Arrested Development season 5 won't repeat the mistakes of season 4, suggests Tony Hale

Creators plan to shun standalone episodes in favour of reuniting the entire cast

The air of excitement that ascended upon hearing news of Arrested Development's 'fourth season' quickly dissipated when fans actually sat down to watch it.

What had once been a hilarious envelope-pushing sitcom was no more; instead, creators Mitchell Hurwitz and Ron Howard's rejigged formula - probably inspired by their inability to get all of the cast together in one room - stripped the series of what set it so far apart from its contemporaries: the zany character interaction.

Every episode focused on a specific character meaning that viewers were deprived of seeing television's funniest creations bouncing off of each other (unbelievably, some of the scenes they did share was achieved using green screen).

One of the show's stars, Veep actor Tony Hale,who plays Buster Bluth, has acknowledged the issues while speaking to Huffington Post in a Facebook Live chat.

“To be honest, I miss that, too," he said on working with his co-stars. "I miss working across from Gob [Will Arnett] or working across from Lucille [Jessica Walter] or Tobias [David Cross]."

It's now been four years since the season landed on Netflix and a fifth is reportedly on the way; Howard himself previously stated that the original plan was to have 17 new episodes out by November.

Whenever they arrive, it seems the new season is to veer away from what made the last batch of episodes so tough to watch.

“I know for a fact that everyone wants to do it," Hale added referring to his fellow cast members including Jason Bateman, Michael Cera and Jeffery Tambor.

This news alone is cause for celebration.

Walter, who plays Hale's on-screen mother, suggested she has seen scripts for the upcoming episodes after revealing a future plot development during an appearance on an EW panel at Comic-Con last July.