Warning! The following contains SPOILERS for Ozark
Actor and director Jason Bateman shares his thoughts on where the Byrdes will go following the gripping Ozark season 4 finale episode. The Netflix crime drama first premiered in 2017 and was immediately praised for its captivating story and compelling performances. The series follows the Byrde family after they are sent down to the Lake of the Ozarks when patriarch Marty Byrde (Bateman) inadvertently becomes the top money launderer for a Mexican drug cartel.
As Ozark season 4 was coming to a close, the Byrde family desperately fought to stay together as the universe was seemingly tearing them apart. Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) and Jonah Byrde (Skylar Gaertner) were leaving with Wendy's (Laura Linney) abusive father to live with him; Marty was caught in a bind trying to run the cartel following an attack on Omar Navarro (Felix Solis); and Wendy's Byrde Foundation deal with Clare Shaw (Katrina Lenk) was falling apart after Ruth Langmore (Julia Garner) killed former cartel head Javi (Alfonso Herrera). By the final episode, through deft political maneuvering and sheer tenacity, Marty and Wendy managed to regain custody of their children by threatening Wendy's father's life, transferred control to Camila Elizondo (Verónica Falcón) after having Navarro killed, and secured their freedom from the cartel following the deal made with Camila and the FBI.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Bateman discusses the Ozark series finale and shares his thoughts on what the Byrdes will do following the end of the show. The actor appears to be confident the family will be able to start a new life through their Chicago foundation, but believes their overconfidence following everything they had to do to put them in their new position will hinder their success. Read what Bateman had to say below:
I would bet you that they’ll go up to Chicago and they’ll test this theory of Wendy’s, which is, Have we acquired enough political capital to put into play some things that will help folks? Acquiring that capital was messy, but will the ends justify the means? My assumption is that, while they’re smarter now than when we first met them, I still feel like their hubris and arrogance will continue to trip them up. I think humility would probably guide them towards some better decisions, but I don’t think they’re there yet, unfortunately.
Wendy has had a desire to become a major political player in Chicago for some time, and through her latest success with the Byrdes' charitable foundation, as well as the sizeable donation secured from Clare's pharmaceutical company, her name is now in the mix with some of the biggest in the state. But Bateman fears that their arrogance will impede their forward momentum. They were once the most influential people in their community, with the power to kill anyone who gets in their way, but as they leave the cartel underworld, they must work their way back up against far more powerful cartels of the American political world. Showrunner Chris Mundy also chimes in with his thoughts on the matter, adding, "I think they’ve gone on. They got everything they think they wanted. But I think they’re dragging around a curse, to be honest."
Marty took a chance in the Ozarks as a way to spare his and his family's lives, and they managed to endure through it all. Unfortunately, much sacrifice was made along the way to secure their futures. As Mundy explained, the Byrde family will most likely move to Chicago following the Ozark series finale but they are pulling all the baggage they acquired while building their criminal enterprise with hands stained in blood.
Source: Vanity Fair