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‘Arrested Development’: New season to debut May 26 on Netflix, extra episode added

Ladies and gentlemen, start the engines to your stair cars: The Bluths have been given an air date — and an extra episode.

Netflix announced today that the upcoming season of Arrested Development will debut on May 26 at 12:01 am PT, which marks the cult comedy’s return to TV after a three-season run on Fox from 2003 to 2006. Similar to its strategy with original series House of Cards, the streaming service will release all 15 new episodes of Arrested simultaneously. (Netflix joked that it had made a “huge mistake” in the number of episodes, a reference to its January announcement that the new season would consist of 14 installments, which was already an upgrade from the original tally of 10.)

Series creator Mitchell Hurwitz has said that this “anthology” of episodes is designed to serve as a prequel to a long-rumored movie that he and the fully reunited cast (which includes Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, Michael Cera, David Cross, Jessica Walter, Tony Hale, Jeffrey Tambor and Alia Shawkat) are still hoping to make. Each installment will focus on a particular character, with other primary characters making appearances in that episode.

Ben Stiller, Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Conan O’Brien, Isla Fisher, and John Slattery are among the guest stars that will pop up in this batch of episodes.

It is unclear whether Netflix will remain the home for new seasons of Arrested beyond this one, should Hurwitz & Co. decide to create more episodes before shooting a movie. In a late-February conference call with investors, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that he did not “anticipate” that the company would make additional seasons, though a Netflix spokesperson later said that it remains hopeful for such a scenario.