Netflix has renewed the popular crime drama Ozark for a fourth and final season. At 14 episodes, it'll be the show's longest season yet (the previous three have been 10 episodes long), but it'll be broken into two halves of seven episodes released at separate times.
Expect the Ozark season 4 release date to be 2021 at the earliest, since season 3 only just released back in March of this year.
Ozark started life as a slightly vanilla version of Breaking Bad, with a similar premise of 'everyman in over his head', as financier Marty Byrd (Jason Bateman) brought his family to the Ozarks in Missouri as part of a deal with a criminal organization to launder money. From there, the family's issues with crime escalate.
Indeed, as we've pointed out in our piece praising Ozark as Netflix's most underrated show, searching for 'Breaking Bad' brings up the show as a result, as if it was made to appeal to the exact same demographic.
Over the years, though, it's won us over by shifting focus to Marty's wife, Wendy (Laura Linney), which has successfully differentiated the show.
Showrunner Chris Mundy told Variety the bump on the episode count will let the creators "end the Byrdes' saga right".
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Avoiding cancellation
For fans of Ozark, it must be relief that Netflix will let the creators finish the show's stories. In recent years, the streaming service has demonstrated it's more than happy to cancel shows for one reason or another.
Just look at the gradual cancellation of Netflix's entire suite of Marvel shows, for example, which some speculated was a political move over the creation of Disney Plus.
Some shows are lucky enough to find a second life away from Netflix after they're cancelled, though, like the animated series Tuca and Bertie, which was picked up by Adult Swim in the US after Netflix ended the show after a single season. Likewise, the sitcom One Day at a Time was rescued by Pop and TV Land in the US.
Via Variety
