Netflix and 20th Century Fox extend Arrested Development Season 4

Netflix knows that one good turn deserves another. The streaming video company, encouraged by early footage of the show, has extended its order for episodes of Arrested Development Season 4.

Back when Arrested Development was still on the air, there was no such thing as Netflix. YouTube was an independently owned company and watching streaming video on the Internet was still a time consuming process. You had to wait more than a minute for a video to load! Today streaming video does exist and it allows TV shows that didn’t survive the rigors and contrary nature of the broadcast television business to be reborn. Just like Arrested Development. The in-production fourth season of the much loved comedy still doesn’t have a firm release date on Netflix yet, but the streaming video company is already planning more adventures for the dysfunctional Bluth family.

According to Deadline, Netflix has extended the upcoming season from the initially ordered ten episodes to somewhere between twelve and fifteen episodes. Show creator Mitch Hurwitz apparently shot so much material for the show that the season could be extended beyond the initial run so he, along with production company 20^th Century Fox and Imagine TV, asked Netflix if they’d like to spend a little extra on the show. Netflix was into it, and so filming of Arrested Development season four has stretched into December though it was supposed to wrap up in November.

Netflix is happy about the decision as well, but isn’t quite ready to disclose official details on its end. “We are thrilled with the direction of the show, with the footage we have seen and with the relationship between Mitch, Imagine, 20^th, and Netflix,” said a Netflix representative, “At this time, we are not announcing the final episode count but we are sure fans will be thrilled when we do.”