Netflix's original drama Ozark left fans with a pretty killer cliffhanger at the end of Season 1, and the show's producers have revealed Season 2 will pick up not long after that. Series star and executive producer Jason Bateman divulged that things aren't going to get any easier for the Byrde family in Season 2, and that the show's plot will start up again on the same night that Marty made his new deal with Jacob Snell:
There is the escalation. It was $8 million in this [past] season that the Byrdes had to try to figure out how to work with. And Marty's got $50 million now that he's got to wash. And we're off-season, so we don't have the lake for the income potential there, so he's got to diversify. He talks about a casino in that last scene [in the Season 1 finale], and so we start to try to get that together.
Of course, the uptick in the money laundering is only part of the new problems Marty is facing now, as the Snells ended up complicating things further by putting Marty's relationship with the Mexican drug cartel in jeopardy. There was also the issue of the FBI breathing down everyone's neck, which is sure to continue in Season 2 with Marty being officially on their radar. Can't this guy catch a break? (Probably not before the show ends, at least.)
The drama in Ozark Season 2 will also go beyond drug smuggling and money laundering, as executive producer Chris Mundy said Season 2 will center on a lot of family conflict. The rest of the Byrde family decided to stick with the fast-talking Marty even after he gave them an out with new identities, and it will undoubtedly lead to consequences as the dangerous situation continues to develop.
Outside of the immediate family issues, Ruth Langmore's father Cade is out of prison. From the brief glimpses fans saw of him in Season 1, as well as the way the Langmore family talked about him, his release is bad news for everyone. Bateman teased the tension between Marty and Cade, as well as Ruth having to make a tough decision down the stretch:
What complicates things a little bit is that her dad comes back. So there is a paternal dynamic here that gets complicated when he comes out of jail and he doesn't like me as much as she does. The question is: Will he grow to? Where's her allegiance going to be?
Ozark fans remember that Ruth originally had plans to kill Marty, though she eventually changed her mind and killed her uncles after realizing she had a good thing going working with Marty. Ruth certainly has a soft spot in her heart for Marty, but it's certainly a tough call as to whether she thinks of him more highly than she does her father. Ruth was a major wildcard character in Ozark Season 1 and really changed things up, and it appears the series is setting her up for that yet again in Season 2.
Ozark is also apparently setting up its audience for a major character death. Jason Bateman told the audience at ATX (via Indiewire) fans are going to see a major character die in Season 2, and that the decision to kill the character was so tough on the cast and crew, they hosted a fake funeral service in the actor's honor:
It was full chairs, like a full wake, and [Laura Linney] marched Chris down the aisle-way dressed as the Grim Reaper and gave the eulogy.
Place your bets on who's going to die first. Ozark Season 2 is expected to arrive on Netflix at some point in 2018. For a list of upcoming Netflix shows on the horizon, visit our Netflix premiere guide. For a more general outline of what's coming to television over the next couple of months, check out our summer premiere guide.
