‘Arrested Development’ Production On Hold For The Best Reason Ever

Production on the Arrested Development reboot has been put on hold by showrunners for the best reason ever: They’re making more episodes.

Deadline reports that Mitchell Hurwitz has halted production on Arrested Development season four because Netflix has expanded the episode order from 10 to somewhere between 12 and 15. The long-awaited return of Arrested Development will air exclusively on the streaming service, and though production has been a bit back-and-forth since the initial reboot announcement, this news is both welcome and encouraging.

According to Rolling Stone, Hurwitz shot a lot more material than he originally planned, which inspired new ideas for scenes and storylines for the show’s revamp. The original cast is currently busy with other projects, so Arrested Development is officially on hold while Hurwitz goes over the existing footage and figures out a way to write new episodes around the mini-arcs he has on his hands.

When he’s done, 20th Cenruty Fox, the studio behind Arrested Development, will get the cast back together for shooting in late January.

Netflix originally planned to make all of the episodes available at the same time in the spring of 2013. They wouldn’t talk numbers or the potential of Arrested Development being pushed off to a later air date, merely saying that they are “thrilled with the direction of the show, with the footage we have seen and with the relationship between Mitch”

“At this time, we are not confirming or announcing the final episode count but we are sure fans will be thrilled when we do,” said a Netflix spokeswoman.

What do you think? Is the prospect of more Arrested Development episodes worth the wait?