As Cera points out, with heightened attention comes a new approach to storytelling for the show. The entire cast of Bluths, the wealthy family that lost everything, has returned, but each episode will chart the path of a single character, instead of following their exploits collectively, with others popping in and out sporadically.

“Stories intersect and overlap,” says Cera, who joined Hurwitz on the writing team for the show’s fourth season. “Every character is on their own track and the master story is kind of the tapestry of it all. There are things that link everyone together, but everyone is kind of on their own trajectory.”

For Thompson, the TV history buff, this is “risky.” Arrested Development loyalists might not get what they expect.

“It’s an interesting bit of dramaturgical sleight of hand they’re pulling,” he says. “It’s going to have to be really good if it’s going to live up to the almost sanctified status that the show has in some people’s minds.”

People like Trevor Bolliger. Now 25 and living in San Francisco, the Arrested Development superfan first “fell in love” with the show in high school. For the past year, he’s managed an Arrested Development fan site, where fellow disciples of the show discuss rumours of the fourth season and dissect their favourite elements of earlier episodes.

Bolliger estimates he’s seen all 53 episodes a dozen times, at least.

“It’s not handed to you on a silver platter. It expects you to be smart. And there’s something refreshing about that,” he says. “It’s rewarding for people who pay attention and it’s unforgiving for people who don’t . . . I sometimes feel like a preacher for a religion nobody understands.”

For this reason, Thompson argues, the show has achieved a “cult” status somewhat rare for television comedies. Long-running dramas like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Star Trek are typically the refuge for such engaged followers, he says.

“Arrested Development was self-consciously complex,” he says. “It was a show that kind of flattered you. If you got all the references, you felt that you were kind of on the inside.”

Cera acknowledges this quality, and points to the show’s complexity as a possible explanation for its enduring resonance and renewed momentum. After it was cancelled and released on DVD, people could watch it quickly and repeatedly, thus being able to more readily pick up buried jokes and click with its rapid pace.

“It happened to be good for that kind of viewing,” says Cera. “There’s such a high frequency of jokes and so much dialogue.”

That’s also why he thinks Netflix is the perfect place for the resurrected show.

“Like an album, is the comparison Mitch (Hurwitz) makes,” says Cera. “Here’s this whole body of work, and you can take your time with it or watch it all at once.”

Bolliger couldn’t agree more. And despite the new storytelling format — or maybe because of it — he has high hopes for the fresh material.

“I want it to make no sense at all, just be a tangled mess of story that you have to watch, like, five times before you can put it together.”

Better to savour when watching it over and over again. Again.