Rabid fans of the revived sitcom, Arrested Development, finally got their fill of new episodes when Netflix brought back the series this past Sunday. Michael Cera, who plays George Michael on the series, had the opportunity to join the writing team as well.
“I always admired these guys when I was growing up,” he said in an interview with The New York Times. “They were tucked away in their office—it was such a different world. That part of it was most exciting: being accepted in there and watching this thing come together, which is very uncharted territory, I think, in terms of television comedy.”
The show has been off the air since 2006, and Cera admits at times he feels like he left as a youngster and returned as a man. “The only place I felt that was in the writers’ room,” he said. “Working with those guys felt like a graduation of some sort. When I was around everyone else, you just get zapped back to the exact same dynamics as before. It really feels like nothing has changed in the cast, in the group.”
Cera certainly isn’t letting his fame (from movies like Superbad and Juno) go to his head. In fact, he jokes that he’s often mistakenly recognized for a film he didn’t even appear in.
“More than anything people recognize from The Social Network, which I was not in,” he said. “You wouldn’t believe it—people insist. I was in a bar, and this woman said to me, ‘You’re an actor, right?’ I said yeah. She said, ‘You’re from The Social Network.’ And I said, ‘No, I’m from other things.’ And she goes, ‘OK, OK, I know who you are.’ And I went to leave the bar and she grabbed me by the arm and said, ‘Look, I know you’re trying to be discreet and low-key, but I know you’re from Facebook.’”
In any case, Cera’s true fans are happy he’s back in new episodes of the cult classic TV show.
New episodes of season four of Arrested Development are currently airing on Netflix Streaming.
