Say Goodbye to Netflix's Greatest 5-Part Sitcom Revival Next Month

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Isla Fisher smiling outside on Arrested Development

Published Mar 10, 2026, 4:22 PM EDT

Liam Gaughan is a film and TV writer at Collider. He has been writing film reviews and news coverage for ten years. Between relentlessly adding new titles to his watchlist and attending as many screenings as he can, Liam is always watching new movies and television shows.

In addition to reviewing, writing, and commentating on both new and old releases, Liam has interviewed talent such as Mark Wahlberg, Jesse Plemons, Sam Mendes, Billy Eichner, Dylan O'Brien, Luke Wilson, and B.J. Novak. Liam aims to get his spec scripts produced and currently writes short films and stage plays. He lives in Allentown, PA.

Up until 2013, Arrested Development was considered to be one of the greatest shows to ever be “cancelled too soon.” Despite winning awards and developing a strong cult audience, the Fox sitcom was cancelled after the end of its third season in 2006, after failing to get picked up by another network. Unsurprisingly, Arrested Development began to attract more viewers once it became available on home video, as it was a show with so many running gags and callbacks that it worked better when it could be binged in its entirety. Netflix’s revival of Arrested Development was nothing if not interesting, as the long-anticipated fourth season struggled to get the all-star cast united at the same time. Although the fourth and fifth seasons didn’t touch the perfection of the show’s original run, the Arrested Development revival is about to leave Netflix, which signifies a loss of an important moment in comedy history.

After the fourth season of Arrested Development was released to mixed reviews in 2013, creator Mitch Hurwitz decided to release a “re-mixed” version of the season dubbed “Fateful Consequences". While little of the actual content was changed, the decision to revamp the season in chronological order did allow for more fluid pacing and time with the beloved characters. The fifth season that aired in 2018 was an outright disaster and suffered from controversy regarding accusations of misconduct against Jeffrey Tambor. As disappointing as it is that the magic was never recaptured, that doesn’t mean that the later seasons of Arrested Development should be made unavailable, which is what will happen if Netflix does not regain the rights.

‘Arrested Development’ Had an Unusual Return

Due to complications regarding streaming rights, the original three seasons of Arrested Development are available for purchase or rental on other platforms and on home media. The original cut of Season 4 is also available to purchase, as 2013 was an era in which Netflix was still willing to put its original content out on physical media. However, the “Fateful Consequences” version was never released on any other platform, and cannot be able to be seen legally once it's removed from Netflix; the same is true for the fifth season, which can only be seen via second-hand copies of the FYC screeners sent to critics and awards voters when it first aired. Beyond the fact that many completionists will want to check out the entire show, the potential removal is a worrying sign for streaming. Although it has always been abundantly clear that streaming services could remove their licensed content at any moment, it's concerning when original material not available elsewhere disappears. This is particularly true in the case of Netflix, which has not licensed its original content to other services in the same way that streamers like Paramount have.

The-10-Best-Arrested-Development-Quotes,-Ranked

This isn’t the first time that this has happened, as Netflix saved Arrested Development from being removed from its library once before in 2023, thanks to a last-minute deal. However, times have changed significantly in the years since, as it has become more common for streamers to drop their own shows for the sake of cutting costs; Netflix is still in the business of licensing other streamers’ content to build up a library, which means it has let go of shows that don’t have the same “newness” factor. The issue with this is that the streaming charts can be unpredictable, and no one can ever anticipate when a show might experience an unusual surge in renewed interest. Given that Arrested Development developed a unique style of “gag-a-second” comedy that influenced such shows as Community and 30 Rock, it’s not hard to imagine that it might attract curious viewers who didn’t catch it on the original run.

The Later Seasons of ‘Arrested Development’ Could Be Scrubbed From Streaming

The Bluth family at a family dinner in Arrested Development

It’s important for the sake of the industry that discussions of quality don’t factor into making content accessible; even if the later seasons of Arrested Development were devoid of any redeeming values (which they aren’t), making them impossible to see sets a bad standard that could affect any number of shows. Arrested Development’s revival is, at the very least, an interesting time capsule of how significantly the streaming wars altered television culture. The fourth season aired in 2013 when Netflix was getting its first original hit off the ground with House of Cards, and may have fared better if viewers had been more adjusted to the notion of binge-watching new sitcoms. The fifth season aired at a time when Netflix was churning out so much content that it was easier for a show with mixed reviews to disappear entirely. The season developed a mystery surrounding Buster (Tony Hale) that parodied popular whodunit thrillers, and has aged better when considering how that subgenre has continued to explode on streaming.

Enough time has passed that it’s worth giving the later seasons of Arrested Development another look because of how brave it was for Hurwitz to do something ambitious and original that did not rely solely on nostalgia. When compared to other underwhelming sitcom revivals like Fuller House or That ‘90s Show that seemed not to acknowledge their outdated format, Arrested Development attempted to transition a Bush-era show into a post-recession commentary. A series with as talented of a cast as Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, and the late great Jessica Walter can’t be entirely without merit, and Arrested Development deserves to be preserved in its entirety.