Ozark Season 3 - What We Know So Far

With an ever-increasing slate of original programming, Netflix has become a legit player in the realm of episodic series. While the streaming giant has certainly seen its share of hits — like Stranger Things, Orange Is The New Black, Mindhunter, Russian Doll, and more — it's also seen its share of misfires such as Haters Back Off, Real Rob, Flaked, and Iron Fist, among others. Jason Bateman's pitch-black family drama Ozark is firmly part of the former group, becoming an awards-season darling with its first 20 episodes and netting a pair of Emmy Awards for Bateman and his co-star Julia Garner. 

Created by Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams, Ozark follows the travails of the Byrde family, who are forced to flee their big city life in Chicago and head to wilds of the Ozark Mountains after patriarch Marty (Bateman) is unsuccessful in a money laundering scheme. In the Ozarks, Marty is tasked with laundering $500 million in drug money over the course of five years in order to appease powerful people in the Mexican drug cartel. While struggling to find creative ways to fulfill his promise to cartel leaders and still protect his family, Marty, his wife Wendy (the great Laura Linney), and their two children (Sofia Hublitz and Skylar Gaertner) get caught up in the madness in increasingly intricate ways. 

From that web of narrative possibilities, Bateman (who also serves as an executive producer on the series) and the Ozark creative team have managed to spin one of the most dense, relentlessly bleak narratives in the history of modern television. They've also managed to make Ozark one of those series that — in spite of its flaws — just begs to be binged. While Ozark isn't pulling the quite same streaming numbers as Stranger Things, the 20 episodes that have comprised the show's first two seasons have made a bold impression, and Netflix has indeed bestowed the ongoing Byrde saga with a third season. Here's what we know so far about Ozark season 3. 

Season 3 of Ozark is 100-percent happening, but one of the things Netflix has yet to confirm is when the new season will arrive. Bateman, Linney, and the rest of the Ozark team were slated to shoot the show's third season between May and October of 2019, so for all we know, season 3 of Ozark may already be in the can and on its way to the editing suite. 

That timeline makes it highly unlikely (if not impossible) that we'll get to see Marty and the Byrdes back in action in 2019, but looking at past seasons of the series can help us estimate the release date for Ozark season 3. Most importantly, Netflix has an unofficial pattern of releasing new seasons of shows around the same time of year that prior seasons were released. Season 1 of Ozark hit the platform in late July 2017, and season 2 dropped in August 2018. Going off those past release dates alone, it seems a fairly safe bet that season 3 of Ozark will don in the summer of 2020 — which should be great news, as fans can beat the late summer heat by binging the next 10 episodes of one of Netflix's iciest dramas. 

Though it's not entirely clear when Marty and the gang will grace the small screen again on Ozark's third season, there's plenty of information about who will appear on the upcoming 10 episodes. 

Before we get into the faces that are returning for Ozark's new season, it would be wise to take a look at some of the faces that won't be around on season 3. That list is longer than one might expect given the relentlessly brutal season 2 bloodletting that left a handful of key players six feet under. Among the familiars who went on to meet their makers on Ozark season 2 are Peter Mullan's backwoods drug lord Jacob Snell, Jason Butler Harner's obsessive rogue Roy Petty, Harris Yulin's gruff good guy Buddy Dieker, Michael Mosley's tortured preacher Mason Young, Michael Tourek's strong-but-silent tough guy Ash, and Trevor Long's Langmore paterfamilias Cade. (There are plenty more, since Ozark really did kill a lot of people on season 2.)

As for who's still standing in the blood-spattered Ozark landscape, Jason Bateman and Laura Linney will indeed be back as Mr. and Mrs. Byrde, and it's presumed that Sophia Hublitz and Skylar Gaertner will reprise their respective roles as the Byrde kids, Charlotte and Jonah. Freshly minted Emmy winner Julia Garner is also set to return as the impetuous Ruth Langmore (who remains the most intriguingly complex character in the twisted world of Ozark), with Charlie Tahan reprising his role as Ruth's wildly intelligent yet tragically unmotivated brother Wyatt. Considering the shocking events of that season 2 finale, it's almost certain that Lisa Emery's hillbilly Lady Macbeth Darlene Snell will play a major role in the season 3 narrative, as will Janet McTeer's ice queen cartel lawyer Helen Pierce. 

Based on the number of regulars fitted for eye-pennies on season 2, fans might be expecting an influx of new blood for season 3 — and they'd be expecting correctly. NCIS: New Orleans actress Madison Thompson is set to join the Ozark fray as Helen Pierce's teenage daughter, while former Iron Fist star Tom Pelphry will appear as Wendy Byrde's free-spirited (and possibly unstable) brother Ben. Additionally, Ex-Jessica Jones actress Jessica Frances Duke will be coming aboard as an FBI forensic accountant tasked with taking down Marty. 

It's also been announced that Joseph Sikora (Netflix's Maniac) and Felix Solis (Mindhunter) are set to head to the Ozarks for season 3 as the leaders of the Kansas City mob and the Navarro Cartel, respectively. Clearly, things are going to heat up for the Byrdes on the upcoming season.    

If you're wondering exactly what's in store for Marty and company on season 3 of Ozark, well, so are we. As of this writing, the creative team behind the series is understandably being tight-lipped with details surrounding new season's plot. This secrecy makes sense, though: part of what makes Ozark so endlessly watchable is its ability to keep you off balance, and to shock the hell out of you at the least expected moment. 

Even if we don't know what the future holds for the Byrde clan, Bateman did confirm to Deadline that the new season is set to open about six months after the season 2 finale. That means the riverboat casino is now fully functional, and will certainly feature prominently in whatever narratives unfold on season 3. Given Wendy's actions during that shocking finale, we're betting a full-on power battle is raging between her and her hubby, and that all manner of dubious outside forces will be testing the wits and the fidelity of the Byrdes — not to mention the perpetual wildcard that is Ruth Langmore. 

So the question is, will the Byrdes make it through what's sure to be another nail-biter of a season? Obviously it's a bit too early to tell, but Bateman's cryptic 2018 tweet may have teased the answer: "I'm happy for me, but concerned for Marty." So are we, Jason. So are we.