Start making plans if Arrested Development is your favorite streaming comfort food. Netflix has announced that the show will be leaving the platform after is leaving on March 14, leaving subscribers just over a month to indulge in any Bluth family-related nostalgia. Incredibly, even the original seasons made specifically for Netflix will be leaving along with the no-exclusive first three seasons that aired on Fox.
While it hasn’t been officially announced where the show will end up, the safest bet is that the two formerly Netflix-only seasons four and five will move to Hulu, where the original three seasons are already available to stream. Disney will also likely carry all five seasons internationally as part of their Star brand. Netflix still has a brief window available to re-up their option, but it seems unlikely the platform, currently looking to increase revenue, will stop the show from being pulled. The last new episodes of the show aired four years ago in 2018.
This may lead to some serious facepalming from Netflix subscribers who joined the service primarily to see the new seasons, and some will undoubtedly join the growing mass of former users after the series ceases to be available.
The end of the Arrested Development era on Netflix may also generate further animosity for the service, which has been suffering an extreme lack of goodwill due to recent rate hikes, payment restructuring, and a crackdown on password sharing.
Other users have replied to the impending removal of the show with what is fast becoming a familiar refrain in a time of relentless upheaval on streaming platforms like Netflix and HBO Max: If you really like a show, make sure you have a physical copy of it. Otherwise, you may just be subject to the whimsy (or financial realities) of whatever service your favorite series happens to be streaming on.