Bustered

Tony Hale Puts Another Nail in the Arrested Development Coffin

The erstwhile Buster Bluth corroborated David Cross’ prediction the series would not return.
Tony Hale in a scene from Arrested Development Season 5.
Courtesy of Saeed Adyani/Netflix.

The third time was not the charm for Arrested Development, it seems. Despite three successive rounds of new episodes for the once-lauded comedy, star Tony Hale now joins the growing chorus of cast suggesting “don’t hold your breath” for another revival.

Hale’s remark arose during an episode of Couch Surfing, in which host Lola Ogunnaike brought up an earlier quote from co-star David Cross that he didn’t believe the series would return. Hale was amused by Cross’ candor—joking that his co-star and the internet were the only real pipelines of information—but ultimately corroborated the idea that fans can “hold out hope, but not hold our breath.”

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The series was famously revived by Netflix for a fourth season in 2013, though the split narrative required to accommodate its prolific cast equally divided fans. A more traditional fifth season debuted on the streaming service in 2018, but was largely overshadowed by alleged misconduct from star Jeffrey Tambor behind the scenes of Amazon’s Transparent (Tambor has denied any wrongdoing, but was let go from the series). Likewise, the fifth season was further mired in controversy by a cast interview that left star Jessica Walter in tears, as members of the group (Hale included) downplayed her past confrontations with Tambor. By the time Netflix dropped the second half of Season 5 in March 2019, it seemed the series’ good will was largely spent.

Cross also suggested in his March interview that “there are some things that would have to be different, I think, for it to be warranted to come back.” He declined to specify the nature of said changes, though some observers speculated it was a reference to Tambor’s involvement with the series. Hale was not pressed on that remark, but nonetheless laughed at Cross’ suggestion new episodes “shouldn’t happen.”