The long awaited return of "Arrested Development" is only weeks away. The series, which has gained an extensive cult following since its cancellation in 2006, will premiere on Netflix May 26, all 15 episodes at once. In anticipation, we've seen brand new character posters, a deleted scene and have heard testimonies from the cast on the making of the fourth season. Each tidbit of information has provided fans with everything they need to know to prepare for the Bluths' return.
Scott Baio, a guest star who will return as the Bluths' lawyer, Bob Loblaw, recently opened up about his role in the upcoming season. "I actually did one episode," he said. "I was surprised to be called back because the character's really just a name. I didn't even really know what the name was until we started working, a couple of years ago, on it."
According to Baio and other members of the "Arrested Development" cast, that's how that show's executive producer, Mitch Hurwitz likes to work. "What happens with Mitch Hurwitz is you don't know anything," Baio said.
"There were, at one point, three pieces of different-colored yarn that all led to a card that had a question mark on it," said Michael Cera, who plays the socially awkward George Michael. "I think everyone, including Mitch and Richie [Rosenstock] and Kim [Vallely], these incredible minds that were navigating this whole thing, felt confused many times. But it helped the process, which was reassuring for me and for some of the newer writers who felt way in over their heads. It comes with the territory of doing a really ambitious story like that."
The upcoming season will stray from the series' general structure. Each episode will focus on one of the nine main characters with other characters weaving in and out. One episode may follow George Michael while the next follows Gob (Will Arnett) in the same exact scene, just from a different perspective.
"There's never been a half-hour comedy with the level of complexity here," said Troy Miller, who co-directed alongside Hurwitz. "The idea of how characters interrelate and the episodic arcs in A, B, C, D, and E story lines - it's this crazy wormhole he's created."
"You know the murder scene where they go to the psycho killer's apartment and he's got all this crazy s- mapped out? That's what it looked like," said David Cross, who plays the ambiguously gay Tobias. "Post-it notes and index cards all across the three walls in this big conference room. Yarn stretching from one thing to another and pinned in one place, and then a sharp angular uptick to the Lucille character and down. And then there's a different-colored yarn that intersects and weaves in. It took him 25 minutes to explain what I was looking at. And I still didn't get everything. When you see that, of course it has to be a TV show. There's no way else to do this."
Season four of "Arrested Development will premiere on Netflix May 26. All 15 episodes will be available simultaneously via Netflix's Watch Instantly channel.