‘Arrested Development’ Star Alia Shawkat On New Season: ‘Like A Five Hour Movie’

“Arrested Development” star Alia Shawkat, known for her role as the disaffected teen Maeby on the cult series, recently shared new details about the return of the Emmy-winning hit.

Created by Mitchell Hurwitz, the series premiered on FOX in 2003 and though it earned rave reviews, poor ratings led to its cancelation in 2006, after just three seasons. With the show set to make a comeback on Netflix, which will air the equivalent of its fourth season, fans are eager to revisit what some considered one of the best shows of all time.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Shawkat talked about reuniting with the show’s cast and what fans can expect when the new episodes premiere during spring 2013.

The 23-year-old actress, who currently stars in “The Oranges,” told the outlet that she’s thrilled to be working on the show again now that potential viewers appear to be welcoming it with open arms.

“It feels like no time has passed. The only difference is all of a sudden people care about it and are actually paying attention and are really looking forward to it,” said Shawkat. “And it feels really nice, because we worked so hard on the show then, and it used to bother us [that] we would win all these Emmys and no one [expletive] knew about the show. It's kind of a cool thing to come back.”

Shawkat also gave some clues about the show’s forthcoming, restyled episodes.

“We're shooting all these episodes, and it's kind of based on a character each, but it's kind of not. I really don't know how they're gonna end up editing it. But it's literally like a five-hour movie, almost, with all the episodes, so the shooting schedule is crazy.”

After “Arrested Development” was cancelled, devoted fans helped spread the word about the ill-fated series and the the show has gradually become more popular, with downloads available on Netflix and iTunes.

In 2009, the Hollywood Reporter announced that an “Arrested Development” film was in the works. No production or anticipated release dates have been announced as of yet.

In 2011, it was announced that brand new episodes of the series would be released via Netflix as part of the rental site’s instant watch catalogue. According to Entertainment Weekly, about 10-13 new episodes will premiere on the same day. The show’s cast which includes Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Portia de Rossi, and David Cross are all set to reprise their roles.

Several of the show’s notable guest stars, such as Scott Baio, Jeff Garlin, Judy Greer, Liza Minnelli, and Henry Winkler, will also return. It has been reported by Gothamist that John Slattery and Isla Fisher will also appear on the show.

According to Slate, there is a strong possibility that a fifth and sixth season could be on the way.