‘Arrested Development’ Bluth Family Tree Explained (original) (raw)
Updated Feb 22, 2024, 1:00 PM EST
Aled Owen is a writer and filmmaker born in Carmarthen, Wales. He acted onstage from a young age and even won third place in 2012's Britain's Got Talent as part of Only Boys Aloud, a traditional Welsh male voice choir. Since then, Aled studied at the Carmarthen School of Art and later at the Northern Film School, Leeds Beckett University. There, he graduated with a BA and First Class Honors in Filmmaking, having specialized in Screenwriting.
Summary
- The Bluth family in Arrested Development is full of complex relationships and hidden secrets, making the show both crazy and confusing.
- George Bluth Sr. started the Bluth Real Estate Company, but his family tree gets more complicated when it's revealed that he may have fathered a child with his personal assistant.
- The Bluth siblings, including GOB, Lindsay, Michael, and Buster, all have their own complicated love lives and strange dynamics with their parents.
The critically acclaimed sitcom ran for three seasons in the early '00s before returning for a fourth season on Netflix in 2013 and a final season in 2018. It follows the Bluth family's exploits when their patriarch is "arrested" and their housing "development" company is put at risk. As the crazy show gets crazier, it's revealed that the Bluth family tree is far more complex than it first appears to be, and it can often get quite confusing. So here's the story of a wealthy family who lost everything, and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together. It's Arrested Development!
Release Date
2003 - 2019-00-00
Network
FOX, Netflix
Showrunner
Mitchell Hurwitz
Level-headed son Michael Bluth takes over family affairs after his father is imprisoned. But the rest of his spoiled, dysfunctional family is making his job unbearable.
George Bluth Sr.
Played by Jeffrey Tambor
Jeffrey Tambor as George Bluth Sr (in prison) in Arrested Development
Image via Netflix
George Bluth Sr. (played by Seth Rogen as a young man and Jeffrey Tambor in later years) is the Bluth family patriarch. In 1953, he founded his Bluth Real Estate Company with his twin brother Oscar (also Jeffrey Tambor) before forcing Oscar out and stealing his fiancée. That fiancée was Lucille (Kristen Wiig/Jessica Walter) who would go on to marry George. The two had four children together (or so they might think), plus there is the very likely possibility that George and his personal assistant Kitty Sanchez (Judy Greer) conceived a child together, either through their trysts or when Kitty stole George's sperm sample without his consent.
Oscar Bluth
Played by Jeffrey Tambor
Jeffrey Tambor as Oscar Bluth in Arrested Development
Image via Fox
Oscar is George's identical twin brother. As a pot head, Oscar has allegedly never put in an honest day's work. This stress-free lifestyle is what supposedly contributed to his beautiful head of hair, the only visible difference between him and George. Despite having his fiancée Lucille stolen from him, Oscar continued to enjoy a lustful affair with George's wife, likely being the secret biological father of Byron "Buster" Bluth (Tony Hale), George's youngest son. The Bluth extended family is full of uncles like Oscar, such as "Uncle" Jack Dorso (Martin Short), but unlike those mere family friends, Oscar is the only biological uncle.
Lucille Bluth
Played by Jessica Walter
Jessica Walter as Lucille Bluth (winking at her pills) in Arrested Development.
Image via FOX
Lucille is the high-society daughter of Mimi (Jean Smart). When Mimi died, Lucille kept her death a secret from the other family members to keep the inheritance money for herself. During her marriage to George, Lucille gave birth to three sons (two from George and one likely from Oscar). She also adopted her daughter Lindsay (Portia de Rossi) "just to stick it to a competitor" when rival company owner Stan Sitwell (Ed Begley, Jr.) took an interest in adopting Lindsay first. Lindsay is later revealed to have been the biological daughter of Lucille's mother Mimi, making them half-sisters. This likely contributes to Lucille's clear disdain for her daughter.
George Oscar Bluth ("G.O.B.")
Played by Will Arnett
Still from 'Arrested Development': Gob Bluth (Will Arnett) stands looking concerned holding a sharp object piercing the side of his neck.
Image via Fox.
GOB (Will Arnett) is the firstborn son of George and Lucille, named after his father and uncle. GOB takes after his father in the womanizing department, struggling to maintain a committed relationship for very long. He takes his similarity with his father to a whole new level when he sleeps with George Sr's assistant Kitty despite being repulsed by her. He also engages in an affair with his mother's rival Lucille Austero (Liza Minnelli) despite being repulsed by her too. One drunken night, GOB married a woman on a dare (Arnett's then real-wife Amy Poehler) but never learned her name. GOB later becomes accidentally engaged to his nephew's high-school girlfriend Ann Veal (Mae Whitman) and after trying to get out of the arrangement, Ann takes revenge on GOB by tricking him into sleeping with his career rival Tony Wonder (Ben Stiller). GOB and Tony develop romantic feelings for each other that make them question everything.
Steve Holt
Played by Justin Grant Wade
Justin Grant Wade as Steve Holt in Arrested Development
Image via Fox
Steve Holt (Justin Grant Wade) is seemingly a character unrelated to the Bluth family at first, seen merely as a rival for George Michael (Michael Cera) in his attempts at getting his cousin Maeby (Alia Shawkat) to fall in love with him. The conflict around George Michael's attraction to his cousin in the first place is turned upside-down however, when he discovers that Steve Holt, the boy his cousin has a crush on, is also their cousin! Back in high school, GOB's sexual exploits began when he impregnated a girl named Eve Holt (Charleigh Harmon) and nine months later, Steve was born.
Nichael "Michael" Bluth
Played by Jason Bateman
Michael (Jason Bateman) is the second-born son of George and Lucille Bluth. He grew up believing that Lindsay was his twin sister until Lindsay's adoption eventually came to light. Lindsay was originally named Nellie, and in trying to uncover the mystery of his sister, Michael mistakenly hires a prostitute named Nellie (played by Jason Bateman's real-life sister Justine Bateman). It turns out that "N. Bluth" is actually Michael himself, and that his birth certificate had his name misspelled as Nichael. Michael married his high-school sweetheart Tracey and the two conceived their son George Michael, named after his grandfather and father (not the Wham! singer).
Tracey Bluth
Played by Maria Thayer
Tracey Bluth and young George Michael Bluth in Arrested Development
Image via Netflix
Tracey appears in flashbacks and "archive footage" portrayed by Maria Thayer. Little is known about Tracey other than she had red hair. After Tracey's untimely death, Michael would go on to attempt to replace her with several romantic prospects. Michael's fling with Arrested Development narrator Ron Howard's fictional daughter Rebel Alley (Isla Fisher) would see his complex come to full light. Michael and Tracey had one son together, but it's possible that, after Tracey's death, Michael's brief romance with Maggie Lizer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) also results in a positive pregnancy test which is kept secret from Michael.
George Michael Bluth
Played by Michael Cera
Michael Cera as George Michael Bluth in Arrested Development.
Image via Fox
The only confirmed and legitimate son of Michael is George Michael. After Tracey's death, Michael made it his mission to develop a close relationship with their son. George Michael develops a conflicting crush on his cousin Maeby during their teens. George Michael eventually pursues a relationship with Ann Veal but has her stolen away by his uncle GOB. He also becomes the boyfriend of Rebel Alley only to discover that her other boyfriend is his father. George Michael is cursed with the Bluth gene of being unlucky in love, and much like his family, his study abroad in Spain leads to a Spanish housewife he made love to becoming pregnant. A secret lovechild is a Bluth's bread and butter!
Related
Lindsay Bluth Fünke
Played by Portia de Rossi
Still from 'Arrested Development': Lindsay Fünke (Portia de Rossi) sits in the prison greeting area looking confused, wearing a red t-shirt with 'SLUT' on it.
Image via Fox.
Lindsay was raised believing she was the twin sister of Michael, younger sister of GOB, and older sister of Buster. In reality, she was born to her grandmother Mimi, Lucille's mother, making Lucille her half-sister rather than her mother. She was put up for adoption and at 3 years old, Nellie Sitwell (as she was known at the time) was adopted by Lucille to spite rival real estate agent Stan Sitwell. Feeling herself different from the rest of the Bluths, she became a liberal protestor and philanthropist out of spite. Lindsay moved to Boston where she married Tobias Fünke (David Cross), a man her parents would never accept. After $130,000 in medical expenses, the two conceived their daughter Maeby.
Tobias Fünke
Played by David Cross
David Cross as Tobias Funke (dressed as a pirate) in Arrested Development
Image via Fox
Having lost his medical license in Massachusetts, Tobias agrees to relocate his family to California where his wife Lindsay comes from. Tobias fancies himself a psychoanalyst and a psychotherapist, making him the world's first "analrapist", one of countless examples in which he is unable to hear the homoerotic and problematic phrases he says. Tobias' sexuality is largely in question, with marital and child-conception issues plaguing his relationship with Lindsay, who often seeks pleasure elsewhere. Tobias is the on-again-off-again husband of Lindsay and the loving father of Maeby.