Jason Bateman's New Netflix Show Ozark Looks Ridiculously Intense

Actor Jason Bateman returned to the public consciousness in a huge way with Arrested Development back in 2003, relaunching his career with mostly comedic roles, and almost entirely in features. While Bateman has the long-awaited fifth season of Arrested Development headed to production for Netflix, he'll be seen on the streaming service a lot sooner and a lot broodier when he teams up with the dramatic powerhouse Laura Linney for the white-knuckle money laundering drama Ozark, which released its dread-filled first trailer. Watch it below!

Ozark looks a little like Bloodline by way of Walter White, in that there's a lucratively successful dude doing shady things with money, and his family appears to be fully invested in the moral corruptness. Nothing wrong with that plotline in and of itself, and there's not too much wrong with the trailer above, either. I suppose its oblique way of presenting the central narrative might just confuse people, but Netflix subscribers are pretty used to diving into the company's original programming without much background information. In this case, it doesn't take much more than Jason Bateman, Laura Linney and angered voiceovers to get me hooked.

Created and scripted by The Accountant screenwriter Bill Dubuque, Ozark centers on the Byrde family, headed up by Marty (Bateman) and Wendy (Linney). Marty is a financial planner, but he is forced to uproot his comfortable suburban-Chicago life and move out to a resort community in the Missouri Ozarks. Why? In order to pay back a Mexican crime lord, which is right around the top of the list of "worst reasons to head to a summer resort." The show also stars Skylar Gaertner as son Jonah and Sofia Hublitz as daughter Charlotte, while Michael Mosley and Kevin L. Johnson also co-star.

I have to say, while being indebted to a dangerous criminal is certainly going to cause some bad moods, there would be an innate comfort involved with being inside a house where the insulation has pictures of presidents on it. There's always money in the banana stand, Michael.

ozark money in the walls

Keep an eye on all your dollars, because Ozark is coming to Netflix this summer, with all Season 1 episodes available for streaming on Friday, July 21, at 12:01 a.m. To see what else the streaming giant has on the way, check out our 2017 Netflix rundown, and then head to our summer TV schedule to see everything else the small screen if putting out there in the coming months.

Nick Venable
Assistant Managing Editor

Nick is a Cajun Country native and an Assistant Managing Editor with a focus on TV and features. His humble origin story with CinemaBlend began all the way back in the pre-streaming era, circa 2009, as a freelancing DVD reviewer and TV recapper.  Nick leapfrogged over to the small screen to cover more and more television news and interviews, eventually taking over the section for the current era and covering topics like Yellowstone, The Walking Dead and horror. Born in Louisiana and currently living in Texas — Who Dat Nation over America’s Team all day, all night — Nick spent several years in the hospitality industry, and also worked as a 911 operator. If you ever happened to hear his music or read his comics/short stories, you have his sympathy.