Arrested Development Picture: 20th Television / Disney
One of the biggest Netflix Original departures thus far was due to take place in March 2023. Arrested Development’s five seasons were due to depart midway through the month, but now its future looks uncertain. Is the show still leaving? Here’s what we know.
Created by Mitchell Hurwitz, Arrested Development follows the dysfunctional and bizarre Bluth family picking up the pieces after patriarch George Bluth Sr. (played by the now-disgraced Jeffery Tambor) is sent to prison.
The cast includes Jason Bateman (Ozark), Michael Cera, Will Arnett (Murderville), Tony Hale, the late Jessica Walter, Portia De Ross, and David Cross. In addition, legendary actor and director Ron Howard serves as the Executive Producer and omniscient narrator.
Arrested Development has been a cornerstone of Netflix’s original lineup for eight years. The series was initially broadcast for three seasons on Fox before it was canceled in 2006. Netflix revived the show in 2011 as a “Netflix Original,” with the maligned 4th season finally premiering in May 2013. At the same time, they acquired non-exclusive rights to the first three seasons.
Picture: Netflix / 20th Television
When Netflix first released the 15-episode 4th season, it was panned by critics and fans alike.
Due to the experimental format, they used to work around busy actors’ schedules; characters are split into stories with minimal overlap. Each episode focused on one of the Bluth family members during the same period of time, with events sometimes occurring without proper context. After the controversial response, Netflix and 20th TV moved the initial cuts to the “Trailers & More” section of the title page and replaced the episodes in 2018 with 22 episodes that spliced various episodes together, trimmed other parts entirely, and presented things in true chronological order. This new Season 4 Remix: Fateful Consequences, received better reviews but still did not match the popularity of the first three seasons.
The recut episodes resulted in problems with the actors requesting additional compensation for what they deemed additional work. Part of the recut used alternate takes or footage, not in the initial 15-episode cut. 20th Television wanted to sell the series into global syndication after the Netflix window ended. It remains to be seen if they will still do that now that Disney owns 20th Century Fox.
In May 2018, after years of juggling many actors’ schedules, a 5th season was released in two 8-episode parts. All actors were present this time in the episodes, and the storylines were more intersected, but the show still recaptured the magic of the first three seasons. The final batch arrived on March 15, 2019, and that initiated the countdown clock until the end of Netflix’s window, which is now expiring four years later.
Is Arrested Development Still Leaving Netflix?
Now, the time has come to mourn the loss of one of the earliest Netflix Originals because Netflix notified everyone in February that Arrested Development is leaving on March 15, 2023. That means your last day watching Arrested Development on Netflix was March 14th.
This news was widely reported by other outlets like TVLine, for instance.
Removal Date on Arrested Development
This removal date was then pushed back a week, with the actual removal now planned for March 25th, 2023, and the last day to watch being March 24th.
There is no word on why the removal has been pushed back, but it could be signs that they’re trying to work out an agreement behind the scenes. We’ve seen this happen with Lilyhammer and Medici, for example.
New removal date on Arrested Development – March 25th
Since then, that removal date is no longer showing on Netflix for the title, with the companion message now stating, “Watch all seasons now.”
So is the show still leaving? Netflix did not respond to a request for comment, but we’re told that the expiry date is still currently set for March 25th. If we were to speculate, we’d suggest that Netflix is negotiating to keep the show on the service.
More to come.
As we’ve seen with some other Originals, there is a chance that Netflix may renew. Still, given the departure of the series from Netflix in other regions, including Netflix Australia in 2021, the likelihood of that seems slim.
You can catch all the removals from Netflix in March 2023 in our extensive US list here, and keep an eye out on our leaving soon section for a full list of March 2023 removals as and when we get them. In addition, we’re tracking the removal of Disney’s remaining content on Netflix here and all Netflix Original removals.
This report contains additional writing from Kasey Moore.