UPDATE: As per Jason Bateman’s Twitter feed 25 minutes ago:
“It’s true. We will do 10 episodes and the movie. Probably shoot them all together next summer for a release in early ’13. VERY excited!”
This is awesome news for one of the funniest shows to ever grace a TV screen. IGN’s story, by way of the Twitter feed for The New Yorker Festival where cast members and show creator Mitchell Hurwitz had a reunion today, explains that a 9-10 episode season could happen as a lead-in to the film. Apparently, each episode would focus on one character, which makes no sense to me from a story standpoint, but as IGN points out, the limited availability and other commitments of many of the cast members might make it easy to just shoot one episode and not have to focus in starring in multiple.
As stated, this season would be the setup for the movie which the internet has tried willing into existence for the last 5 or so years. Arrested Development remains a brilliant show and not only gave us Will Arnett and Michael Cera, but for all intents and purposes launched Jason Bateman into the star he is today. And thank God for that. The show also remains one of FOX’s many boneheaded cancellation decisions, and for me, they don’t deserve to carry the new season and the most-likely solid ratings it would deliver; give it to another network.
Let’s be honest, though…it’s scary enough wondering if the movie is actually going to happen, let alone a brand new season. If this really does happen I think we’ll all be shocked. But it sounds to me like there’s a good chance. If it doesn’t, I’ll be pretty upset.