'Arrested Development' season 5 release date news: New season 'very close' to happening, 2017 production planned

"Arrested Development" season 5 is not official yet, but executive producer Mitch Hurwitz already has the production schedule planned out should Netflix give the green light on the project.

Hurwitz teased to The Hollywood Reporter during the Television Critic Association (TCA) press tour that the show is "very close" from getting a fifth run from the streaming company.

He added that he is dying to return to the Bluth family's lives again for "Arrested Development" season 5. "It's the thing I'm really desperate to do. We've got a lot of stories broken. We're ready to go," the EP said.

"I'm so appreciative of the fans wanting more. I'd hate to tease them with information until we know it's going to happen... If it does happen, it looks like shooting would happen at the start of 2017.That's what I'm hoping," he stated.

However, the challenge of getting Netflix's nod was just the first of many. Another big hurdle to go through is actually bringing the gang together with a lot of them busy with their own television shows.

"Arrested Development" ended in 2006 with three seasons. Netflix brought back the series for a fourth run back in 2013 and was released to mixed reviews.

It had 15 half-hour-long episodes. Each of them is set at the same time, but is centered on a different character for every installment. Because of this format, the season did not feel much like the previous ones.

Because of this, Hurwitz decided to re-edit the episodes for the pace of the story to be in line with the past "Arrested Development" runs and give it that traditional television feel.

This task was of course grand, ambitious and complicated as Hurwitz said he had to make sure that the scenes, even down to the seconds, for a narrative that would make sense.

"Arrested Development" narrator and executive producer Ron Howard was brought in to do some voiceovers for the project. With all these changes involved, season 4 will have 20 to 22 20-minute episodes.