Recently, it was revealed that “Arrested Development” would be leaving Netflix around the world in the middle of March, with a notification within the streaming service. This led many to speculate that the show would be moving to Disney’s streaming services around the world that didn’t already have it. Only last week, the first three seasons of the show were added to Disney+ in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

This wasn’t a huge surprise, since Disney has removed the majority of its content from Netflix in the past few years, including “New Girl” and the Marvel shows like “Daredevil”. Originally the show was created by 20th Television, and after three seasons, FOX cancelled the show, only for Netflix to pick up the show a few years later for two more “Netflix Original” seasons. So the upcoming removal was making waves as having Netflix Originals leaving the platform obviously isn’t ideal for Netflix.

“Arrested Development” centres around Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) and his eccentric family comprised of his son George Michael (Michael Cera), his father George Bluth Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor), his mother Lucille (Jessica Walter), his brothers George Oscar Bluth II (Will Arnett), Buster Bluth (Tony Hale) and sister Lindsay Funke (Portia de Rossi), and Lindsay’s husband Tobias (David Cross) and their daughter Maeby (Alia Shawkat).

However, since this initial removal announcement, which was removed, and the show has stayed on Netflix, as Vulture, has reported that Disney and Netflix have agreed to a new three year deal that will mean “Arrested Development” will become a Netflix exclusive in the United States until at least 2026.    It’s unknown if the first three seasons will remain on Disney+ in some countries like Australia and the UK, but it’s likely the show will continue to be shared.

Currently, the first three seasons of the show are available on Hulu, but it will be leaving the streaming platform later this year, on October 1st, 2023. Vulture has also reported that 20th Television will still have the ability to sell the linear rights to its own cable linear networks or to an outside company, for all five seasons of the show.

This shift in strategy continues to show how Disney is looking to monetise its content, especially its general entertainment, returning to licensing content, which will help bring down the company’s debt and return the entertainment division to profitability after losing money to build up its own streaming services. It also shows how maintaining exclusive content for Hulu is no longer a high priority, having recently made a sharing deal for some hit shows like “New Girl” and “Modern Family” with Comcast’s Peacock.

With the future of Hulu under a cloud, following Disney CEO Bob Iger’s comments about everything being on the table with regards to selling Hulu and the upcoming 2024 deadline which means Comcast can force Disney to buy their 33% stake in the streamer out. This licensing deal for “Arrested Development” continues to show how the company is no longer holding onto all of its content and is happy to make money from other platforms.

What do you think of Disney making a deal with Netflix for “Arrested Development”?  Let us know on social media!

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Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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