The date may have drifted out of awareness, or alternately been plaguing every thought since its announcement, but the return of “Arrested Development” nonetheless lies only a few short months away in May. That means more hints as to what we can expect from Mitch Hurwitz and co. for season four, starting with a few name guest stars joining in on the madness. Minor spoilers below.
Details of the 13-part season have been mostly kept under wraps, but each episode has been revealed to center on a single character, and Us Weekly have reported Seth Rogen and Kristen Wiig will join the line-up as possible focal points. Likely not, as the duo are signed on just as guest stars, but while Rogen's role remains a mystery for now, Wiig's has been revealed (via Vulture) as the younger Lucille Bluth, played in the series' present day by Jessica Walter.
Wiig as Walter proves a brilliant piece of casting that definitely gets our hopes up even further, and the news also promises more glimpses — however brief — at the Bluths' family history. And the timeline-swapping doesn't end there: In a recent podcast interview with Empire, Jason Bateman confirmed this season will be “extremely complicated for the viewers.”
“14 episodes, all separate, with each character getting their own episode, but all the action happens simultaneously,” he said. “So you can stop my episode at the very moment that, say, Gob (Will Arnett) rides by on his Segway and then click into his episode and follow him."
Bateman then elaborated on the fourth season's relationship to the planned movie, saying it's only “the first third of a three part story — the second two parts will be in the movie. So this is the first act, and the movie is act two and three. They're all just asking questions that the movie itself will answer."
Hurwitz said as much back in September, but it's nice to see the concept held through production, as well as a renewed confidence from everyone about an eventual film. Before that epic theatrical release though, you can catch season four of “Arrested Development” when all 13 episodes hit Netflix in one fell May swoop.