Mitch Hurwitz Says 'Arrested Development' Movie First, Then Season 5 On Netflix

Arrested Development season 4 ended on a pretty big cliffhanger. It was a bold move by creator Mitch Hurwitz because there was no guarantee the show, which had been off the air for seven years, would reconnect with audiences. Especially since the entire structure was radically different. But it did. Season 4 of Arrested Development was a big hit for Netflix and everyone wanted to bring it back, as long as Hurwitz had an idea.

The question became, would he make a movie like he had originally said years ago? Or would the show simply come back for another season on Netflix? Though nothing has been decided on legally, Hurwitz has finally made his decision. He's writing an Arrested Development movie right now and hopes to do a fifth season after that.Hurwitz said as much in an interview with Rolling Stone:

I'm working on the movie right now. I can't get into much more detail because I don't want to scare anybody off. I don't want to be presumptuous about it. I don't own the property outright – it's a 20th Century Fox property. But everybody seems really into it and really eager to make a movie.

That almost sounds like he's writing it on spec. There's no green light and no one has agreed to make the movie yet. Once the script is done, that'll be a different story.

I'm hoping it happens as soon as possible. But I want to be very careful about not putting out false information. I want to get a time and tell everybody when it's happening and not play with people. Right now, I'm trying to do something else for Netflix and a movie project and things. I'm always sort of superstitious about talking about this stuff before it happens. It's the best way to guarantee it doesn't happen.

But, if all the stars of the show come back,and the script it good, there's almost no way the film doesn't get made. The reason Hurwitz made this decision is a movie takes less time to make than a TV show and Arrested Development has so many famous actors in it, scheduling is impossible.

A TV season is a six-month commitment. But I think it would be very doable to get them together for four or five weeks to make a movie.

Hurwitz believes, once the movie happens, if it's a success, then they will bring the show back to Netflix.

The whole thing is sort of unprecedented. It's always been its own little thing. I kind of feel like the more it stays original, the better chance it has. As soon as it goes back to trying to do exactly what it was before, you run the risk of doing a reunion show or something.

As a big Arrested Development fan, I've been pretty vocal in saying I'd much rather see a new season rather than a movie. Movies are different beasts all together and box office success is judged much differently than TV ratings. (Movies get three days, TV shows get three weeks, for example.) That said, if we get a movie and a 5th season plus Hurwitz finally gets to make his dream movie, I'm all about it. More Arrested Development trumps any medium.

What do you think about this plan? Does it work?