Arrested Development Will Return For Another Season & A Movie

Since Arrested Development went off the air five years ago, fans have been subsisting on the faint hope that a movie is in the works (and constantly quoting the series until friends and coworkers are forced to watch reruns just to communicate). Now it looks like all the waiting is going to pay off. Today during the cast reunion at the New Yorker Festival, creator Mitchell Hurwitz announced that in addition to a movie, we’ll be getting another TV season.

According to the New York Times, Hurwitz said that while working on the screenplay for the film,

“I found even if I just gave five minutes per character to that back story, we were halfway through the movie before the characters got together … We’re trying to do a limited-run series into the movie … We’re basically hoping to do nine or 10 episodes, with almost one character per episode.”

He gave an example of how the Buster episode might start:

“The latest joke we have, is that it’s Cambridge, Mass., and there’s all these scientists in lab coats and they’re waiting for somebody. Buster comes through the door in a white lab coat – ‘Let’s begin’ – and they say, ‘Oh, no, you don’t get to wear the lab coat. We’re experimenting on you.'”

Various film studios would have to cooperate (sorry New Yorker editors, coöperate) to get the project off the ground, but Jason Bateman said, “creatively we are all on board.” Later he Tweeted:

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!