Following creator Mitch Hurtwitz’s confirmation that Arrested Development will be returning for a fifth season on Netflix “very soon,” one question remains: how will the show deal with the sexual harassment allegations made against Jeffrey Tambor, one of its stars?
According to a new report in Variety, the answer is they will just gloss over it, kind of. The actor, who plays George Bluth Sr., will appear in the new season of the show even after a series of allegations against him on the set of the Amazon show Transparent. Tambor officially left that show in February of this year.
The allegations against Tambor were made in November of last year by Van Barnes, Tambor’s former personal assistant, and Trace Lysette, a guest star on the show. Tambor has continually denied the allegations. “I am profoundly disappointed in Amazon’s handling of these false accusations against me,” he said.
As for his Arrested Development castmates, few have publicly vocalized their opinion one way or another. David Cross, who plays Tobias Funke in the TV show, told New York local newspaper AM NY that he supports Tambor. “I can’t speak for everybody, but I know there are a number of us who stand behind him. From the limited amount we know, we stand behind Jeffrey—and I am one of them,” he said in February.
For the record, some other productions have come across similar obstacles and found ways to work around them. For instance: within a month, Ridley Scott digitally scrubbed Kevin Spacey from All The Money in the World after sexual harassment allegations were made against the actor. Spacey was replaced by Christopher Plummer, who went on to snag an Oscar nomination for his part in the movie. Danny Masterson was written off his Netflix show, The Ranch.
Netflix greenlit the show’s fifth season in May 2017, before the allegations against Tambor became public information. There is still no release date for Season 5, but a “remix” of the show’s fourth season is streaming on Netflix on May 4, to celebrate the Bluth family’s holiday of Cinco de Cuatro.
