After five months of silence, today some new information regarding Jason Bateman’s TV show Ozark has been revealed. At a press junket for Zootopia, Bateman confirmed that the hour-long drama series has landed at Netflix and will be a ten-episode first season.
The actor will jump right into the show after starring in the self-explanatory comedy Office Christmas Party later this year. With Ozark, he’ll be especially busy since he plans to direct the first two episodes of the show’s run “and probably the last two,” while also starring in and producing the streaming series.
“I’m going to [direct] the first two and probably the last two out of the ten. Just scheduling-wise there is no way to act in all of them and prep all of them, but that was the original intent — to basically direct a 600-page movie. I’m kind of a glutton for… But since I’ll be the EP as well, its kind of a producers medium, I’ll still be able to check all those boxes.”
Netflix and Bateman are being coy as ever with regards to the actual plot of the show, but /Film confirmed from a reporter at the event that the series does in fact take place in the titular location in Missouri. So, that’s something at least. Other rumors point to Bateman’s character as a family man who owes a debt to a Mexican drug lord and winds up repaying it through spearheading a massive drug operation near the Lake of the Ozarks.
Although Bateman has been known to be related mostly with comedies, the actor has branched out in roles like last year’s tremendously well received The Gift. That should prepare him well for Ozark apparently, which he calls “kind of a dark, dangerous show about a money launderer for a drug cartel.” One person who read the pilot referred to it as “one of the best pilot scripts” in years.
It’ll be a while yet before Ozark hits the streaming platform, but we’ll keep you up to date on news surrounding the show as it happens.
