Entertainment Weekly The Ultimate Guide to Ozark: Money. Crime. Family. No Way Out.

16.4 MB·English

by  Entertainment Weekly

T h e U l t i m a t e G u i d e t o
O Z A R K
M O N E Y. C R I M E . FA M I LY. N O WAY O U T.
Inside All
Four
Seasons!
BEHIND THE
SCENES
TV’S MOST
ADDICTING
THRILLER
EXCLUSIVE
INTERVIEWS
Jason
Bateman
Laura
Linney
&
Julia
Garner

COLLECTOR’S EDITION
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO
O Z A R K
CONTENTS
4 66
FOREWORD Shoot to Kill
The Dark Side
The Byrdes expand their
Ozark’s moody antiheroes influence in season 2;
have deep roots in film noir we break it down episode
by episode
6
72
The Final Season
Home Sweet
The fates of Marty and Wendy
Home
Byrde—and their criminal
empire—are finally revealed Bateman on when
Wendy Byrde became
12
Darth Vader
‘It’s Such a
74
Happy Set’
Getting Political
Behind the scenes of
the surprisingly cheerful Mundy explains Wendy’s
production power broker evolution
18 78
A Family Affair The Road to
Nowhere
Q&As with the actors who
portray the Byrdes Bodies kept piling up in
season 3, then a shockingly
28
bloody bang of an ending
Welcome to the
84
Ozarks
Enter Bitch Wolf
Meet the performers bringing
life to your favorite locals Bateman on what it
was like to be a fly on
38 the wall for Wendy and
Ruth’s epic fight
The Cartel and
the Law
86
An overview of who really
What the Helen?

runs this resort town
Mundy dishes on that
44 bloody scene, the status
of Marty and Wendy’s
The Byrdes Fly In
relationship and their deal
A complete episode guide to
with the devil
season 1 of Ozark
90
50
And the Band
Worst-Laid Plans
Played On
Jason Bateman on the
When REO Speedwagon
moment Marty saved his
rocked the Byrdes’ riverboat
family—and sealed their fate
92
52
Brother and
Digging Deeper
Sister Act
Showrunner Chris Mundy
Chatting with onscreen
breaks down season 1’s
sibs Laura Linney and
recurring themes
Tom Pelphrey
56
96
Mapping the Ozarks
Sound Bites
Where’s where in the not-so-
From the mouths of Ruth,
peaceful lakeside community
Marty, Del and more . . .
58
Behind the Scenes
Bonus offscreen shots of
the show, where Ozark looks
like a very sunny place

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Wendy and
Marty Byrde
(Laura Linney and
Jason Bateman).

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO OZARK 3
FOREWORD
The Dark Side
Despite their lack of fedoras, the complicated
antiheroes that populate Netflix’s moody drama
Ozark have deep roots in film noir.
BY BILL KEITH
insurance policy and ends it by
WHEN VIEWER S MET JASON
Bateman’s ethically challenged killing a man and nearly running
everyman Marty Byrde in the off with his widow. It also makes
summer of 2017, he was far from Marty heir to and spiritual brother
the first antihero to pop up on our of another iconic Walter—Bryan
Break-
screens. Thanks to Tony Soprano, Cranston’s Walter White of
ing Bad
Omar Little and Dexter Morgan fame, a high school teacher
before him, the television land- who begins his week with a stage 3
scape was lousy with louses whose cancer diagnosis and ends it cook-
language, let alone livelihoods, ing up plans to start a mobile meth
wouldn’t have made it past net- lab. (It’s no coincidence that each
work censors some 50 years ago. of these projects was fronted by a
We hadn’t only grown accustomed celebrated sitcom star with some-
to rooting for the not-so-good thing tortured lurking beneath
guys who smoked and drank and their affable smiles.)
cheated on their spouses—we There was always something
cheered them on as they did all tremendously entertaining and
of this while running criminal illuminating about seeing a cold-
and
empires carrying out the occa- blooded Tony engage in touchy-feely
sional act of murder. activities like seeing a therapist, and
But Marty Byrde is not an we relished the opportunity to timeline and, yes, moody lighting.
expertly trained killer working out nab a ringside seat to the oper- What makes Marty such an unex-
childhood abandonment issues. atic fights he had with his wife, pected delight as our stand-in is
When the former financial planner Carmela. Placing unbearably inhu- both wish fulfillment and comfort.
finds himself laundering millions mane characters in familiar and It’s thoroughly satisfying to witness
of dollars for a Mexican drug familial scenarios gave us a chance him and his family defy drug dealers
cartel, he becomes an audience- to identify with them, despite their and outsmart FBI agents. It gives
member proxy thrust into a very completely depraved day-to-day us a very safe space to explore the
dark world, forced to question just way of living. Marty Byrde—and fluidity of our own principles. Plus,
how dearly he holds his own rules Walter White—represent the flip- whatever challenges we’re currently
of civility and moral code. As the side of that relatability coin. There’s facing, at least we aren’t blind-
stakes are raised, season after sea- a certain thrill to seeing a guy who folded in a dungeon somewhere in
son, viewers are left to wonder: looks like someone you might run Mexico awaiting certain torture.
Ozark
What would I do if put to this test? across at a suburban soccer game, And did we mention is
↗ Clockwise
could fun
What I do? quite calmly discussing the heroin secretly ? As Marty’s wife,
from top
It’s the kind of self-examina- trade with his kids over breakfast. Phyllis (Barbara Wendy (brilliantly played by Laura
Stanwyck) and
Ozark
tion that places Marty firmly What lacks in fedora- Linney) explains near the end of
Walter Neff
(Fred MacMur-
alongs ide Walter Neff—the pro- donning detectives and femme season 3: “Fighting for your life
ray) in 1944’s
totypical film-noir hero played by fatales, it makes up for with an Double Indem- makes every other thing you ever
nity; Walter
Double
Fred MacMurray in 1944’s industrial-size incinerator’s worth did before seem extremely dull.”
White (Bryan
Indemnity—a guy who starts his of moral ambiguity, existential Cranston); Tony Enjoy reliving the Byrde family’s
Soprano (James
day trying to sell someone an auto angst, the occasional nonlinear wild ride.
Gandolfini).

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THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO OZARK 5
SE ASON FOUR
T H E F I N A L
Wendy and Marty
Byrde (Laura
Linney and Jason
Bateman).
S E A S O N
THE FATE OF MARTY AND
WENDY BYRDE—AND THEIR
EMPIRE—IS REVEALED
IN THE FINAL 14 EPISODES.
BY REBECCA ASCHER-WALSH

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO OZARK 7
t Season Four
as Marty Byrde and serves as an
executive producer, also intended to
direct the season’s entire 10 epi-
sodes, although the ensuing
workload meant he helmed only
four. Joining him as his onscreen
wife, Wendy, was Laura Linney,
whom he had entreated after assur-
ing her the part would be more than
just a spouse to Marty and a mother
to Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) and
Jonah (Skylar Gaertner). When she
read the original script for the pre-
miere episode, explains Linney,
“there was nothing really to act,
nothing there. But I had a long talk
with showrunner Chis Mundy, and I
sat down with Jason, and I just had
DURING ITS FIRST THREE SEASONS,
Ozark
took home three Emmy an instinct to trust these guys. By the
Awards, with two consecutive wins end of the first week of filming, we
for Julia Garner as Outstanding all knew it was going to be good.
Supporting Actress in the role of Really good.” As Mundy and his
the pugnacious Ruth Langmore, writers continued to develop the
and one for star Jason Bateman’s story on-set, he kept an eye on the
directing prowess. It was nomi- original pitch: first a thriller, but just
nated for another whopping 29. as importantly, a family drama.
That recognition comes as no Make that a dark drama, as the
surprise to devoted viewers who cast would soon learn. Lisa Emery,
have white-knuckled it through the who plays the murderous, poppy-
Byrdes’ fleeing Chicago for Mis- growing Darlene Snell, remembers
souri, avoiding the wrath of the with a laugh, “When I started read-
Mexican drug cartel with which ing the pilot, she was having this
they’re in business, becoming lovely talk with her husband about
gifted money launderers, opening knowing that the rabbits were
two casinos and navigating every- inhabiting the hills because the
one out to get them to emerge still heavy rains were coming, and she
standing. With the fourth and final seemed like a wise farmer-lady.
season comprising a generous 14 Then I got to the first day of shoot-
episodes divided into two parts, the ing, and I had to kill somebody.
characters’ continued maneuver- That was a real eye-opener.”
ing and one-upping ensures that For several seasons the unre-
viewers aren’t likely to take a lenting body count kept all the
breath anytime soon. actors on their toes. “Each time
Created by screenwriter Bill I got a script during season 3, I
The Accountant
Dubuque ( ), who was would think, ‘Please, don’t let me
↗ Clockwise
inspired by the summers he spent in die,’ ” says Jessica Frances Dukes,
from top
The Byrdes with
the Ozarks, along with Mark who plays FBI agent Maya Miller.
cartel boss
Honest Thief  
Williams ( ), the series Adds Charlie Tahan, who stars as Navarro (Felix
Solis, at left);
was produced by MRC Television Ruth’s cousin, the brilliant but tor-
Ruth Langmore
and quickly received a straight-to- tured Wyatt Langmore: “I thought (Julia Garner),
carving her own
series order by Netflix. It began I would be killed off every season,
path forward;
FBI agent Maya
filming its first season in and around so that was always on my mind.
Miller (Jessica
Atlanta in 2016. Bateman, who stars But I made it all the way.” Frances Dukes).

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