who's been added to the show's writing staff.) Anyway, the article also seems to confirm rumors that you should be making plans to set aside those seven hours or so in May. Then you can return to wishing for a genuine Arrested Development reunion, as is your natural state.