Ozark is an American crime drama web television series about a married couple who are forced to relocate their family to the Ozarks following a money laundering scheme gone wrong.
Martin "Marty" Byrde (portrayed by Jason Bateman; seasons 1-4)[1] is the husband of Wendy Byrde and father of Charlotte and Jonah Byrde. He was a self-employed financial advisor based in Chicago in 2007, when he and his business partner began to launder money for a Mexican drug cartel.
Wendy Byrde
Laura Linney
Wendy Byrde (portrayed by Laura Linney; seasons 1-4)[1] is the wife of Marty Byrde and the mother of Charlotte and Jonah Byrde. Born to a religious family in the Midwest, Wendy ran away from home as a teenager, leaving behind her brother Ben, who was diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder. An experienced political consultant who worked on Barack Obama's Illinois senatorial campaign, Wendy quit her job after Charlotte was born, and entered a deep depression after suffering a miscarriage resulting from a car crash. She and Marty agreed to launder money for the Navarro drug cartel in 2007, seeing an opportunity to dramatically improve their lives. However, Wendy began feeling emotionally distant from Marty and began an affair with lawyer Gary Silverberg.
Marty is forced to relocate the family to the Ozarks after the cartel murders his business partners for skimming $8 million; the cartel murders Silverberg after Wendy attempts to escape with the family's money. After moving to the Ozarks, Wendy first gets a job as a stager for a local realtor, and later leverages her political experience in currying favor with billionaire philanthropist Charles Wilkes to approve the construction of a casino used to launder the cartel's money. Wendy gradually grows to enjoy the power and status she gains through her activities with the cartel, and orders a hit on Ruth's father Cade Langmore after he assaults Charlotte. This strengthens her relationship with the cartel and spurs her personal ambition while driving a wedge in her marriage with Marty. The family's situation is further complicated when Wendy's brother Ben comes to stay with them; Ben begins a relationship with Ruth and eventually goes off his medication, increasingly jeopardizing the Byrdes' safety. Wendy ultimately allows the cartel to execute Ben, permanently damaging her relationships with Jonah and Ruth. Struggling to cope with her guilt, Wendy lies to the public that Ben suffered from a drug addiction, and misleads the police into conducting an investigation into his "disappearance".
Charlotte Byrde
Charlotte Byrde (portrayed by Sofia Hublitz; seasons 1-4)[1] is the daughter of Marty and Wendy Byrde, and older sister to Jonah Byrde. She regularly expresses her dissatisfaction with the family's decision to move to the Ozarks, but gradually becomes more supportive of the family and eventually helps manage the operations of the Byrde Foundation.
Jonah Byrde
Jonah Byrde (portrayed by Skylar Gaertner; seasons 1-4)[1] is the son of Marty and Wendy Byrde. Shy, reserved, and curious, Jonah demonstrates a precocious intelligence throughout the series, learning how to hunt and handle firearms from the Byrdes' terminally ill tenant Buddy - with whom he develops a close friendship - and eventually laundering money on his own through cryptocurrency investments at age 14. Jonah becomes disillusioned with his family after Wendy allows the cartel to kill her brother Ben for compromising their safety, and spends much of the fourth season rebelling against the Byrdes by working with Ruth (who also fell out with the family over Ben's death).
Ruth Langmore
Julia Garner
Ruth Langmore (portrayed by Julia Garner; seasons 1-4)[2] is a young woman who is part of a local criminal family. While initially intending to use and betray Marty, she soon becomes business partners with him and ends up forming a genuine friendship with him. Ruth has a difficult relationship with her father, Cade, who is shown to be a criminal and often abuses and mistreats her. She begins a relationship with Ben Davis in season 3. After Ben goes off his medication and begins jeopardizing the Byrdes' survival, Wendy allows the cartel to execute him; an enraged Ruth quits working for the Byrdes and briefly joins Darlene's heroin operation, with Jonah laundering their money due to his own anger with Wendy. Ruth makes plans to leave the Ozarks with Wyatt, but he and Darlene are murdered by Javi Elizonndro. Upon finding their bodies, a devastated Ruth arrives at Marty's home with a shotgun and threatens to kill him unless he names Wyatt's killer. Jonah gives Ruth Javi's name, and she resolves to hunt him down despite Marty and Wendy's protests.
Rachel Garrison
Jordana Spiro
Rachel Garrison (portrayed by Jordana Spiro; main: seasons 1-2; recurring: season 4)[3] is the owner of the Blue Cat hotel and bar and Marty's reluctant business partner. Throughout most of season 1, Rachel has a healthy and friendly relationship with Marty until she discovers his money laundering scheme and, despite agreeing to continue to work with him, loses all trust in him. Rachel, later, steals $300,000 from Marty from the $50 million of cartel money he had been hiding in the walls of the Blue Cat; with this money she flees the Ozarks and sometime later is seen suffering from substance abuse. While under the influence, Rachel crashes her car into a lamppost. Agent Petty uses these legal troubles to coerce Garrison into returning to the Ozarks and wearing a wire to spy on Marty. She and Marty have a brief affair in season 2. Returning in season 4, she returns to the Ozarks from Miami as part of Ruth's plan to purchase the Missouri Belle casino as revenge against the Byrdes, with Rachel being the legal owner due to Ruth's criminal record. Although initially hesitant after learning that the casino is a money laundering front and that Ruth murdered someone, Rachel supports her after learning that the casino resulted in loss of custom for the Blue Cat and Tuck becoming unemployed. Rachel realises that Ruth may already legally own the casino due to inheritance from her cousin Wyatt.
Roy Petty
Jason Butler Harner
Roy Petty (portrayed by Jason Butler Harner; seasons 1-2)[4] is an FBI agent investigating Marty. During season 1 Roy develops a sexual relationship with Russ Langmore who he later betrays and blackmails into becoming an informant. This ultimately backfires on Petty when Russ is murdered by Ruth, leading him to turn his attention to Rachel who he forces into spying on Marty. Petty takes care of his drug-addicted mother and also exhibits sociopathic behavior, which makes him a dangerous liability for the FBI. Petty was assaulted and murdered by Cade Langmore, after he taunted him by saying that Ruth would be imprisoned for her involvement with the Byrdes.
Camino Del Rio
Esai Morales
Camino "Del" Del Rio (portrayed by Esai Morales; season 1)[5] is a lieutenant for Mexico's Navarro drug cartel. He recruited Marty to launder the cartel's money through the latter's Chicago-based firm ten years prior to the series' events, admiring Marty's financial expertise and personal integrity. At the start of the series, Del comes to learn that Marty's business partners have skimmed $8 million in cartel money over a three-year period and murders all of them; Marty spares his own life by making a spur-of-the-moment offer to move his operation from Chicago to the Ozarks, where he promises to launder a significantly larger share of the cartel's money. Marty eventually arranges a deal between Del and the Snells to open a riverboat casino to launder the cartel's profits in exchange for the cartel distributing the Snells' heroin. The two parties shake hands, but Del insults the Snells by calling them "rednecks"; Darlene retaliates by killing Del on the spot.
Jacob Snell
Peter Mullan
Jacob Snell (portrayed by Peter Mullan; seasons 1-2)[6] is the crime boss of Osage Beach. He is an established local heroin producer; his family has supplied and produced heroin in the area since the Great Depression. He is married to Darlene Snell, who is also his business partner. They have a strong bond, which is tested when they go into business with the Byrdes. Eventually, the two have a falling out, with Jacob planning to kill Darlene over a disagreement in what direction to take their business, before Darlene finds out and kills Jacob first.
Darlene Snell
Darlene Snell (portrayed by Lisa Emery; seasons 1-4)[7] is Jacob's wife and partner in the heroin business. She is shown to be fiercely proud, short-tempered and impulsively violent. At the end of the first season, Marty arranges a deal between the Snells and the Navarro cartel (represented by Del) to open a riverboat casino on the Snells' land, but Darlene kills Del with a shotgun after he refers to the Snells as "rednecks". Jacob in turn murders the Snells' loyal servant Ash - whom Darlene viewed as a surrogate son - in order to appease the cartel. The cartel orders the Snells' poppy fields burned to deter the FBI investigation into the Byrdes; Darlene retaliates by poisoning a heroin shipment, killing 57 people. The cartel in turn attempts to assassinate the Snells. Jacob makes a deal with Marty and Helen to cede much of the Snells' land to the U.S. government to build the Byrdes' casino. Realizing Darlene will never comply with the cartel's terms, Jacob attempts to kill her, but she anticipates this and kills him first. Afterwards, Darlene takes over as the area’s crime boss, and becomes the adoptive mother of Zeke. In season 3, she allows Wyatt to live with her in exchange for him helping on her farmland, and the two begin a sexual relationship. Ruth briefly joins Darlene's operation after falling out with the Byrdes, but Darlene cuts ties with her after learning she has been selling their heroin to Marty behind her back. After Wendy arranges to have Social Services remove Zeke from Darlene's care, Wyatt proposes to her to help win the child back. However, Darlene and Wyatt are promptly shot dead by cartel lieutenant Javi Elizonndro after getting married, as retaliation for Darlene continuing to produce heroin against the cartel's wishes.
Wyatt Langmore
Charlie Tahan
Wyatt Langmore (portrayed by Charlie Tahan; main: seasons 2-4; recurring: season 1)[8] is Russ's elder son and Ruth's cousin. He becomes good friends with Charlotte. He gets into college, but after learning that Ruth killed Russ, instead of attending, he moves in with Darlene Snell in exchange for doing work on her farm land. Eventually, he begins having a relationship with her. He marries her to prevent Zeke from being taken into foster care, but is shot and killed by Javi.
Helen Pierce
Janet McTeer
Helen Pierce (portrayed by Janet McTeer; main: season 3; recurring: season 2)[9] is the Chicago-based attorney and fixer for the cartel. She takes part in a number of crimes for the cartel, even to the point of ordering murders. She teams up with Wendy Byrde to expand their laundering empire to include casinos and resorts, against the wishes of Marty Byrde. Over time, her relationship with the cartel weakens as Omar Navarro grows closer in his relationship with the Byrdes. At the end of Season 3, he invites Pierce and the Byrdes to visit him in Mexico, where he immediately murders her in front of the Byrdes, as she is no longer of use to him.
Ben Davis
Ben Davis (portrayed by Tom Pelphrey; main: season 3; guest: season 4)[10] is Wendy's brother, who suffers from severe bipolar disorder. After getting fired from his job as a substitute teacher, Ben moves in with the Byrdes, and learns about their involvement with the cartel after witnessing Marty get kidnapped. He begins a romantic relationship with Ruth and goes off his medication to perform sexually for her. However, he gradually begins to unravel and is committed to a mental institution after assaulting Marty at a fundraiser event. Ruth gets him released, but Ben travels to Helen Pierce's house and reveals her cartel activities to her daughter Erin, making him a liability for both the Byrdes and the cartel. He and Wendy flee the Ozarks, but after Ben repeatedly tries to contact the cartel to make amends, Wendy realizes he will not be able to keep himself safe and gives up his location to the cartel, allowing them to execute him. His death permanently damages Wendy's relationships with Ruth and Jonah. Wendy later fabricates a lie to the public that Ben suffered from drug addiction and is currently missing.
Maya Miller
Maya Miller (portrayed by Jessica Frances Dukes; seasons 3-4)[11] is an FBI forensic accountant investigating the Byrdes' casino business. Marty spends much of the third season attempting to turn her into an asset for the cartel, despite knowing she is likely incorruptible. In season 4, Maya briefly moves in with the Byrdes, becoming their third tenant (after Buddy and Ben). Maya strikes a deal with Navarro for him to become an informant to the FBI in exchange for immunity, but after she finds out the FBI has no intention of stopping the Navarro cartel, she turns him in to the local police jurisdiction.
Omar Navarro
Felix Solis
Omar Navarro (portrayed by Felix Solis; main: season 4; recurring: season 3) is the leader of a Mexican drug cartel. He becomes close to the Byrdes, to the point where he kills Helen Pierce and communicates directly with Marty and Wendy. While ruthless, he is cautious and careful with his movements. In season 4, sensing that his nephew Javi's reckless leadership is going to bring down the cartel, he decides to "retire", while agreeing with Maya to be an FBI informant in exchange for immunity. However, when Maya learns that the FBI has no intention of stopping the Navarro cartel, she reneges on the deal and has Navarro arrested by the local police jurisdiction.
Jim Rattelsdorf
Jim Rattelsdorf (portrayed by Damian Young; main: season 4; recurring: seasons 2-3) is Charlie Wilkes' right-hand man who becomes an ally of the Byrdes. In season 4, they hire him as their personal attorney.
Javier "Javi" Elizonndro
Alfonso Herrera
Javier "Javi" Elizonndro (portrayed by Alfonso Herrera; season 4), is Omar Navarro's hotheaded nephew and lieutenant for his cartel. He wants a bigger role in the leadership of the cartel, so he heads to the Ozarks to learn more about the Byrdes. Navarro, untrusting of Javi's judgement and impulsiveness, decides to "retire" from leading the cartel, making Javi the defacto leader. Javi kills Darlene and Wyatt as punishment for continuing Darlene’s heroin operation. Ruth kills Javi as revenge for murdering Wyatt.
Mel Sattem
Mel Sattem (portrayed by Adam Rothenberg; season 4), is a disgraced former cop turned private investigator. Initially, he searches for Helen Pierce to get divorce papers from her ex-husband signed. However, as he learns more about what's going on with the Byrdes, he starts pursuing other investigations as well.
Recurring characters
Buddy Dieker
Buddy Dieker (portrayed by Harris Yulin)[12] is the terminally ill tenant of the Byrde's. He develops a close bond with the family, in particular with Wendy and Jonah, and would later help them with their dealings. He was originally from Detroit, Michigan and was a Teamsters Union leader at General Motors before retiring and moving to Missouri. He also was a veteran and a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War. He was married at one point, but little is known about what happened to his "one true love." At Buddy's funeral, Wendy states "we weren't related, but he was family."
Trevor Evans
Trevor Evans (portrayed by McKinley Belcher III)[13] is an FBI agent and Petty's ex-lover. He takes over the FBI's investigation into the Byrdes after Petty's death, and comes at odds with agent Maya Miller in his dogged commitment to arresting Marty as retribution for Petty's death. Maya eventually gets him suspended from the Bureau.
John Nix
John Nix (portrayed by Robert Treveiler) is the sheriff of Osage Beach, who is indebted to the Snells. He tends to look the other way in regards to the Byrdes' activities due to their own partnership with the Snells. In season 4, he is murdered by cartel lieutenant Javi Elizondro while investigating Helen Pierce's disappearance.
Sam Dermody
Sam Dermody (portrayed by Kevin L. Johnson)[14] is a hapless, gullible realtor that Wendy first meets when looking for a home in the Ozarks. After Sam's overbearing mother Eugenia dies in a freak accident, Marty and Wendy pay for her funeral and end up buying the funeral home as a laundering front. Sam is later employed as the manager of the Lickety Splitz, a strip club purchased by the Byrdes for money laundering, and forms a romantic relationship with Jade, one of the strippers. In the third season, Sam begins to frequent the Byrdes' casino, the Missouri Belle, and develops a gambling addiction that Wendy later curtails by banning him from the premises. Ruth then employs Sam as the manager of the Lazy-O Motel, which she purchases for her own money laundering operation after cutting ties with the Byrdes.
Bobby Dean
Bobby Dean (portrayed by Adam Boyer) is the initial owner of the Lickety Splitz strip club, through which he was laundering money for the Snells. Marty eventually takes over the business, prompting the Snells to kill Bobby and float his body onto the Byrdes' dock as a warning.
Mason Young
Michael Mosley
Mason Young (portrayed by Michael Mosley)[15] is the pastor of a boat-based congregation. Unbeknownst to Young, the Snells have been distributing their heroin to members of his congregation by hiding the drugs in the hymnals. After learning this, Mason discontinues his services rather than take part in what he deems to be immoral activity. In revenge, the Snells kill his pregnant wife, Grace, and cut their infant son out of her body. In season 2, Mason becomes homeless and has his son, Zeke, taken from him to be a ward of the state, which leads Mason to kidnap Wendy as a bid to get his son back. Despite Marty being able to return Zeke to Mason, Mason refuses to allow Wendy or Marty to leave and is eventually shot and killed by Marty as a result.
Russ Langmore
Russ Langmore (portrayed by Marc Menchaca) is the father of Wyatt Langmore, and brother of Cade and Boyd Langmore. He forms a sexual relationship with Agent Petty who later betrays Russ and blackmails him into becoming an informant. When Ruth discovers that Russ has become an informant and plans to kill Marty, she murders both him and Boyd by electrocution.
Three Langmore
Three Langmore (portrayed by Carson Holmes) is Wyatt's younger brother.
Cade Langmore
Cade Langmore (portrayed by Trevor Long)[16] is the father of Ruth Langmore and the brother of Russ and Boyd Langmore. He is very controlling of his daughter, Ruth, and often abuses and mistreats her. He spends all of season 1 in prison where he is visited regularly by Ruth. At the start of season 2, Cade is released from prison but continues to break the law.
Charles Wilkes
Charles Wilkes (portrayed by Darren Goldstein)[17] is a wealthy businessman and conservative political donor. Marty and Wendy pursue Wilkes' support in getting a riverboat casino built in the Ozarks; Wilkes becomes particularly close with Wendy, with whom he is infatuated, but becomes gradually hesitant to work with the Byrdes amid the looming FBI investigation into their activities. Wendy eventually extorts Wilkes into backing the casino legislation by donating to his charity with cartel money, forcing his cooperation. Wilkes' lawyer and right-hand man Jim Rattelsdorf goes on to become the Byrdes' trusted ally and personal attorney. Helen later attempts to partner with Wilkes to obtain her own casino license, hoping to leverage his animosity against the Byrdes, but she is killed by the cartel.
Frank Cosgrove
Frank Cosgrove (portrayed by John Bedford Lloyd) is the head of the Kansas City mafia. A former representative of the United Auto Workers union from Detroit, Cosgrove has been running his trucking business out of Missouri ever since the mob invested in various local casinos. Marty first crosses paths with Cosgrove when seeking the union's approval to build his own casino, enlisting the aid of Buddy - an old acquaintance of Cosgrove's. While the casino project proves successful, Marty eventually cuts ties with Cosgrove after his son, Frank Jr., brutally attacks Ruth in retaliation for the deaths of his friends at the hands of the Lagunas cartel. Darlene forms her own partnership with the KC mob to distribute her heroin while launching addiction treatment centers as laundering fronts. When Cosgrove stalls on approving the clinics, Darlene goes behind his back to make a deal with Frank Jr. to distribute her product. Upon learning of this, an irate Cosgrove storms into Darlene's home and threatens to kill her, but Darlene shoots him dead with a shotgun and has Wyatt bury his body.
Nelson
Nelson (portrayed by Nelson Bonilla) is a fiercely loyal enforcer for the Navarro cartel who accompanies Helen Pierce to the Ozarks. He carries out most of the cartel's assassinations in the area, including Cade Langmore, the Byrdes' therapist Sue Shelby, and Wendy's brother Ben. He later kills Helen herself under orders from Navarro after she outlives her usefulness to the cartel.
Frank Cosgrove Jr.
Frank Cosgrove Jr. (portrayed by Joseph Sikora) is Frank Cosgrove's son and a member of the Kansas City mafia. He quickly comes at odds with Ruth over his loan-sharking at the Missouri Belle. After his friends in the mob are murdered by the Lagunas cartel during a drug shipment, a drunken Frank Jr. viciously attacks Ruth, whom he blames for the incident. In response, Marty cuts ties with the KC mob but refuses to have Frank Jr. killed, alienating Ruth. In an attempt to sway Ruth to her side, Darlene tracks down Frank Jr., forces him to apologize for beating Ruth, then shoots him in the genitals. Afterwards, she forms her own partnership with the KC mob, which eventually ends when she kills Frank Sr. Ruth, who has reconciled with Frank Jr., visits him to relay the news of his father's death.
Other recurring characters
Introduced in season 1
Christopher James Baker as Boyd Langmore, Russ Langmore's brother
Evan George Vourazeris as Tuck, a young man with developmental disabilities who works part-time at the Blue Cat Lodge and becomes Jonah's first friend in the Ozarks
Katrina Lenk as Clare Shaw, CEO of Shaw Medical, a prominent Chicago-based pharmaceutical company owned by her family
CC Castillo as Sheriff Leigh Guerrero, the acting sheriff in the Ozarks
Eric Ladin as Kerry Stone, a celebrity chef and high roller at the Missouri Belle who is acquaintances with Ruth
Bruce Davison as Randall Schafer, a retired Republican Senator with whom Wendy has crossed paths
Richard Thomas as Nathan Davis, Wendy's estranged father
Ali Stroker as Charles-Ann, an old friend of Ruth's mother
Veronica Falcón as Camila Elizondro, Navarro's sister and Javi's mother
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Ozark is an American crime drama television series created by Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams for Netflix and produced by MRC Television and Aggregate Films. The series stars Jason Bateman and Laura Linney as Marty and Wendy Byrde, a married couple who move their family to the Lake of the Ozarks to continue their work laundering money for a Mexican drug cartel. Bateman also serves as a director and executive producer for the series. The first season was released on July 21, 2017; the second season was released on August 31, 2018; and the third season was released on March 27, 2020. The first three seasons are 10 episodes each. In June 2020, the series was renewed for a fourth and final season consisting of 14 episodes split into two parts; the first part was released on January 21, 2022, and the second was released on April 29, 2022.
Martin "Marty" Byrde is a fictional character and the protagonist in the Netflix crime drama series Ozark. He is the top money launderer for a Mexican drug cartel.
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