Ozark season 3: When's it released on Netflix? What's going to happen? Who's in the cast?
Jason Bateman reckons the show will run for a few more seasons – but where could the action go next? (contains spoilers)
It's without a doubt one of the smash hit Netflix original dramas, keeping fans across the world glued to their screens over the past few years. Ozark tells the story of the Byrde family when they are forced to flee to the Ozarks after a money laundering operation in Chicago goes wrong - but the world they end up descending into gets even more complicated very quickly.
After two brilliant seasons, there's only one question on the lips of Ozark fans... when is there going to be a third season of the show!?
Starring Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, Julia Garner and Sophia Hublitz among many others, Ozark looks likely to go from strength to strength in the new season, so we've gathered together everything we know about the show already ahead of the launch...
*Warning: major spoilers for season two*
When is the Ozark season three release date?
Ozark will return to Netflix on Friday 27th March 2020.
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Ozark star Jason Bateman previously confirmed on Twitter that the show will be coming back for a 10-episode third season.
"I'm happy for me, but concerned for Marty," he wrote, "it's official OZARK 3 is on its way".
Who is in the cast for season three?
Netflix has announced that Madison Thompson (best known for starring in NCIS: New Orleans) joins the cast this year as Erin, Helen’s (Janet McTeer) headstrong teenage daughter "who gets dragged along to the Ozarks for some mother daughter bonding that ends where neither expects," according to Deadline.
This year, a couple of Marvel TV stars who have recently been made redundant by Netflix are joining the show. Tom Pelphrey and Jessica Frances Dukes, from Iron Fist and Jessica Jones respectively, will join the cast as series regulars.
Joseph Sikora and Felix Solis will also feature in recurring roles, while Janet McTeer, who plays Helen Pierce, and Lisa Emery (Darlene Snell) have been bumped up to series regulars, too.
And, of course, the entire Byrde family are expected to return, including Jason Bateman and Laura Linney.
What could season three be about?
Showrunner Chris Mundy has told THR that the new season will see Ruth Langmore trying her best to be get closer to the Byrdes, and that it will see Marty further descend into darkness (it's hard to see how much darker he can descend!).
"Ruth is more and more self-confident, but she's grateful to Marty for being the first person to believe in her and give her responsibilities," Mundy said. "Going into season three, we see her very much wanting to be a member of the Byrde family. However, as she gets deeper and deeper into the enterprise, she starts to wonder if being a Byrde is the best thing to be."
Ruth, trust us: it's not.
As for Jason Bateman's money-laundering protagonist, he said: "Marty is on a slippery slope, but he's not all the way down yet."
Mundy has said that the show will pick up with Marty and Wendy Byrde struggling with their power dynamic and "dealing with outside force". He also confirmed that Wendy's brother "Who we've hinted at the first couple years as having some sort of mental illness in the past", will be added to the cast, and is set to cause a stir.
"[He's] going to be a very destabilising factor," he said.
Marty Byrde and his family got further entangled in criminal enterprise in season two, meaning that there's plenty of story left to explore in future seasons.
The finale saw the opening of Marty's giant casino boat, which he will use to launder hundreds of millions of dollars for the Mexican drug cartel. This will likely be the primary focus of season three, as the Byrdes gets their biggest operation yet up and running.
There are also plenty of loose ends that need tying up, as a LOT of blood was shed across the course of season two.
Cade Langmore was shot down by a mysterious gunman, and there are plenty of people who wanted him dead that could have ordered the killing, including his daughter Ruth, his nephew Wyatt and Marty. Cade had also just murdered officer Roy Petty, meaning that the Feds will likely have even greater cause to get to the bottom of what's going down in the Ozarks.
Plus, Marty murdered Pastor Mason Young – a crime which, unlike everything that has come before it, he will be unable to distance himself from – in order to save Wendy. They incinerated his body, but it's likely that won't be the last we hear of it. The Byrdes arranged for Darlene Snell (who had recently killed her husband Jacob) to adopt his baby, leaving him in incredibly dangerous hands.
But the major surprise of season three was seeing Wendy relish her involvement in Marty's money laundering, and ultimately usurping him by creating a direct communications link with the cartel via lawyer Helen Pierce (Janet McTeer), and refusing to flee to Australia as he had planned. It is likely that we'll see this power play between the two mixed-up parents developing in season three.
Oh, and there's the small matter of Marty's burgeoning affair with Rachel...
How can I watch Ozark?
Season 3 of Ozark will be available on Netflix in the UK and across the globe. Ozark seasons 1 and 2 are available to watch on Netflix now.
Will Ozark season 3 be the last? Could there a season 4 and a season 5?
Mundy has said that, all going to plan, the Ozark will run for five seasons. (So that means two ore seasons after this if Netflix give them the green light!)
"We've always talked about it as five seasons," he said at a recent panel discussion ahead of season three. "It could be four, it could be seven ... but that always seemed like a good number to us.”
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He doesn't have a set idea for how the series will end, and he's just hoping that Netflix will let them stay around long enough to give the story the "emotional ending" it demands. "There's people that are in bigger chairs than mine who make those decisions."
And while season three's release date is still to be confirmed, Netflix has revealed that star Laura Linney is set to lead another project.
Linney will star in new limited series Tales of the City, inspired by the books of Armistead Maupin. The series will be available to watch on Netflix from 7th June 2019.
Watch the trailer below.