Netflix has thrown the brakes on the ‘Arrested Development’ press tour, following the cast’s disastrous interview with the New York Times last week.
In an interview with the NYT, the ensemble faced questions about cast member Jeffrey Tambor’s sexual harassment allegations, as well as reports of a blow-up from Tambor towards co-star Jessica Walter.
The show’s male cast members were then accused of speaking over and even gaslighting Walter, with Jason Bateman - who plays the show’s lead character, Michael Bluth - later issuing an apology to his on-screen mother over the way he behaved during the interview.
Potentially to avoid similar incidents here in the UK, it’s now been revealed that an ‘Arrested Development’ trip to Britain has now been postponed.
A Netflix statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter said: “At this time we have decided not to move ahead with promotional activity in the UK but hope to bring the cast back at another time.”
Tambor first spoke of his on-set outburst towards Jessica Walter during a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, which centred around the harassment allegations that saw him fired from his leading role in Amazon’s ‘Transparent’.
In the New York Times interview that followed, Walter pointed out that she would never have spoken about the incident publicly, had her co-star not done so first.
Tambor and Walter have starred as George Bluth Sr and Lucille Bluth respectively in ‘Arrested Development’ since its inception in 2003.
After going off the air in 2006, the whole cast reunited in 2014 for a reboot of the show, which saw it move from Fox to Netflix.
While the fourth series received a lukewarm response, largely due to its confusing timeline and limited group sequences, a fifth was later announced, the first half of which will begin streaming on Netflix tomorrow (29 May).
Eight more episodes will then debut later in the year, completing the series.