Former child actor Alia Shawkat says she has closed the book on the hit series Arrested Development, choosing to focus instead on collaborative filmmaking and works that explore the authenticity of relationships.

In Australia to promote two films at the Melbourne International Film Festival (Duck Butter, which she co-wrote, and the Ethan Hawke-directed biopic Blaze), Shawkat told the ABC: "I hope I don't come back [to Arrested Development] … I think I'm done."

Shawkat told ABC RN's Stop Everything! that she wants to focus on films. ( Supplied: Getty Images/Emma McIntyre )

Bluths busted

Shawkat was cast as Maeby Fünke, part of Arrested Development's wealthy and dysfunctional Bluth family, when she was only 13 years old.



Arrested Development struggled to find an audience at first, but by its third season had become a cult favourite. It won six Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe, and has been included in many best-of-TV lists, including Time magazine and Rolling Stone.

Alia Shawkat was 13 when she was cast as Maeby in Fox series Arrested Development. ( IMDb )

The three original seasons aired on US television network Fox from 2003-2006. After a seven-year hiatus, the show was revived by online streaming service Netflix. A fourth season aired in 2013 and a fifth season premiered in May this year.

But it was during the promotional tour around the latest season that the Arrested Development cast's internal family dynamics were awkwardly put on display in an interview in The New York Times.

During the interview there was an emotional confrontation between veteran actors Jeffrey Tambor and Jessica Walter over allegations of Tambor's on-set verbal abuse.

Tambor was fired from Amazon Studios' TV series Transparent in February, in the wake of sexual harassment allegations by a co-star and assistant. In Walters' case, she says Tambor never crossed the line sexually.

In the fray — recorded by New York Times journalist Sopan Deb — actors Jason Bateman, David Cross and Tony Hale (who all later apologised) defended Tambor. Shawkat, however, spoke up:

Bateman: Again, not to belittle it or excuse it or anything, but in the entertainment industry it is incredibly common to have people who are, in quotes, "difficult." … Because it's a very amorphous process, this sort of [expletive] that we do, you know, making up fake life. It's a weird thing, and it is a breeding ground for atypical behaviour and certain people have certain processes.

Shawkat: But that doesn't mean it's acceptable. And the point is that things are changing, and people need to respect each other differently.

Reflecting now on the fallout of that exchange during an interview of ABC RN's Stop Everything!, Shawkat said that "the group dinners aren't really keeping up as much as they used to".

"It was an intense thing to happen. It was a very specific moment in time, and … we've known each other for so long that in some fashions we are like a family, but at the same time we are a bunch of actors who just meet up every now and then to work together," Shawkat said.

"I stand behind how I was able to react in that moment."

During their promotional tour for Season 5, the Arrested Development cast had an uncomfortable moment while talking to a New York Times reporter about an on-set incident. ( Supplied: Getty Images/Cindy Ord )

Shawkat said that she's been asked to comment on the interview ever since but that "it's just important that what anyone takes from that [interview] — and not necessarily attacking any specific people who are involved — is that people start listening on both sides without judgment. And that's something that I have to do as well."

"This whole topic of conversation is very heated and I think the point [is that] everyone's trying to pick one side to blame, and the truth is neither of us know enough," she says.

"What happened in that interview was not enough listening — and even when you know each other super well, people still don't listen to each other. So I hope that that's what continues to happen."

Maeby not

While it's unclear whether Netflix will be making a sixth season of the show, Shawkat told ABC she won't be returning to the role she's played on and off for 15 years.

"I think Arrested Development really has, you know — whether it was that [New York Times] interview or not — the chapter is kind of closed," she said.

"But I'm very proud to have been a part of it [Arrested Development] … I care about all those people, but in the vein of what I said [about her more recent work], that's more of the kind of stuff I want to be working on in the future," Shawkat said.

Alia Shawkat plays Sybil Rosen, life partner of Blaze Foley, in Ethan Hawke's biopic Blaze. ( Supplied: Melbourne International Film Festival )

Her more recent work includes dark comedy Search Party (US Cable TV channel TBS), which is about to start shooting its third season, and the two indie films playing at the Melbourne International Film Festival.

In Blaze, about folk musician Blaze Foley, Shawkat takes on her first role based on a real person, playing Foley's partner Sybil Rosen.

Shawkat was a fan of Blaze Foley's music but was also drawn to "the story and the way that Ethan [Hawke] wanted to shoot — just his whole style, this kind of John Cassavetes style where the actors are just very involved in the whole making of the project".

Alia Shawkat co-wrote and stars in Miguel Arteta's Duck Butter, about an intense 24-hour relationship between two young women. ( Supplied: Melbourne International Film Festival )

Even closer to Shawkat's heart is Duck Butter, an Indie film that she co-wrote, co-produced and starred in. Shawkat won Best Actress in a US Narrative Feature Film at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival for the film (directed by Miguel Arteta), which condenses the arc of a long-term relationship into a 24-hour date.

Listen to the interview: Alia Shawkat discusses her roles in Duck Butter and Blaze. Read more Read more

Pressed on why she won't be returning to Arrested Development, Shawkat says "just because I need to evolve. There's lots of things [I want to do]".

"I'm not in a state of arrested development anymore."

Blaze and Duck Butter are playing at the Melbourne International Film Festival, which runs until August 19.