All eyes are on Netflix days after Emmy-winning actor Jeffrey Tambor announced his departure from Amazon’s “Transparent” following sexual harassment allegations against him.
With Tambor, 73, set as the patriarch of the dysfunctional Bluth family in “Arrested Development,” fans are left to wonder how and if Netflix will choose to move forward with the series’ slated fifth season. The series, which aired three seasons on Fox before moving to the streaming service in 2013, is expected to make its long-awaited return sometime next year.
Netflix, which recently cut ties with Kevin Spacey and Louis C.K. following allegations of misconduct, declined to comment on the status of the show and if these developments will have any impact. Actor Tony Hale, who plays Tambor’s son Buster, tweeted that the cast had wrapped up filming Sunday after spending nearly six months on set.
Tambor, however, has decided to walk away from his Amazon project after actresses Van Barnes and Trace Lysette accused him of sexual misconduct, leaving fans to wonder if he’ll make the same decision with “Arrested Development.” Lysette, who starred alongside Tambor in “Transparent,” alleged on Twitter the actor made “many sexual advances and remarks at me, but one time it got physical.”
In a statement released by his publicist, the actor said it had become “clear” that “this is no longer the job I had signed up for years ago” and would no longer be continuing his role in the Amazon series. “Given the politicized atmosphere that seems to have afflicted our set, I don’t see how I can return to ‘Transparent.’ ”
Though Tambor’s “Arrested Development” co-stars have not commented publicly about the allegations against him, Alia Shawkat (Maeby) called the recent sexual harassment allegations against several men in Hollywood, in general, an “earthquake.”
“It feels like a personal war. I’ve looked back at times I thought I had under control, where I now go, ‘I should have said something instead of laughing it off,’ ” she said in a New York Times interview published Friday. “Now, I don’t feel nervous to call somebody out and say, ‘That’s inappropriate.’ Especially in the comedy world, a lot of inappropriate things fly.”
Shawkat starred alongside Tambor in both “Transparent” and “Arrested Development.”
