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'Ozark' Will Come to a Dramatic End With an Extended, Two-Part Season 4

Photo credit: Netflix
Photo credit: Netflix
  • Netflix has announced a 14-episode, two-part fourth season of Ozark, which will be the series' last.

  • It's still unknown when the season will be released (or enter production) due to the ongoing COVID-19 delays.

  • Jason Bateman says he's "excited to end with a bang(s)."


The third season of Ozark was the show's best yet—explosive ending included. With two seasons under its belt to establish who Marty Byrde, Wendy Byrde, Ruth Langmore, and the rest of the gang are as characters, the third season allowed the show to really settle in and tell a thrilling, exciting, and well-paced crime story, and the show's cast and crew were rewarded with 18 Emmy nominations at the 2020 ceremony, including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor, and Outstanding Lead Actress.

Julia Garner in particular, who plays Ruth Langmore, was honored for her work at the Emmys, winning Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for the second consecutive season. It's not like she had schlubs as her competition either; she was up against a pair of Oscar winners (Meryl Streep and Laura Dern) for Big Little Lies, and one of the stars of TV's hottest show in Succession's Sarah Snook. "Thank you Jason [Bateman] and Laura [Linney]—Laura, I love you so much—for bringing me under your wings and not only teaching me how to be a better actor but a person," she said in her speech, paying tribute to her co-stars and on-screen surrogate parents.

The Ozark story is nearing its end; Netflix has officially announced that the next season of Ozark will be its last. The fourth season, which will be 14 episodes and split into two different 7-part runs (similar to what Breaking Bad and Mad Men did at the end of their runs), will wrap the series up. Jason Bateman, who not only stars as Marty Byrde but also is an executive producer of the show and directs a number of episodes in each season, said in Netflix's statement that he's eager for what's to come. "A super sized season means super sized problems for the Byrdes," he said. "I’m excited to end with a bang(s).”

Months before the official announcement, Bateman spoke to Collider, and hinted that the show would be entering the home stretch. Bateman said in the interview that he's always operated under the idea that Ozark would run for “three seasons, four seasons, five seasons, something like that," and that "it doesn’t feel like it’s a 12-season show."

Fans shouldn't be upset about this—it's always better for a show to choose its own ending and go out on its own terms than the alternatives, which typically include abrupt cancellation (which would mean no ending at all) or being strung out for far too long, until the show is a shell of what made it so good in the first place.

Will there be a fourth season of Ozark?

Yes. Netflix announced in an official statement that Ozark would wrap up with a supersized, 14-episode, two-part, final season (previous seasons have been 10 episodes each).

"We're so happy Netflix recognized the importance of giving Ozark more time to end the Byrdes' saga right," executive producer and showrunner Chris Mundy said in Netflix's statement. "It's been such a great adventure for all of us—both on screen and off—so we're thrilled to get the chance to bring it home in the most fulfilling way possible."

Back in that Collider interview, Bateman revealed months earlier that Mundy was already plotting out a fourth season.

“I know [showrunner] Chris Mundy and his team are hard at work figuring out what that fourth season would be if that official pick-up lands,” he said.

When will Ozark Season 4 come out?

In a video posted to YouTube, Netflix announced that the first part of Ozark Season 4 would be landing on January 21, 2022.

The video features the voices of Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman), Ruth Langmore (Julia Garner), Darlene Snell (Lisa Emery), Wendy Byrde (Laura Linney), and Omar Navarro (Felix Solis), all of whom will presumably play very large roles as Ozark begins its final season.

Is there a trailer yet?

Not yet. But the above video should be enough to get your Ozark juices flowing a bit.

Who will be in the fourth season's cast?

We don't know which new characters could be added for a potential third season. But given the way the third season closed out, we can expect to see many of the regulars return once again.

Netflix's official announcement said that Bateman (as Marty Byrde), Laura Linney (as Wendy Byrde), Julia Garner (as Ruth Langmore), Sofia Hublitz (as Charlotte Byrde), Skylar Gaertner (as Jonah Byrde), Charlie Tahan (as Wyatt Langmore), and Lisa Emery (as Darlene Snell) would all be returning. Felix Solis, who plays drug lord Omar Navarro, has his voice in the date announcement teaser, leading us to believe that he will also be returning. And given the way Season 3 ended, we have to assume that Jessica Frances Dukes (who plays Special Agent Maya Miller) will also be involved.

Ozark was never imagined as a show that would last forever.

As Bateman alluded in that same Collider interview, Ozark has never been intended as a show that would last for a decade or anywhere close. If his idea of 3-4-5 seasons for Ozark becomes reality, that means that a fourth season, theoretically could be the end—or at least could begin to set up the end.

Photo credit: Jackson Davis/Netflix
Photo credit: Jackson Davis/Netflix

“If you keep going for a whole lot longer, you’re going to go over the cliff, or up over the peak of the mountain and you end up jumping the shark,” he said. “So, given the intelligence of Marty Byrde and Wendy Byrde, if they keep going at this pitch for much longer, they’re either going to be killed or put in jail. The alternative is to flatten out that pitch so that you don’t end up jumping the shark, but then you start stalling just for additional episodes and seasons. So, I’m not sure where and when it’ll end, but given their intelligence, it doesn’t feel like it’s a 12-season show.”

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