'Arrested Development' Return Headed to Netflix Canada

The U.S. video streaming giant will offer the reboot of the cult comedy to its Canadian subscribers after last year unveiling a deal that covered only the American market.

TORONTO -- The Arrested Development reboot is coming north to stream on Netflix Canada after all.

“With the excitement surrounding the return of Arrested Development, we are thrilled to premiere the new season of the show in Canada at the same time as we launch it in the U.S.,” Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said in a statement Monday.

That’s a switch from last year, when Netflix unveiled a deal to offer a new season of the Fox comedy exclusively on the U.S. streaming giant’s service stateside, excluding Canada.

Arrested Development went off the air in 2006, and Netflix Canada subscribers now can stream the first three seasons of the cult Fox comedy ahead of the new cycle coming to the streaming service.

Mitch Hurwitz, Troy Miller, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and Francie Calfo are executive producing the upcoming fourth season of Arrested Development, to be produced by Imagine TV and 20th Century Fox Television for Netflix. The main castmembers are back including Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat, Tony Hale, David Cross, Jeffrey Tambor and Jessica Walter.

The belated addition of the Fox comedy to the Netflix Canada service stands in contrast to the U.S. video giant offering The Hunger Games movie to Netflix’s Canadian subscribers Dec. 31, before it's made available south of the border.

Netflix Canada also added local content to its schedule, including such French-language fare as the family drama La Galere and the documentary Amour, haine et propagande.