List of Ozark characters
Ozark is an American crime drama television series about a married couple who are forced to relocate their family to the Ozarks following a money laundering scheme that goes awry.
The series features an ensemble cast including Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, Sofia Hublitz, Skylar Gaertner, Julia Garner, Jordana Spiro, Jason Butler Harner, Esai Morales, Peter Mullan, Lisa Emery and Charlie Tahan. Janet McTeer, Tom Pelphrey and Jessica Frances Dukes joined the main cast in the show's third season. Felix Solis, Damian Young, Alfonso Herrera, and Adam Rothenberg joined the cast for the fourth and final season.
This list includes the series' main cast, as well as all recurring characters, and any other guest who is otherwise notable.Overview
Main characters
Marty Byrde
Martin "Marty" Byrde is the husband of Wendy Byrde and father of Charlotte and Jonah Byrde. He was a self-employed financial advisor based in Chicago in 2007, when he and his business partner began to launder money for a Mexican drug cartel.Wendy Byrde
Wendy Byrde is the wife of Marty Byrde and the mother of Charlotte and Jonah Byrde. Born to a religious family in the Midwest, Wendy ran away from home as a teenager, leaving behind her brother Ben, who was diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder. An experienced political consultant who worked on Barack Obama's Illinois Senate campaigns and Bobby Rush's congressional campaigns, Wendy quit her job after Charlotte was born, and entered a deep depression after suffering a miscarriage resulting from a car crash. She and Marty agreed to launder money for the Navarro drug cartel in 2007, seeing an opportunity to dramatically improve their lives. However, Wendy began feeling emotionally distant from Marty and began an affair with lawyer Gary Silverberg.
Marty is forced to relocate the family to the Ozarks after the cartel murders his business partners for skimming $8 million; the cartel murders Silverberg after Wendy attempts to escape with the family's money. After moving to the Ozarks, Wendy first gets a job as a stager for a local realtor, and later leverages her political experience in currying favor with billionaire philanthropist Charles Wilkes to approve the construction of a casino used to launder the cartel's money. Wendy gradually grows to enjoy the power and status she gains through her activities with the cartel, and orders a hit on Ruth's father Cade Langmore after he assaults Charlotte. This strengthens her relationship with the cartel and spurs her personal ambition while driving a wedge in her marriage with Marty. The family's situation is further complicated when Wendy's brother Ben comes to stay with them; Ben begins a relationship with Ruth and eventually goes off his medication, increasingly jeopardizing the Byrdes' safety. Wendy ultimately allows the cartel to execute Ben, permanently damaging her relationships with Jonah and Ruth. Struggling to cope with her guilt, Wendy misleads police into conducting an investigation into Ben's "disappearance" and falsely tells the public that Ben suffered from a drug addiction.Charlotte Byrde
Charlotte Byrde is the daughter of Marty and Wendy Byrde, and older sister to Jonah Byrde. She regularly expresses her dissatisfaction with the family's decision to move to the Ozarks, but gradually becomes more supportive of the family and eventually helps manage the operations of the Byrde Foundation.Jonah Byrde
Jonah Byrde is the son of Marty and Wendy Byrde. Shy, reserved, and curious, Jonah demonstrates a precocious intelligence throughout the series, learning how to hunt and handle firearms from the Byrdes' terminally ill tenant Buddy – with whom he develops a close friendship – and eventually laundering money on his own through cryptocurrency investments at age 14. Jonah becomes disillusioned with his family after Wendy allows the cartel to kill her brother Ben for compromising their safety, and spends much of the fourth season rebelling against the Byrdes by working with Ruth.Ruth Langmore
Ruth Langmore is a young woman who is part of a local criminal family. While initially intending to use and betray Marty, she soon becomes business partners with him and ends up forming a genuine friendship with him. Ruth has a difficult relationship with her father, Cade, who is shown to be a criminal and often abuses and mistreats her. She begins a relationship with Ben Davis in season 3. After Ben goes off his medication and begins jeopardizing the Byrdes' survival, Wendy allows the cartel to execute him; an enraged Ruth quits working for the Byrdes and briefly joins Darlene's heroin operation, with Jonah laundering their money due to his own anger with Wendy. Ruth makes plans to leave the Ozarks with Wyatt, but he and Darlene are murdered by Javi Elizonndro. Upon finding their bodies, a devastated Ruth arrives at Marty's home with a shotgun and threatens to kill him unless he names Wyatt's killer. Jonah gives Ruth Javi's name, and she resolves to hunt him down despite Marty and Wendy's protests.Rachel Garrison
Rachel Garrison is the owner of the Blue Cat hotel and bar and Marty's reluctant business partner. Throughout most of season 1, Rachel has a healthy and friendly relationship with Marty until she discovers his money laundering scheme and, despite agreeing to continue to work with him, loses all trust in him. Rachel later steals $300,000 from Marty from the $50 million of cartel money he had been hiding in the walls of the Blue Cat. With this money she flees the Ozarks and sometime later is seen suffering from substance abuse. While under the influence, Rachel crashes her car into a lamppost. Agent Petty uses these legal troubles to coerce Garrison into returning to the Ozarks and wearing a wire to spy on Marty. Returning in season 4, she returns to the Ozarks from Miami as part of Ruth's plan to purchase the Missouri Belle casino as revenge against the Byrdes, with Rachel being the legal owner due to Ruth's criminal record. Although initially hesitant after learning that the casino is a money laundering front and that Ruth murdered someone, Rachel supports her after learning that the casino resulted in loss of customers for the Blue Cat and Tuck becoming unemployed. Rachel realizes that Ruth may already legally own the casino, assuming that Darlene's share was inherited by Wyatt, and then by Ruth.Roy Petty
Roy Petty is an FBI agent investigating Marty. During season 1 Roy develops a sexual relationship with Russ Langmore who he later betrays and blackmails into becoming an informant. This ultimately backfires on Petty when Russ is murdered by Ruth, leading him to turn his attention to Rachel who he forces into spying on Marty. Petty takes care of his drug-addicted mother and also exhibits sociopathic behavior, which makes him a dangerous liability for the FBI. Petty was assaulted and murdered by Cade Langmore, after he taunted him by saying that Ruth would be imprisoned for her involvement with the Byrdes.Camino Del Rio
Camino "Del" Del Rio is a lieutenant for Mexico's Navarro drug cartel. He recruited Marty to launder the cartel's money through the latter's Chicago-based firm ten years prior to the series' events, admiring Marty's financial expertise and personal integrity. At the start of the series, Del comes to learn that Marty's business partners have skimmed $8 million in cartel money over a three-year period and murders all of them; Marty saves his own life by making a spur-of-the-moment offer to move his operation from Chicago to the Ozarks, where he promises to launder a significantly larger share of the cartel's money. Marty eventually arranges a deal between Del and the Snells to open a riverboat casino to launder the cartel's profits in exchange for the cartel distributing the Snells' heroin. The two parties shake hands, but Del insults the Snells by calling them "rednecks"; Darlene retaliates by killing Del on the spot.Jacob Snell
Jacob Snell is the crime boss of Osage Beach. He is an established local heroin producer; his family has supplied and produced heroin in the area since the Great Depression. He is married to Darlene Snell, who is also his business partner. They have a strong bond, which is tested when they go into business with the Byrdes. Eventually, the two have a falling out, with Jacob planning to kill Darlene over a disagreement in what direction to take their business, before Darlene finds out and kills Jacob first.Darlene Snell
Darlene Snell is Jacob's wife and partner in the heroin business. She is shown to be fiercely proud, short-tempered and impulsively violent. At the end of the first season, Marty arranges a deal between the Snells and the Navarro cartel to open a riverboat casino on the Snells' land, but Darlene kills Del with a shotgun after he refers to the Snells as "rednecks". Jacob in turn murders the Snells' loyal servant Ash - whom Darlene viewed as a surrogate son - in order to appease the cartel. The cartel orders the Snells' poppy fields burned to deter the FBI investigation into the Byrdes; Darlene retaliates by poisoning a heroin shipment, killing 57 people. The cartel in turn attempts to assassinate the Snells. Jacob makes a deal with Marty and Helen to cede much of the Snells' land to the U.S. government to build the Byrdes' casino. Realizing Darlene will never comply with the cartel's terms, Jacob attempts to kill her, but she anticipates this and kills him first. Afterwards, Darlene takes over as the area's crime boss, and becomes the adoptive mother of Zeke. In season 3, she allows Wyatt to live with her in exchange for him helping on her farmland, and the two begin a sexual relationship. Ruth briefly joins Darlene's operation after falling out with the Byrdes, but Darlene cuts ties with her after learning she has been selling their heroin to Marty behind her back. After Wendy arranges to have Social Services remove Zeke from Darlene's care, Wyatt proposes to her to help win the child back. However, Darlene and Wyatt are promptly shot dead by cartel lieutenant Javi Elizonndro after getting married, as retaliation for Darlene continuing to produce heroin against the cartel's wishes.