Ozark is returning for a fourth and final season. The show’s renewal comes as no surprise after receiving a 90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Following the release of Ozark season 3, the series also dominated Netflix’s daily top ten chart for almost two months. Season 4 will be split into two halves, with fourteen episodes in total and each half being made up of seven episodes.
Since its debut in 2017, the series has racked up 32 Emmy awards, including three wins for Bateman for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series and two for Garner for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. 18 Emmy nominations were received for the previous third season. Two nominations from the Golden Globe and six nominations from SAG for Bateman, Garner and Linney’s performances.
Let’s dive deeper into all of the latest updates regarding the series.
Ozark Season 4 — Release Date & Renewal Status
The crime drama series was officially renewed on June 30, 2020 in a Tweet from Netflix’s official Twitter account.
They're going to go out with a bang.
Ozark will be back with an expanded 14-episode final season. pic.twitter.com/otIoUeTXyH
— Netflix (@netflix) June 30, 2020
Although and official release date has yet to be announced, we did get a bit of insight into the production schedule from lead Jason Bateman in and interview with Collider.
Well, each episode takes 11 days, so that’s two weeks. It takes us almost two weeks to prep each episode. Since there’s overlap on each one of those blocks, actually two at a time, each episode ends up taking five months to shoot 10 episodes. For prep, it usually is about a month before that starts for those first two episodes. So it’s about six months of production. The writing of those episodes takes about four months. The editing of all of those goes on while we’re shooting, but then there’s also a tail to it once we wrap of another three months. I think the fastest we can turn around a full season, from starting the writers room to having Netflix push it out (because then Netflix also has to dub all the episodes and all the different territory languages so it can go out on the same day), is basically 12 months. There’s just no way to do it any quicker.
All that said, the previous season’s released 19 months apart. Taking into account the third season’s premiere date of March 27 2020, we expect part one of season four to release towards to end of 2021. Filming for the season has already begun in Atlanta, Georgia back in November of 2020.
Ozark Season 4: Cast
The final season of the series will see many familiar faces returning to reprise their roles, along with a few new members. The main cast returning will be:
- Jason Bateman as Marty Byrde
- Laura Linney as Wendy Byrde
- Sofia Hublitz as Charlotte Byrde
- Skylar Gaertner as Jonah Byrde
- Julia Garner as Ruth Langmore
- Lisa Emery as Darlene Snell
- Charlie Tahan as Wyatt Langmore
- Carson Holmes as Three Langmore
- Jessica Frances Dukes as Special Agent Maya Miller
- Felix Solis as Omar Navarro
To round out the season 4 cast, we’ll see Alfonso Herrera, Adam Rothenberg, Bruno Bichir, CC Castillo, and Katrina Lenk added to the team. Alfonso will play Javi, a member of the Navarro family. Rothenberg will be there as Mel Satten, a former cop who now works as a P.I. Bichir will be taking on the role of Navarro’s priest and Katrina Lenk as Clare Shaw.
Ozark Season 4: Storyline
Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams created the thrilling drama series. The story is set in the present-day and follows the lives of the all American Byrde family as they navigate between their normal, suburban Chicago life and their dangerous criminal enterprise in the Ozarks, Missouri.
The end of Ozark’s season 3 finds Nelson, Marty and Ruth cremating Ben’s deceased body. Additionally, Lagunas cartel attacks Navarro’s son’s baptism and Sam is arrested for suspected money laundering. Nelson ends up killing Helen at Navarro’s son’s second baptism, but will now expect increased cooperation with Marty and Wendy. Season 4 will find Marty continuing to launder money for the cartel while working to keep Agent Miller on his good side. The fate of the Byrde family is yet to be known, but we’re excited to see what happens in the final season.
We’ll be sure to keep you updated on any new announcements pertaining to Ozark season 4.
