'Arrested Development' Season 5 News: Ron Howard Returns as Iconic Narrator
"Arrested Development" makes a much-awaited return to Netflix later this year and, while all the beloved cast from the previous seasons are assured to make a return, one more iconic member of the Bluth family confirms his reappearance as well — the Narrator as voiced by executive producer Ron Howard.
"For my birthday this morning I was back at the mic for the 'Next...[Arrested Development],'" Howard tweeted out last week.
Accompanying the is a picture of him in the recording booth along with the script for the first episode of the new season. In fact, a bit of dialog can be read from the image. "Michael Bluth has been away..." it reads.
While often left uncredited, the omniscient Narrator is one of the key elements of "Arrested Development's" storytelling and humor, often serving to deal the punchline, provide backstory, or just make a sarcastic quip from time to time.
With regard to the fifth season itself, reports have come in that fans should expect more interaction between the different members of the Bluth family come season 5. This was one of the bigger complaints of the fourth season that fans eagerly asked for, should they return.
According to Jason Bateman, who portrays lead character Michael Bluth on the show, season 5 will focus on the murder mystery surrounding character Lucille 2 (Liza Minnelli).
"The central spine of that story of is the death of Liza Minnelli's character, and a bit of whodunit, who may have done it, who had something to do with it," Bateman told EW Radio. "That's sort of a central thread around which [creator Mitch Hurwitz] is going to braid in all the colorful plot complications that he knows how to do."
Bateman affirms that the cast will be around each other more often in the fifth season. The fourth season had this issue due to scheduling conflicts and various other external circumstances, but it seems with the new season those restrictions were less tight, and they will be able to give fans what they really want.
"Arrested Development" season 5 is expected to premiere this year on Netflix.
