List Of Ozark Characters - Wikipedia

Marty Byrde

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Main article: Marty Byrde

Martin "Marty" Byrde (portrayed by Jason Bateman; seasons 1-4)[1] 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

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Wendy Byrde (portrayed by Laura Linney; seasons 1-4)[1] 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

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Charlotte Byrde (portrayed by Sofia Hublitz; seasons 1-4)[1] 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

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Jonah Byrde (portrayed by Skylar Gaertner; seasons 1-4)[1] 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 (who also fell out with the family over Ben's death).

Ruth Langmore

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Ruth Langmore (portrayed by Julia Garner; seasons 1-4)[2] 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

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Rachel Garrison (portrayed by Jordana Spiro; main: seasons 1-2; recurring: season 4)[3] 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

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Roy Petty (portrayed by Jason Butler Harner; seasons 1-2)[4] 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

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Camino "Del" Del Rio (portrayed by Esai Morales; season 1)[5] 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

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Jacob Snell (portrayed by Peter Mullan; seasons 1-2)[6] 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

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Darlene Snell (portrayed by Lisa Emery; seasons 1-4)[7] 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 (represented by Del) 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.

Wyatt Langmore

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Wyatt Langmore (portrayed by Charlie Tahan; main: seasons 2-4; recurring: season 1)[8] is Russ's elder son and Ruth's cousin. He becomes good friends with Charlotte. He gets into college, but after learning that Ruth killed Russ, instead of attending, he moves in with Darlene Snell in exchange for doing work on her farm land. Eventually, he begins having a relationship with her. He marries her to prevent Zeke from being taken into foster care, but is shot and killed by Javi.

Helen Pierce

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Helen Pierce (portrayed by Janet McTeer; main: season 3; recurring: season 2)[9] is the Chicago-based attorney and fixer for the cartel. She takes part in a number of crimes for the cartel, even to the point of ordering murders. She teams up with Wendy Byrde to expand their laundering empire to include casinos and resorts, against the wishes of Marty Byrde. Over time, her relationship with the cartel weakens as Omar Navarro grows closer in his relationship with the Byrdes. At the end of Season 3, he invites Pierce and the Byrdes to visit him in Mexico, where he immediately murders her in front of the Byrdes, as she is no longer of use to him.

Ben Davis

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Ben Davis (portrayed by Tom Pelphrey; main: season 3; guest: season 4)[10] is Wendy's brother, who suffers from severe bipolar disorder. After getting fired from his job as a substitute teacher, Ben moves in with the Byrdes, and learns about their involvement with the cartel after witnessing Marty get kidnapped. He begins a romantic relationship with Ruth and goes off his medication to perform sexually. However, he gradually begins to unravel and is committed to a mental institution after assaulting Marty at a fundraiser event. Ruth gets him released with Darlene's help, but Ben travels to Helen Pierce's house and reveals her cartel activities to her daughter Erin, making him a liability for both the Byrdes and the cartel. He and Wendy flee the Ozarks, but after Ben repeatedly tries to contact the cartel to make amends, Wendy realizes he will not be able to keep himself safe and gives up his location to the cartel, allowing them to execute him. His death permanently damages Wendy's relationships with Ruth and Jonah. Wendy later fabricates the story that Ben suffered from drug addiction and is missing, resulting in a public effort to locate him.

Maya Miller

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Maya Miller (portrayed by Jessica Frances Dukes; seasons 3-4)[11] is an FBI forensic accountant investigating the Byrdes' casino business. Marty spends much of the third season attempting to turn her into an asset for the cartel, despite knowing she is likely incorruptible. In season 4, Maya briefly moves in with the Byrdes, becoming their third tenant (after Buddy and Ben). Maya strikes a deal with Navarro for him to become an informant to the FBI in exchange for immunity, but after she finds out the FBI has no intention of stopping the Navarro cartel, she turns him in to the local police jurisdiction.

Omar Navarro

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Omar Navarro (portrayed by Felix Solis; main: season 4; recurring: season 3) is the leader of a Mexican drug cartel. He becomes close to the Byrdes, to the point where he kills Helen Pierce and communicates directly with Marty and Wendy. While ruthless, he is cautious and careful with his movements. In season 4, sensing that his nephew Javi's reckless leadership is going to bring down the cartel, he decides to "retire", while agreeing with Maya to be an FBI informant in exchange for immunity. However, when Maya learns that the FBI has no intention of stopping the Navarro cartel, she reneges on the deal and has Navarro arrested by the local police jurisdiction.

Jim Rattelsdorf

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Jim Rattelsdorf (portrayed by Damian Young; main: season 4; recurring: seasons 2-3) is Charlie Wilkes' right-hand man who becomes an ally of the Byrdes. In season 4, they hire him as their personal attorney.

Javier "Javi" Elizonndro

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Javier "Javi" Elizonndro (portrayed by Alfonso Herrera; season 4), is Omar Navarro's hotheaded nephew and a lieutenant in the cartel. He wants a bigger leadership role, so he heads to the Ozarks to learn more about the Byrdes. Navarro does not trust Javi because of his immaturity and impulsiveness, so he decides to "retire", making Javi the de facto leader. Javi kills Darlene and Wyatt as punishment for continuing Darlene's heroin operation in competition with the cartel. Ruth kills Javi as revenge for murdering Wyatt.

Mel Sattem

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Mel Sattem (portrayed by Adam Rothenberg; season 4), is a disgraced former cop turned private investigator. Initially, he searches for Helen Pierce to get divorce papers from her ex-husband signed. However, as he learns more about what's going on with the Byrdes, he starts pursuing other investigations as well.