Ozark Cast (2017–2022)
Netflix | Crime Drama | 4 Seasons, 44 Episodes | Created by Bill Dubuque & Mark Williams
Ozark is a Netflix crime drama that follows Chicago financial advisor Marty Byrde, who is forced to relocate his family to the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri after a money-laundering scheme goes catastrophically wrong. To pay off a debt to Mexican drug cartel boss Omar Navarro, Marty must launder millions of dollars through legitimate businesses in the rural Ozarks while keeping his family safe and managing increasingly dangerous local criminal figures. Created by Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams, the series premiered in July 2017 and concluded its four-season run in April 2022, earning wide critical praise for its writing, direction, and performances.
The Ozark cast centres on one of television's most compelling family units: Jason Bateman's Marty Byrde — reactive, analytical, perpetually calculating odds — paired with Laura Linney's Wendy, whose political instincts and appetite for power steadily transform her from reluctant participant to the more dangerous of the two. The series drew immediate comparisons to Breaking Bad for its portrait of an ordinary family's corruption, but Ozark distinguishes itself by making the wife equally central to the criminal enterprise from early in the run. Julia Garner's Ruth Langmore — sharp, volatile, fiercely loyal within her own code — became the series' breakout character and earned Garner three consecutive Emmy Awards. The supporting ensemble, featuring Lisa Emery as the terrifying Darlene Snell, Janet McTeer as the cartel's calculating attorney Helen Pierce, and Tom Pelphrey as Wendy's troubled brother Ben, gave the series a rich gallery of characters operating at different levels of the criminal world.
Main Cast
Jason Bateman
Marty Byrde
A Chicago financial advisor who must launder $500 million for the Navarro drug cartel in rural Missouri to keep his family alive — a role that transformed Bateman's career from comedy to drama.
Laura Linney
Wendy Byrde
Marty's wife, a former political consultant whose moral flexibility and strategic mind make her an increasingly proactive — and dangerous — architect of the family's criminal expansion.
Julia Garner
Ruth Langmore
A young woman from the Ozarks' most notorious criminal family who becomes Marty's most trusted local partner, defined by her fierce intelligence and capacity for startling violence when pushed too far.
Sofia Hublitz
Charlotte Byrde
The Byrdes' teenage daughter, initially resistant to the family's relocation and criminality, who gradually accepts the compromises demanded by the life her parents have constructed.
Skylar Gaertner
Jonah Byrde
The Byrdes' younger son, a precocious child who develops an interest in firearms and later shows an aptitude for money laundering that puts him at odds with his parents' plans for his future.
Janet McTeer
Helen Pierce
The Navarro cartel's formidably intelligent Chicago lawyer who oversees the Byrdes' operation from above, a character whose composed exterior conceals a willingness to eliminate any obstacle to her employer's interests.
Tom Pelphrey
Ben Davis
Wendy's charismatic and emotionally volatile brother whose struggle with mental illness and his growing knowledge of the family's situation creates a devastating crisis in season three.
Lisa Emery
Darlene Snell
A fiercely territorial Ozarks matriarch and heroin producer whose unpredictable fury and refusal to be managed make her one of the series' most consistently dangerous characters.
Charlie Tahan
Wyatt Langmore
Ruth's cousin, a bright young man whose academic potential is undercut by family loyalty, bad decisions, and his ill-fated entanglement with Darlene Snell in the later seasons.
Jessica Frances Dukes
Maya Miller
An FBI agent tasked with building a case against the Navarro cartel who becomes increasingly close to the Byrdes' operation, navigating the tension between her professional duty and her own ambitions.
Felix Solis
Omar Navarro
The head of the Navarro drug cartel whose demand that Marty launder money in the Ozarks sets the entire series in motion, a character who combines courtly manners with absolute ruthlessness.
Supporting & Recurring Cast
| Actor | Character | Role | Seasons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Mullan | Jacob Snell | Darlene's husband, a heroin producer and Ozarks patriarch whose measured approach contrasts with his wife's volatility — until it can't | 1–2 |
| Jason Butler Harner | Roy Petty | An obsessive FBI agent pursuing the Langmores and Byrdes by any means necessary, including deeply unethical methods | 1–2 |
| Esai Morales | Javier Elizonndro | Omar Navarro's ambitious and violent nephew who becomes a significant threat in the final season | 4 |
| Alfonso Herrera | Javi Elizonndro | Note: see above row — character was played by Alfonso Herrera in season four | — |
| Trevor Long | Boyd Langmore | Ruth's uncle and a member of the Langmore criminal family who schemes against the Byrdes | 1–2 |
| Joseph Sikora | Frank Cosgrove Jr. | Son of a Kansas City mob boss whose personal grudge against Ruth escalates dangerously in the later seasons | 3–4 |
| John Bedford Lloyd | Wilkes | A wealthy local landowner whose political and financial connections prove useful to the Byrdes as they seek legitimate influence in the region | 1–3 |
| Jordana Spiro | Rachel Garrison | Owner of the Blue Cat Lodge whom Marty partners with as one of his first Ozarks money-laundering fronts | 1–2 |
| Carson Holmes | Three | Ruth's youngest cousin, a loyal but limited presence in the Langmore family criminal operations | 1–3 |
| Damian Young | Sam Dermody | A local funeral home owner whose business becomes a key vehicle in the Byrdes' expanding money-laundering network | 1–4 |
Creators & Production
Bill Dubuque
Co-Creator & Showrunner — Dubuque developed the series from his interest in financial crime and laundering, drawing on his screenwriting background to create a world in which numbers and money are the primary weapons.
Mark Williams
Co-Creator & Executive Producer — Williams partnered with Dubuque to develop the series and served as executive producer throughout its run on Netflix.
Jason Bateman
Executive Producer & Director — In addition to starring as Marty Byrde, Bateman directed multiple episodes per season, including the pilot, earning him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series.
Chris Mundy
Showrunner (later seasons) — Mundy joined the series as showrunner from season two onward and helped shape the increasingly bold direction of the Byrde family's trajectory in the final seasons.
Netflix
Network & Production Company — Netflix committed to the series with a full first-season order and later commissioned the fourth and final season in an extended split format, allowing the story a suitably ambitious conclusion.
MRC Television
Production Company — MRC produced the series in partnership with Netflix, handling the physical production of the Atlanta-based shoot that doubled for both Chicago and the Missouri Ozarks.
About the Ozark Cast
Ozark marked a significant career pivot for Jason Bateman, who had spent the preceding decade primarily in comedic roles following his breakthrough on Arrested Development. His understated approach to Marty Byrde — controlled panic expressed through rapid-fire financial calculations and a permanent, barely-suppressed terror — proved ideally suited to the series' tone and earned him Emmy nominations as both actor and director, with the directing win coming in the first season. Laura Linney, one of the most respected dramatic actors of her generation, brought an enormous sense of technical command to Wendy Byrde, a character whose political intelligence and willingness to sacrifice personal relationships for strategic gain gave the show one of its most chilling arcs. Linney received Emmy nominations for every season of the series.
Julia Garner's Ruth Langmore was the performance that most surprised critics and viewers, turning what might have been a local colour character into the moral and emotional heart of the series. Garner — known prior to Ozark for smaller roles in Mindhunter and The Americans — became the only performer in the show's history to win the Emmy for Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, doing so three times consecutively. Her Missouri accent, physical confidence, and ability to convey Ruth's mixture of toughness and raw vulnerability gave the show a grounding that elevated every scene she was in. Tom Pelphrey, joining in season three as Wendy's brother Ben, gave what many critics considered the season's finest supporting performance and earned his own Emmy nomination, cementing Ozark's reputation as an ensemble-first series that consistently elevated its actors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who stars in Ozark?
Ozark stars Jason Bateman as financial advisor Marty Byrde, Laura Linney as his wife Wendy Byrde, and Julia Garner as the formidable local criminal Ruth Langmore. The three lead performances anchored the show's critical reception throughout its four-season run.
Who plays Ruth Langmore in Ozark?
Ruth Langmore is played by Julia Garner, who won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series three consecutive times for the role, in 2019, 2020, and 2022.
Who created Ozark?
Ozark was created by Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams. Dubuque is also known as the screenwriter of The Accountant and The Judge, and the financial world expertise in those projects informed the Ozark premise.
How many seasons does Ozark have?
Ozark ran for four seasons on Netflix from July 2017 to April 2022. The fourth and final season was split into two parts of seven episodes each, released in January and April 2022.
Who plays Wendy Byrde in Ozark?
Wendy Byrde is played by Laura Linney, a two-time Academy Award nominee who brought considerable dramatic weight to the role of a political consultant whose ambition increasingly drives the family's criminal entanglement deeper.
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