As most "Arrested Development" fans are aware, Netflix has announced that the fourth season will be released exclusively on its Watch Instantly channel in May. Yet it has yet to provide an exact date, causing alarm for some devotees. Rest assured though, Jason Bateman has confirmed that shooting has wrapped and is ready for public eyes.
"We're done shooting it and it was great," said Bateman, who plays the main role as Michael. "Also, it will be extremely complicated for the viewers. Fourteen episodes, all separate, with each character getting their own episode, but all the action happens simultaneously," he said in an interview with Empire Online.
"So you can stop my episode at the very moment that, say, Gob rides by on his Segway and then click into his episode and follow him. I don't know how Mitchell Hurwitz wrote it, shot it or scheduled it, I don't know how he's editing it but it'll be amazing, I think."
What Bateman is saying is that the new season can be viewed interactively. Since all 14 episodes will be released at once, fans will have the ability to pause an episode at any point and pick it up again from another character's perspective in a separate episode. The intricate writing and shooting style will be ground breaking and further prove Hurwitz's creative genius.
Bateman also says that the fourth series will end on a major cliffhanger. It will serve as a precursor to the subsequent movie, leaving open-ended questions that the movie itself will answer.
While it's discouraging that Netflix has not affirmed an official release date, there's still plenty to look forward to. All three previous seasons of "Arrested Development" are available for your viewing pleasure on Netflix. For those few fans that haven't already seen every episode 10 times, there are only two months left to catch up with the Bluths.