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Main Characters

The Byrde-Davis Family

Marty

Martin "Marty" Byrde

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.

Affably Evil: Depending on how harshly you judge him. Marty may be a criminal and a deeply flawed individual in general, but he is also a remarkably polite, soft-spoken and level-headed Nice Guy. It really says something when, by the time of season 4B, most people are utterly done with Wendy's shit but still manage to talk to him on cordial terms.
Anti-Villain: He launders money to a drug cartel and then has to do plenty of other questionable things to keep his operation running, but it's clear he just wants his family to be safe and to get out of there.
The Ace: When it comes to money laundering, he's the best there is. The fact that he manages to make the whole Ozark thing (a desperate attempt to buy some time that he never expected to succeed) into a real, working operation is a testament to his skills.
Benevolent Boss: The fact he treats Ruth with more respect than her own family (even after she had already tried to kill him and steal his money) is exactly why she changes her loyalty to him.
Berserk Button: Downplayed in his reaction is understandable, but never talk to his wife like a piece of dirt in public.
Can't Kill You, Still Need You: A key part of his personality and why he is able to survive so many deadly situations — several characters (including Del and Omar) note that he's the best there is at what he does, and given how he's able to come through for the criminal enterprises in an invaluable way, he's far more important to them alive than dead.
Deadpan Snarker: Given the actor playing Marty, it's no surprise that he gets his share of digs in.
Distressed Dude: When he's kidnapped by Navarro and taken to Mexico.
Establishing Character Moment: In the first scene of the series, via his "What is money" speech — an explanation of how he's more interested in making money as a goal (and to prove his worth to his family and himself) than wanting to spend it on anything, as he speaks over a montage of him transporting a large volume of money.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Loves his two children dearly, as well as Wendy.
Fatal Flaw: He has three major ones:
- His desire to 'win' at all costs. He is given several outs throughout the series, but he refuses to take them because he believes that he can get out of the situation that he's gotten himself into if he's smart enough and paranoid enough. This mindset costs him throughout the series.
- His love for his wife Wendy, which causes him to stay with her despite her increasingly toxic influence.
- Marty is too good at compartmentalized thinking or single-track survival, which often blinds him to the obvious.
Forced into Evil: While initially being willing to launder money out of profit, the only reason he continues doing so is because the cartel forces him to even if he wants to quit, and he is forced to commit other various crimes to maintain his racketeering business. This slips as he makes more and more compromises to his already loose ethics.
Guile Hero: Can talk his way out of almost any problem. One of Wendy's big problems is that she thinks she can do this as well as her husband.
Hidden Badass: After spending most of the show as more of an Action Survivor Guile Hero than anything else, he gives a disrespectful motorist one hell of a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown when he mouths off at Wendy.
Hidden Depths: He reveals that he was a fan of baseball, particularly the Chicago Cubs. He also likes gardening in his spare time.
Noble Demon: Deconstructed as the series goes along. Marty wants to be this, but the fact that he deals with psychopaths with the self control of temperamental children and is constantly forced to compromise his already loose ethics as the series goes along, which proves that he's not much better than the people he works for.
No Social Skills: He is great with numbers and somewhat good at finding business opportunities, but his people skills are quite lackluster. His entire partnership with Ben was built on the fact Ben could play The Face. The whole thing is brought up few times throughout the series.
Not So Stoic: He generally can keep his cool, but when he freaks out, it's quite the display. Such examples includes when he rages at Darlene and Jacob for killing Del, beating the motorist who insulted his wife, and telling Navarro that he sincerely hopes that the other cartel kills him by 'cutting his fuckin' head off.'
Parental Substitute: Becomes a father figure for Ruth.
Papa Wolf:
- Don't threaten his kids or disrespect his wife. He'll do anything to keep them safe.
- He also tends to be quite protective of Ruth, as he tries to remind everyone that she's "untouchable". Though, how well this works out is debatable.
Parental Substitute: Becomes a father figure to Ruth over the first two seasons until she emancipates herself.
Rage Breaking Point: After having to deal with a heap of troubles and Wendy undermining him, Marty snaps and brutally beats a guy he got in a traffic fight with.
The Scrooge: In a flashback, Marty's partner Bruce points out that they both make lots of money as financial advisors, but Marty lives far less lavishly than him. As Marty himself explains in his "What is money?" speech, he's not interested in making money because he wants to spend it on anything, but rather as a goal in itself, to prove his worth as a man and father.
Secret Test of Character:
- Is given one by Del in the pilot episode, asking him how he would handle a situation about an employee who stole five pesos from her workplace. His answer (more-or-less giving Del flak for thinking Marty would keep such an employee in the first place) spares his life in the ensuing cleanup afterwards.
- Navarro also gives him one in Season 3 after he's caught and placed in a jail cell. His act of defiance towards Navarro (along with helping him with a critical problem only he can solve) convinces Navarro that he won't crack under pressure.
The Stoic: Marty has an extremely high composure and rarely drops his poker face. On the rare instances where he do show emotions it's often only marginally different from his normally neutral expression.
Straight Man: So much so that in the first episode, it's what keeps him alive in Del's killing spree.
Stronger Than They Look: He seems pretty average in terms of physique, being a man in his 40's and not having been much of a sportsman for his life. But he is strong enough to beat down a motorist seemingly younger than him.
Sympathetic Murderer: Only killed Mason to save his wife and is plagued with guilt afterwards.
Villain Protagonist: He is a seasoned money launderer who worked for the Cartel for over 10 years before even moving to Ozark. Although his goal is to ensure his family's well-being, Marty still lies, cheats, and ruins quite a few lives doing so.

Wendy

Wendy Byrde

Portrayed By: Laura Linney

The wife of Marty Byrde and the mother of Charlotte and Jonah Byrde. She was a public relations operative for political campaigns; she becomes an advance person and stager for a local realtor, and then a lobbyist for Marty's proposal to construct a casino.

Accent Slip-Up: While having a heart-to-heart with Ben, she slips into a Southern drawl for a moment.
Affably Evil: A defining pattern of her way of making business. She subtly shifts from convincing someone to threatening someone in a heartbeat, with no change in her friendly, sugary voice tone. The only thing that stops her from being Faux Affably Evil is that she never expects to go through with the threat, instead presuming the implication will be enough, which generally is.
Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When Charlotte and Jonah decide to go with Nathan, Wendy begs him to let them stay with her, even dropping to her knees and calling him "Daddy".
The Bad Guy Wins: Wendy arguably becomes the main villain of the entire series by Season 4 and ultimately gets away with all of her crimes and obtains everything she was working towards by the Series Finale.
Batman Gambit: She pulls a good one on Darlene when she approaches her at a local festival and insults Darlene several times, knowing that the infamously proud woman will punch her in the face. She smugly smiles and thanks her. Sadly, she didn't count on Wyatt being under her sway and helping her get out of trouble.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She is absolutely ruthless when it comes to achieving her goals. She will beg, plot, bribe and even murder to get what she wants and shows zero remorse about any of her actions, right from the very start.
Consummate Liar: Central to the show, Wendy might lie more than Marty due to her eagerness in advancing her political interests.
The Chessmaster: Wendy tries hard to be this, with mixed results.
Damsel in Distress: When Mason kidnaps her.
Didn't Think This Through: Wendy fancies herself a genius and political player, and while she has skill in manipulation and politicking, her lack of foresight often impedes her goals.
Domestic Abuse: When Marty mocks her lover's death, Wendy slaps him twice before storming out of the car.
Drowning My Sorrows:
- After tipping off the Cartel on Ben's location and having him killed, Wendy spends the next few days living out of her car, doing nothing but drinking vodka.
- Upon returning home after the gala, she pours out two glasses of wine so she could mourn Ruth's death.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Her love for her children is just as strong as her ambition.
- She also loves her brother dearly, and is heartbroken when she realizes he has to die for her and her children to be safe.
- After spending an entire season being nothing but antagonistic and scathing towards each other, the finale has Wendy thinking of throwing everything they worked for away to stop Ruth from being killed. After realizing nothing would work, she fears her death would be too much for them to bear. It's clear that her, like Marty, started to think of the girl as their surrogate daughter.
Even Evil Has Standards:
- She insists on protecting Zeke by keeping him away from Darlene despite it causing massive problems for her and Marty.
- She is appalled by Schafer's scheme to fraud the elections. While she is not above influencing the political system for her own ends, the prospect of literally falsifying votes is too much even for her.
Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Zigzagged, as she is distressed with Jonah's money laundering, especially after he turns on her and begins working for Ruth and Darlene. This is ultimately subverted in the end when she smiles proudly as Jonah shoots and kills Mel.
Expy: To Walter White. While not without flaws, both started out as relatively decent people who has a field of expertise (politics for Wendy; chemistry for Walter), but for various reasons couldn't practice their skills and fulfill their biggest potential, so they start doing so in the criminal world. As the show progresses they become increasingly eviler and cross various lines, making them villain protagonists whose Fatal Flaw is their Pride and hunger for power.
Fatal Flaw: Her ambition. Much like her husband, she has a desire to succeed at all costs, damn everyone else to gets in her way. But she's not as smart and crafty as she thinks she is and is bitten in the ass by her tendency to bite off more than she can chew.
Faux Affably Evil: After Ben's death, she's dropped any pretense of being genuine to anyone. She plays nice but it's clear as day that she doesn't mean it. She's particularly like this with people she despises like Darlene.
Freudian Excuse: Season 4B reveals that she has one. Her father Nathan doesn't exactly seem to be the ideal dad around her, being verbally abusive towards her and an alcoholic. According to Wendy, he was both physically and emotionally abusive towards his entire family when Wendy was a kid. It would certainly explain why she is the way she is.
The Friend Nobody Likes: By season 4, she succeeded in alienating everyone around her. While Ruth, Maya, Rachel, Jonah and Charlotte are still friendly or at least civil around Marty, they absolutely loathe Wendy, which complicates their business. The only person still on her side is Marty, and barely so.
Heroic BSoD: The heroic part may be debatable, but she has one when she made the decision to have Ben killed.
Hypocrite: Wendy fully embraces a life of crime and loves the political moves she can make, but fights with Jonah with his own money laundering operations.
Jerkass Has a Point: In regards to Ruth's role in Ben's death.
Lady Macbeth: Starts off as a downplayed version of this, as her acceptance of Marty's criminal enterprise was pretty passive at first, and it was clear he did everything by his own will. She grows more and more into the role in Seasons 2 and 3, and by the end she's even more involved with Navarro's criminal empire than her husband.
Mama Bear: Wendy is very protective of her children, however this protectiveness comes to a head with Jonah in Season 4.
Manipulative Bitch: It's one of her defining traits, she is really Karenny when she doesn't get her own way.
More Deadly Than the Male: She grows into this throughout the seasons. While Marty's actions are based on survival and quick thinking for the family's safety, Wendy who's more calculating and power-hungry, became a more proactive schemer using her Proper Lady appeareance and political background to deceive anyone at her advantage which leads to destructive effects.
My God, What Have I Done?:
- When Navarro ruins the horse farm deal by having a horse owned by his rival castrated, and reminds Wendy that she's just a puppet and not an actual partner. She breaks down crying after he ruined what she thought was a legitimate business.
- When she tips the Cartel off on Ben's location and has him killed. She is plunged into a Heroic BSoD and spends the next few days drinking in her car.
- Despite Ruth having been a pain to her for most of the season, Wendy is heartbroken when Camila decides to kill her. When they return home, she prepares to drink.
Protagonist Journey to Villain: Though she initially does not take an active role in Marty's criminal business, Wendy gets colder and colder as the series goes on. When she realizes she can help the business by getting politically active, she goes all in on the criminal operations. She fully embraces it in Season 4 when she uses her brother's death to her political advantage.
Psychotic Smirk: Shows a particularly frightening one when Darlene has her heart attack. She's clearly reveling in her pain.
Sanity Slippage: Wendy becomes much more amenable to a life of crime when she can resurrect her political career. She slips further when Ben is killed. Afterwards, she becomes even colder, and uses his death to her advantage, leading other characters to question her humanity. Her mental health deteriorates further when her father takes her children to live with him out of spite.
Smug Snake: While she does have skill as a manipulator and political player, she's not always as crafty as she thinks she is and gets a few harsh reality checks from Omar.
The Unfavorite: Was one to her own father, who at the very least mistreated her. What's far more interesting is that each of them has a contradictory version of events: Wendy insists her father was a Jerkass and a mean drunk, Nathan meanwhile claims Wendy from her early childhood was the most selfish, overambitious, and plain rotten creature — and both sides clearly have a point. The only true and certain part of their claims seems to be that Nathan liked Ben more.
Took a Level in Jerkass: After she allows Ben to be killed, she becomes even more heartless and nigh-sociopathic, smiling as Darlene has her heart attack. and using Ben's disappearance/death as a tool for sympathy.
Villain Protagonist: Much more so than her husband. While Marty is just trying to get out of a death trap he put himself and his family in, Wendy gladly digs herself deeper in crime for power and influence by the end of season 2 after years of being a silent bystander. Her actions are viler, her manipulations crueler, and her Pet the Dog moments become much more scarce as the seasons go on.
Villainous Breakdown: When Nathan takes Jonah and Charlotte away from her, she has a mental breakdown and checks herself into a psychiatric hospital.
White-Dwarf Starlet: Is this in terms of her political career. She was somewhat of a big shot in Chicago in the early 2000s, but whatever glory days she had are long, long gone. Halfway through Season 2, she starts seeing the whole situation she's in as a way to get back into the game and becomes progressively more obsessed with it, much to Marty's dismay.
Wouldn't Hurt a Child: She is horrified when Marty gives Zeke to Darlene and rightly calls him out over it.
Wendy: She touched our child, and you give her a baby?
Xanatos Speed Chess: Despite her tendency to double the stakes and disregard collateral damage, the end of the series vindicates Wendy as the best player of the game. She's quick to adjust to any setbacks and ultimately the success of the Byrde Foundation, the Shaw deal and the agreement the FBI strikes with Camila can all be traced to her machinations.

Charlotte

Charlotte Byrde

Portrayed By: Sofia Hublitz

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.

Age-Appropriate Angst: She's 15 at the start of the show, and rightfully pissed about her life being uprooted by Marty's business.
Big Sister Instinct: She has this for Jonah.
- She also tries to take Erin, Helen's daughter under her wing and tries to shield her from the truth of their family's doings.
Bratty Teenage Daughter: Marty and Wendy view her as this in the early seasons, despite the fact that she does make several good points about their life of crime. She matures by the end of the series and becomes her parents' partner in crime.
Calling Parents by Their Name: She does this to Marty and Wendy after they first moved to Missouri. Wendy even stated that she began to hate the sound of her own name when Charlotte used it.
I Just Want to Be Normal: She longs to go back to their regular lives with no threat of one of the biggest drug cartels over their heads. It's pretty understandable.
Like Brother and Sister: She and Wyatt enjoy being just friends.
Passionate Sports Girl: She's an avid swimmer and longs to be back on the swim team.
Shipper on Deck: For Jonah and Erin.
The Stoner: Turns into this to cope with the stress of everything.
Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: She loses her virginity to an older guy she just met, and she tries to run away back to Chicago. She also starts to smoke weed and drink when stressed.
White Sheep: While the other family members seem to quickly adjust to their new lives, she desperately wants out to have a normal life. Subverted later on, when she accepts the situation she's in and starts working for their parents, even threatening Erin if she ever reveals the circumstances of her mother's death. Still, compared to her parents and even her brother's own money laundering scheme, she is relatively less involved in crime.

Jonah

Jonah Byrde

Portrayed By: Skylar Gaertner

The son of Marty and Wendy Byrde.

The Ace: Jonah takes after this father; he's extremely intelligent and talented at money laundering, having started doing it at a young age.
Big Little Brother: He eventually grows taller than Charlotte.
Hidden Depths: In addition to inheriting his father's talent for finance, Jonah is a crack shot and a natural at caring for infants. Who'da thunk?
Not So Stoic: While he generally keeps his feelings close to his chest like his father, he does have them. He's genuinely devastated by Buddy's death, and eventually Ben's which sends him in a rage where he almost shoots and kills Helen. She manages to talk him down. Also, he was pissed at Wendy for her role in Ben's death and cut off contact with her, though he eventually patches things up with her.
Odd Friendship: Formed one with Buddy.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Jonah is a very calm and quiet kid, which makes his rare outbursts truly frightening, such as when he keeps Helen at gunpoint and threatens to murder her outright for her role in his uncle's death.
Teen Genius: At 14, he's a talented money launderer, which also requires some serious tech savviness, all basically self-taught. Several characters comment on how impressive it is.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: He delivers these regularly to his mother in season 4 after he discovers she was the one that got Ben killed.
The Stoic: He doesn't really show emotion.
Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Jonah Byrde has an unhealthy fixation with death and violence, becoming obsessed with killing and guns. He managed to get a gun, watched videos of gruesome cartel shootings, and brought dead animals home so he could watch vultures eat them. His abnormal behavior continues into the second season when he volunteers to go hunting with Buddy and the Snells. After seemingly getting over it, the third season sees him continue to have an unhealthy relationship with firearms: he insists on accepting a challenge to shoot bottles during a party (showing a degree of accuracy with a powerful handgun that suggests he's been practicing) and later threatens someone with a shotgun. Later still, he vents frustration by shooting out a window. Then in Season 4, he starts his own money laundering business for Ruth and Darlene, to Wendy's frustration.

Ben

Ben Davis

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ben_ozark.jpg

Portrayed By: Tom Pelphrey

Wendy's brother. After getting fired from his job as a substitute teacher, Ben moves in with the Byrdes in Season 3.

Beware the Nice Ones: Ben is an exceptionally charming, good-natured and genuinely likable person who is very fun to be around and is very kind and compassionate but he is capable of some truly frightening displays of anger, especially when off his medication.
Bully Hunter: He gets fired from his substitute teacher job when he notices a student being cyberbullied and forces all the other kids to hand over their phones which he then tries to destroy in a wood chipper.
The Charmer: Ben is pretty hard not to like. He even wins Ruth over.
Cool Teacher: He was one and his only scene in such a role shows that he got along with the kids and enjoyed the work. Unfortunately his temper was provoked by seeing one of them bullied and he was fired.
Cool Uncle: To both the kids but especially Jonah who he gets along with very well.
Diagnosiso F God: Wendy mentions he has a personality disorder ...or something. Later in season 3 he is said to have Bipolar Disorder.
Establishing Character Moment: Has a notable one at the beginning of the third season. While trying to teach math as a substitute teacher and really enjoying it and having a good rapport with the kids, he stumbles upon a cyberbullying incident, throws all of his students' phones, except the victim, into a wood chipper, and then brawls with the owner of the wood chipper. This perfectly shows Ben as someone who is sincerely likable and kind with a good moral compass and a willingness to help others but also possessing a frightening temper and impulsiveness that often gets the better of him.
Face Death with Dignity: When Nelson approached him, he was initially angry at himself for having screwed everything up, but comes to accept his fate believing Wendy would have been proud of him for that.
Fatal Flaw: His impulsiveness, which eventually gets him killed
Friend to All Children: He gets along great with kids and teens, sincerely enjoying his brief stint as a teacher and having a good relationship with Charlotte and Jonah.
Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: His naïvety in dealing with Helen is what causes his demise. After roaring at her and telling her daughter the truth about her business, he seriously thinks he can make amends with someone like Helen, but doesn't know that those kinds of people aren't so forgiving after such incidents.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Ben has major anger problems and can fly into violent rages at the slightest provocation. Wendy claims it's a mental illness, but how true that is, is up to debate.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Most of the time he's a Nice Guy, but can easily turn stupidly violent when he's off his meds.
Lethally Stupid: Sure, his bipolar disorder influenced a lot of his erratic behavior, but Ben's demise was inevitable the more he knowingly disrupted the Byrdes' dealings, especially after he confronted Helen and her daughter. This is what ultimately convinces Wendy to allow Nelson to kill him, as even after her repeated warnings, he tries to alert the police, calls Helen on Wendy's cellphone, and sneakily buys another one after Wendy destroys it. Wendy has a breakdown when she realizes she cannot stop him from endangering himself and her family.
Manchild: Though Wendy could argue it's "mental illness", Ben could pop off at any time when off his medication, and showed little sanity at all, even going so far as to call Helen when explicitly told the situation he was in.
The Millstone: He steadily becomes this due to going off his meds, leading to him violently lashing out and eventually blabbing about their Cartel business, to the point of outing Helen to her daughter as a cartel lawyer.
Mood-Swinger: Suffers from bipolar disorder which causes him to have intense mood swings and it gets worse when he goes off his meds.
Mr. Fanservice: He's good-looking and gets some shirtless scenes to add to it.
Never My Fault: Ben justifies assaulting a businessman because he was being a dick and is completely confused and hurt when Wendy has him committed after he assaults Marty at the Byrde Foundation bash. He does eventually become contrite when he realizes what deep shit he got himself into.
No Medication for Me: He goes off his medication for his Bipolar Disorder in Season 3 and it's stated this isn't the first time either. The results are predictably disastrous.
Out-of-Character Alert: He notices Wendy's strange behavior, and then uncovers the truth and is horrified. He also realizes that he is in deep trouble when Ruth starts snapping and cursing at him, when she had been nothing but affectionate and loving until this point.
Practically Different Generations: Their exact ages aren't specified but Ben is considerably younger than Wendy (their actors are eighteen years apart) and she often acts as much of a mother to him as an older sister.
Refuge in Audacity: His last episode is chock full of this, such as when he attempts to apologize to Helen over the phone and tries to get the police involved in his situation. This eventually drives Wendy to allow Ben to be killed, as he proves to be too much of a liability.
Sanity Slippage: When he gets off his meds, things go south pretty quickly as he starts acting more recklessly and impulsively, such as when he assaults Marty, outs Helen as a cartel operative to her daughter (then tries to apologize over it), then tries to get the police involved in the situation that he's in.
Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's over six feet tall, dark-haired and quite good-looking.
Token Good Teammate: For the Byrd family. He's the only member who hasn't been corrupted or dragged into the criminal lifestyle yet.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Despite having violent mood swings, he's probably the closest thing the show has for having the moral highroad. Even Wendy is distraught when he's killed, stating that he didn't deserve it.
Vague Age: It's not stated how old he is (Tom Pelphrey is eighteen years younger than Laura Linney), but no one questions his intimate relationship with 19-year-old Ruth. Apart from her cousin Wyatt, who really doesn't have a leg to stand on when it comes to calling out an Age-Gap Romance.

Nathan

Nathan Davis

Portrayed By: Richard Thomas

Wendy's and Ben's father. He moves to the Ozarks to search for his son.

Abusive Parents: Refers to his children as embarrassments to the family. Wendy insists her father once hit her so hard she couldn't walk for two days. How true it is is up to debate, given this is Wendy talking. Though his remarks to Ruth while sharing a bottle of whiskey with her in season four appear to confirm this.
Ambiguously Evil: Whether he really doesn't care about his grandchildren. While he said he only took the kids to spite Wendy, he only said that after Ruth got him drunk and forced his hand and he doesn't explicitly deny caring for the kids at least a bit.
The Alcoholic: For the first three seasons, it's purely informed, but when he finally shows up in the finale, he is clearly having a drinking problem. Notably, when Ruth manages to trick him to drink with her, he empties an entire bottle of whiskey before the ice in his glass fully melts down.
Archnemesis Dad: To Wendy. Nathan was an abusive alcoholic in her youth, and tries to take custody of her children just to piss her off.
Bait the Dog: At first he seems to genuinely care about his son Ben's disappearance and wants to take his Grandchildren away from Marty and Wendy because of their odd behavior, him noticing that Wendy hasn't changed from being the Manipulative Bastard she was as a child, and later suspects she had something to do with Ben's death which are all correct. But during the Series Finale, he reveals himself to be an alcoholic, sexist, pig who possibly hates women and admits to Ruth his main reason for wanting to take the grandchildren is to cause Wendy more pain out of resentment and spite. This brings in to question, despite Wendy being a Consummate Liar, if her claims about her father being abusive when she was a child were true.
Jerkass Has a Point:
- He's partially doing it to spite his daughter but keeping his grandchildren away from the Byrdes in the hotbed that is the Ozarks is the much safer call.
- While he was far, far from an ideal father to her in her formative years (not to mention a misogynist asshole in general), Nathan's negative attitude towards Wendy in the present day is at least understandable, as Wendy is a horrible person who from his POV may have got her own brother/his son Ben killed (she did).
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: He only wants to keep his grandkids to piss off his daughter.
Southern Gentleman: Deconstructed to horrifying effect, he has the accent but isn't a gentleman when it comes to his relationship with Wendy, very much a man of his time.
Straw Misogynist: He is severely misogynistic to Ruth, and this ends up being the defining reason why she helps the Byrdes to keep his children away from him. It's implied his abuse of Wendy included heavy doses of misogyny and Slut-Shaming.

The Langmore Family

Ruth

Ruth Langmore

Portrayed By: Julia Garner

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.

Big Sister Instinct: She has this for Wyatt and Three, going so far as to become their legal guardian. She also has this for Charlotte and Jonah too, as even at their most vitriolic, Marty can still trust her to protect them. And while she pressures Wendy's father to give up custody of Charlotte and Jonah out of being threatened, she becomes more determined when she finds out just how spiteful and abusive the man is and how he is trying to take the kids simply to hurt Wendy.
Boring, but Practical: When she's taking revenge against Javi, she enacts her plan by getting Marty and Wendy to lure Javi to a place where she could get to him. It works.
Broken Bird: Has a tough exterior but is easily reduced to a terrified teenager by her father's abusive demands. She's further traumatized after killing her uncles and inadvertently getting Ben killed.
Broken Pedestal: After the Byrdes fail to get revenge on Frank Cosgrove Jr. for nearly killing her, coupled with Ben's death, she breaks up with the family for good. By season 4 she joined her cousin and Darlene in her heroine business, opposing the Byrdes, though that partnership predictably does not last for too long.
Defiant to the End: When Camila confronts her, Ruth refuses to apologize for killing Javi, calling him a monster who deserved to die, and yells at Camila to shoot her.
Everyone's Baby Sister: You'd think that role would belong to Charlotte, but Marty, Wendy, Wyatt (most of the time), Ben, and even Darlene don't take it too kindly when people mess with her.
Expy: To Jesse Pinkman. Both started off as petty crooks who partner up with the protagonists (Walter for Jessie; Marty for Ruth) in a criminal operation (meth manufacturing for Jesse; money laundering for Ruth) and would show a sympathetic side to them as the series goes on.
Fatal Flaw: Her temper and spitefulness is what does her in. As Wyatt pointed out, she has a tendency to get back at people who she used to work for. Her temper often makes her act rashly, such as when she killed Javi, which eventually sealed her fate, as she was killed by his mother.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Ruth tends to be easily pissed off.
Hoist by His Own Petard: In a roundabout way: if she had not staged a hostile takeover on the Missouri Belle, the Byrdes would have resumed their plan to launder enough money to get Navarro extradited and then freed once in Mexico. By blocking the casino for the cartel operations, the Byrdes are forced to look at Camila as a better solution - putting her in the perfect place to discover her son's murderer.
Kill the Cutie: She's the most sympathetic character of the show and gets killed at the end.
Lady Swears-a-Lot: When she is mad, practically every other word out of her mouth is a curse, and that's pretty often.
Like a Daughter to Me: The Byrdes take her in as their own.
Morality Pet: Seems to be one to Marty and Wendy, oddly enough.
My God, What Have I Done?: She can barely hold it together when she admitted to Marty that she killed her uncles.
Rags to Riches: She's from a family of small-time crooks who were being arrested for petty crimes and living in trailers for at least five generations. By associating with Marty and Darlene she earns a good amount of money (enough to buy the Lazy-O inn) and after inheriting the whole Snell estate through Wyatt, she's positively loaded.
Scream Discretion Shot: When she gets waterboarded, we see Cade and Marty sitting outside. They can't do anything to help and have to hear her screams.
Sanity Slippage: Wyatt's murder sends her over the edge.
The Smurfette Principle: She's the only female Langmore.
Sympathetic Murderer: She rigged the dock that killed her uncles, and only did so because they were going after Marty. She broke down crying when she talked to Marty about it.
Ungrateful Bitch: Even after the Byrdes help her assassinate Javi to avenge her cousin and cover for her, Ruth still performs a hostile takeover on the Missouri Belle and refuses to launder any money for them, knowing and relishing that it will aggravate the Cartel and in turn put the Byrdes in danger.
"Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: She desperately craves her father's approval.

Wyatt

Wyatt Langmore

Portrayed By: Charlie Tahan

Russ's elder son and Ruth's cousin.

Big Brother Instinct: In this case, he's two years younger than Ruth and loves her dearly. That is — until he learned what she did.
Big Little Brother: While they're not siblings, Wyatt is noticeably taller than his older cousin, Ruth.
Everyone Has Standards: He's horrified after learning what Ruth did to the dock.
Heroic BSoD: Suffers from one during Season 2, after the death of his dad and uncle, and then he finds out that Ruth was responsible for it.
Horrible Judge of Character: He enters into a May–December Romance with Darlene, an unhinged drug producer who displays obvious ties to a drug cartel. Midway through Season 4, it gets him killed alongside her for his association.
Like Brother and Sister: He and Charlotte enjoy being just friends.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: He's kicked out of school when he defends Jonah from a bully. Fortunately for him, Marty decides to intervene on his behalf.
Only Sane Man: Despite the fact that by the end of Season 3 he is in a sexual relationship with a woman who, in addition to being an all-out psychopath, is old enough to be his grandmother (and raising a baby with her to boot), Wyatt is probably the sanest person in the whole show. Of the Byrdes, Charlotte is the only person willing to acknowledge the criminals her "family" really are. That is played with, however, in that while she is absolutely right, her decisions make an already-dangerous situation even worse and increase the likelihood of them all getting killed.
Charlotte: (talking to Jonah) How do you think this ends!? Happily ever after?!?
Token Good Team Mate: Is this to the Langmores.
White Sheep: Seems to be this to his family, as they constantly say he's the one who's going to get out and break the "Langmore Curse".

Three

Three Langmore

Portrayed By:

Russ's younger son and Ruth's cousin.

Numerical Theme Naming: Aptly named Three.
Satellite Character: Mostly revolves around other members of the Langmore family, and only gets a few scenes.
Sole Survivor: He's the only Langmore who survives through everything.

Russ

Russ Langmore

Portrayed By: Marc Menchaca

Ruth's uncle, Wyatt and Three's father.

Armored Closet Gay: Russ Langmore Ends up having sex with Petty, after kicking him out of his truck for drunkenly kissing him, and repeatedly calling him a "fag". When Petty betrays him, Russ falls immediately back into the closet, accusing Petty of "turning" him.
Boomerang Bigot: He's rather homophobic, though ironically he proves to be gay himself.
Didn't Think This Through: One of his get-rich-quick ideas involves breeding bobcats. He buys a pair of them ... but doesn't bother to check their sex (turns out, they're both female).
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Russ can be a huge dick. But he sincerely loves his sons, Boyd, and Ruth (in his way). He also grows to care for Petty until he reveals his true colors.
Would Hit a Girl: He slaps Ruth in a heated argument.

Boyd

Boyd Langmore

Portrayed By:

Ruth, Wyatt and Three's uncle, Russ's brother.

Hidden Depths: It's implied he already knew or suspected of Russ's sexual orientation before he was told. It doesn't change an ounce of the respect and love he has for his brother.
Satellite Character: Doesn't have much personality aside from being as dumb and crooked as his brother.

Cade

Cade Langmore

Portrayed By:

Ruth's father, Wyatt and Three's uncle, Russ and Boyd's brother.

Abusive Parents: To his daughter Ruth. Largely of the verbal and emotional variety, but he's not above getting rough with her when angry.
Ax-Crazy: Prone to instant violence at pretty much any given moment. He's reckless, careless and selfish, only thinking of himself. his family was afraid of him for a reason.. Later, he is successfully bought off by Wendy to leave town, only to be murdered while leaving, in retaliation for trying to undermine the Cartel's operation.
Abusive Parents: Not only does he emotionally manipulate Ruth, he also doesn't hesitate to hit her either.
Disappeared Dad: He's in prison for most of the first season. A more literal example by the end of Season 2, when Wendy arranges for his murder.
Fatal Flaw: His impulsiveness.
Hidden Depths: Ruth got her craftiness from somewhere, and Cade proves to be the most intelligent and perceptive of the brothers...if only he weren't so impulsive, which causes him to make stupid mistakes which eventually get him killed.
- He also shows that he does care about Ruth, in his own fucked up way. Particularly shown with his reaction to her being waterboarded.
Papa Wolf: Despite the events mentioned above, after Ruth gets waterboarded, he's very gentle towards her. Additionally he showed no hesitation in standing up for Ruth when she was confronted by Helen and the cartel.
Psychopathic Manchild: Similar to Darlene. Thinks he can do whatever he wants and doesn't even care about the consequences. He's prone to quick outbursts of violence at a moment's notice, even to his own family. He tried to undermine Marty's operation, even when knowing that Marty worked for the Mexican mafia.
Too Dumb to Live: After killing Roy Petty, he decides to try and cover it up by shoddily covering up Petty's car and throwing his body into the river.

The Snell Family

Jacob

Jacob Snell

Portrayed By: Peter Mullan

An established local heroin producer who Marty befriends during the first season.

Affably Evil: He's a murderous criminal, no doubt about it. However, Jacob is also well-spoken, polite, and reasonable when not pissed off, and even teaches Jonah how to hunt.
A Lighter Shade of Black: He's a drug dealer and an established hillbilly crime boss of the Ozarks, but compared to his wife, he can be much more reasonable and pragmatic. Which, of course, is why she kills him.
Bait-and-Switch Tyrant: The biggest, most dangerous criminal in the Ozarks, he looks to be an antagonist for the Byrdes. Despite this, it's not long before he partners up with them and proves to be quite cooperative.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Very much in love with his wife, so much so he doesn't even seem to hold it against her that she killed him.
Fatal Flaw: His love for his wife and his inability to take direct action against her is eventually what does him in, as she kills him before he can kill her
Happily Married: He and Darlene are quite content to be in each other's company.
Insane Troll Logic: When he and Darlene kill Del and his crew and Marty, understandably freaks out about it. Jacob merely says, as if it's not a big deal, that they'll 'send other Mexicans' to replace Del.
Graceful Loser: Once he knows Darlene's killed him before he could kill her, he declares he never could keep up with her. It's difficult to tell given he's at death's door, but Jacob seems somewhat happy about his demise since it stopped him from killing the woman he loves.
Kill the Ones You Love: He's convinced that Darlene's unwillingness to play ball with the cartel means he has to kill her. The day he plans to do so though, he discovers that she suspected this and poisoned him.
I Was Quite a Looker: Though he's still good-looking in a ruggedly masculine way, he a straightforward hunk in his youth.
Uptight Loves Wild: A flashback shown in the second season finale shows how he met Darlene — after returning home from active service, Darlene butted her way into a potential romance between Jacob and another girl, and convinced him to go skinny-dipping with her at a nearby lake.

Darlene

Darlene Snell

Portrayed By: Lisa Emery

Jacob's wife and partner in the heroin business.

Asshole Victim: In-Universe at least. When she and Wyatt are murdered by Javi, while Wyatt is properly mourned and remembered fondly by several people, no one really misses Darlene.
Ax-Crazy: Darlene is nuts. She's desperately unhinged and chooses violence as a first option pretty much every time, regardless of the resulting impact. Outside of her bursts of extreme violence, Darlene doesn't really seem to be all there, and exists in her own world.
Berserk Button: She has many, most of them related to people belittling her family's status or threatening her right to be Zeke's mother. The Byrdes happen to press all of them. The word "redneck" in particular sets her off.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: She has a very strong set of morals that no one, not even her husband, can fully understand. They consist in amplifying slights and paying them with violence, prioritizing her pride over her husband's life and, occasionally, defending weaker people for a sense of justice.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She loves Jacob dearly, making it clear she still does even when she kills him in self-defense. She also comes to love her adopted baby Zeke and her new partner and eventual husband Wyatt.
Fatal Flaw: Her recklessness, Ax-Crazy nature, and Pride created headaches for all of the characters. Killing Jacob and continuing to produce her heroin product despite warnings of the consequences prove to be fatal mistakes, which eventually leads to her and Wyatt being murdered by Javi
Happily Married: Loves her husband Jacob. Her next relationship has more explicit issues, but she does love Wyatt and is genuinely happy with him in the short amount of time they're married.
Idiot Houdini: Darlene isn't the smartest crook, with her short temper causing her to murder indiscriminately and push away prospective business ventures time and time again. Despite all this, she frequently manages to avoid any real punishment. That is, until she meets the similarly crazy and violent Javi, who doesn't appreciate her refusal to listen to his cartel, and doesn't wait long before putting a bullet in her.
I Was Quite a Looker: Messy and unfashionable looking in her senior years, this wasn't the case in her youth, where she was quite attractive.
Karmic Death: She fatally shot Del and Frank Sr., both unwelcome guests at her home, mid-sentence by virtue of her trigger-happy nature after they insulted her. Javi, an equally trigger-happy character and uninvited guest at her home, later repaid the favour.
Killed Mid-Sentence: After Javi confronts her about her actions, she begins to offer an "apology" only for him to promptly shoot her dead.
Lethally Stupid: Is stubborn, reckless, and dead-set on her own form of Honor Before Reason. People keep dying because of her and she refuses to take responsibility for it. Including Darlene herself and Wyatt in the end.
May–December Romance: After she kills Jacob, she enters a questionable relationship with Wyatt, who is much younger than her.
Psychopathic Manchild: Has the self-control and emotional maturity of a five-year-old, who is unable or unwilling to think about the consequences of serious actions, like complaining how the Cartel doesn't trust them after killing Del on little provocation, and later when the Cartel refuses to distribute her heroin after she laced it with poison, resulting in the deaths of at least 50 people who bought and used it. Later, she goes ahead and kills Jacob, for "his own good".
Shoot the Shaggy Dog: She poisons and kills her own husband when he tries to stand in the way of her getting involved with a drug cartel, and despite some others telling her not to, she is abruptly executed by Javi less than half a season after allying with them, with no fanfare whatsoever.
Tempting Fate: Early on in Season 4, she's warned that continuing to do business with the Navarro Cartel will result in swift and brutal consequences for her. This manifests itself when Javi shows up and, after a few words telling her about making bad decisions, coldly executes both her and Wyatt.

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Petty

Agent Roy Petty

Portrayed By: Jason Butler Harner

An FBI agent investigating Marty.

Asshole Victim: Petty was a despicable human being, despite ostensibly being on the side of the angels. Even his co-workers couldn't help but admit what a self-righteous prick he was.
Dark and Troubled Past: Seemingly involving being a drone pilot, according to a monologue he delivers while being given oral sex; afterwards, the rent-boy tells him he's got "issues".
Depraved Homosexual: Downplayed. While he is extremely creepy and uses his sexuality to seduce Russ Langmore, which he brags about on multiple occasions, he is mostly on the side of good and doesn't harass or sexually assault anyone, though regular assault is on the table.
Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: The only thing keeping him from being a Hate Sink is his genuine and unambiguous care for his mother.
Fatal Flaw: His callousness, his inability to not take his work personally, and his obsessive nature ultimately do him in. Also like Del, he just couldn't shut the fuck up when talking to someone like Cade.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Has quite the nasty temper when things don't go his way.
Good Is Not Nice: Will do anything, no matter how morally dubious, to bring down the cartel. However, as things get more personal for him and he starts to target less guilty people to get to Marty, it becomes dubious whether he can be called "good", especially after a conversation in which he implies he does the job more for the rush of beating bad guys than anything else, and he seems genuinely surprised that other officers might have a different motivation.
He Who Fights Monsters: Despite being an FBI agent, Petty proves to be little better than the people he goes after, he exploits Russ' homosexuality and Rachel's drug addiction for his own ends without feeling much remorse over it and also has a violent temper when provoked.
Hero Antagonist: Albeit a very dark Anti-Hero, willing to threaten and blackmail.
Hypocrite: Has the audacity to criticize Marty for blackmailing him with his mother's addiction, when he shamelessly exploited Russ and Rachel for his own ends.
Lack of Empathy: While he's shown to care for some people, he generally doesn't give a damn about anybody unless they can serve his ends. Marty even calls him a sociopath.
Meaningful Name: Seldom misses a chance to be…petty.
Stupid Evil: A borderline case since he's a Hero Antagonist. When he thinks he has Marty in his hand, he starts to rub it all over him and his family, which actively undermines any desire they might ever have to agree to testify against the cartel.
Too Dumb to Live: Decides it's a good idea to insult the mercurial and violent Cade's daughter, it ends predictably when Cade kills him

Maya

Maya Miller

Portrayed By: Jessica Frances Dukes

An FBI forensic accountant investigating the Byrdes' casino business.

Friend on the Force: To Mel Sattem.
Good Is Not Dumb: Easily sees through Marty's attempts to manipulate her and refuses to take the bait that Marty is giving her. This gets her in trouble with her bosses though.
Good Is Not Soft: For contrast, Agent Maya always follows the protocol and acts within the boundaries of law and her own jurisdiction, while being one of, if not the nicest characters in the whole series. That doesn't mean she's easy to trick, can't see through various charades or will be easily brown-beat into submission.
Hero Antagonist: To the Byrdes, obviously. While she is initially friendly towards Marty, she never sways on her good intentions and it's clear their goals will clash sooner or later.
Kicked Upstairs: Maya goes behind the FBI's back and arrests Navarro after learning the agency wants to work with him not bring down his empire. Instead of the FBI outright firing her for defying their orders, they promote her to an office job where she can no longer do field operations as firing her after making such a huge bust for them wouldn't look good. It's implied she will be stuck at that job for the rest of her career.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: After finding out the FBI's plan for Navarro didn't include taking down his criminal empire, and instead were expecting to work with him, Maya goes behind the Bureau's back and arrests Navarro, putting an end to the deal.
Token Good Teammate: For the FBI in particular and for the show as a whole, Agent Miller is one of the very few fully heroic characters, her main quest being bringing down dangerous criminals like Navarro and tries to convince Marty to come clean and using his skills for justice.
Took a Level in Jerkass: Downplayed, though she coldly rejects Marty's attempts to weasel his way into being in government protection and tells him that he's made his bed and that he should suffer the consequences of his actions, and generally becomes more jaded by the justice system and her attempts to do good being hindered by the corruption in the system.

Navarro Drug Cartel

Omar Navarro

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/omar_ozark.jpg

Portrayed By: Felix Solis

A drug lord who runs the second largest cartel in Mexico.

Authority Equals Asskicking: Turns out a head of a cartel is more than capable of defending himself during a prison hit — and that despite being in a clear disadvantage against his assailant. This is even used as a message for his lieutenants — their boss is alive, strong, and can't be easily disposed of.
Big Bad: While he has had several Heavy Dragons under his belt targeting The Byrdes (Del, Helen and Javi), the family's biggest problems ultimately stems from being forced to launder money for The Cartel leader. He also become a more personal antagonist in Season 3 and 4.
Churchgoing Villain: We see him going to church in Mexico and following a priest's advice. He also shows himself to be a superstitious man, often talking with Wendy about them, to Marty's chagrin.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: His only apparent redeeming feature is his care for his three sons.
Even Evil Has Standards: He doesn't kill children, and he doesn't threaten to kill children. He's very offended when Marty and Wendy send their children to a hideout, fearing that he would target them following his arrest. He was also hesitant to kill Javi, despite the headaches he caused him, because he was family.
Evil Is Petty: He has Marty and Wendy buy a horse farm solely so he can mutilate a horse owned by his rival Lagunas Cartel.
Evil Virtues: Navarro is an evil, evil man. But he does value honesty and is disappointed in Marty and Wendy for not trusting him. To be fair, he didn't help himself by being a mercurial psychopath.
Face Death with Dignity: When he realizes he's being set up for an assassination, he snarls at his assassin with defiance.
Fatal Flaw: His impatience, which often gets in the way of his better judgement. Being in a gang war makes this trait even worse.
Faux Affably Evil: He can put on the facade of being polite, but it doesn't take long for him to reveal his true self.
Greater-Scope Villain: As Marty's dangerous employer, he's the source of all the danger his family is in, but he never makes direct contact, working through his subordinates Del Rio and Helen Pierce. He makes his first appearance in season 3 and after killing Helen, he takes a central role in the story for the last season.
Hair-Trigger Temper: It doesn't take much to piss him off. He often loses his temper and threatens people when he doesn't get his way.
Hypocrite: Coldly tells Wendy that Ben's death was a necessary loss, despite him being her brother. But he finds the idea of killing Javi distasteful, even though he's constant pain in Navarro's ass.
Lack of Empathy: He wouldn't be a good drug cartel head if he had any.
Psychopathic Manchild: Not as much as Javi, but still. As a powerful cartel leader, Omar is extremely petty, short-tempered, egotistical and ungrateful. He is borderline impossible to reason with and takes it for granted that the Byrdes will solve his problems as long as he threatens them with death. When Wendy speaks to him after Javi's death, Omar flies into a rage, curses at her in Spanish and threatens to kill her.
Pragmatic Villainy: He does become more reasonable in Season 4 when he has to listen to Marty and Wendy's advice after things go wrong for him however.
The Sociopath: Not as much as his sister and nephew, but it's clear that he doesn't give a damn about human life as long as he gets what he wants.
The Unfettered: Dear lord is he ever. As a ruthless cartel boss, at several instances does he force the Byrdes to do dirty work for him under death threats and almost takes it for granted that they will make them go through.
Ungrateful Bastard: In spite of everything the Byrdes has done for him even being forced to sacrifice a family member, he refuses to show any gratitude towards them.
Unseen No More: After two seasons working by proxies, he finally makes an appearance at the season 3 premiere 'Wartime'.
Villain Respect: Much like Del, he genuinely respects Marty for his guts and his desire to succeed no matter the cost. He also respects Wendy for the same reason, though he's not above threatening her to get what he wants.
Wouldn't Hurt a Child: He won't hurt children, and is disappointed by Marty and Wendy's lack of trust in him on that point when they hide them after the deal goes south and Navarro goes to jail.

Javi

Javier 'Javi' Elizondro

Portrayed By: Alfonso Herrera

Navarro's nephew, who takes an interest in Marty and Wendy's operation.

Abhorrent Admirer: Personality-based version; he's very handsome, but happens to be a psychotic dickhead working for the Cartel. At dinner with the Byrdes, he seems to put the moves on the underaged Charlotte as he feeds her oysters, to her discomfort and Marty and Wendy's concealed rage.
Javi: You don't chew, you just sort of slurp it down.
Apologetic Attacker: He apologizes to Wyatt before executing him in Season 4.
Asshole Victim: No one was really sad to see Javi go, except his mother.
Ax-Crazy: Kills Sheriff Nix on a whim to undermine Darlene.
Disc-One Final Boss: Quite literally. After being the main threat to the Byrdes in the first half of season 4, the first episode of the second half has him unceremoniously gunned down by Ruth.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: For all his cunning, Ruth kills him rather quickly and unceremoniusly.
Dragon Ascendant: After his uncle is arrested.
Evil Is Petty: Javi is quick to use his power to humiliate other people. When a former professor, who used to belittle him in class, invites him to dinner to get a donation for his business school, Javi gladly complies... but attaches the donation to the condition of beating the crap out of the professor, and then proceeds to do so.
Faux Affably Evil: Seems like a charming, cheerful guy, but he is revealed to be an AxCrazy, mercurial sociopath who kills people on a whim. Even Omar, who is far from a paragon of restraint, is annoyed by him.
Psychopathic Manchild: Like Navarro, he acts like a sulky child when he doesn't get his way, which he even mentions. He uses his power to dominate people and to get petty revenge on people who have wronged him in the past.
Smug Snake: He often oozes smug satisfaction with himself and thinks that because he's a Cartel operative, he's untouchable. Ruth quickly proves him wrong on that front.
The Sociopath: A frighteningly realistic example. He has most, if not all the traits: superficial charm, impulsive behavior, narcissism and entitlement issues, having a monstrous lack of empathy for anyone who isn't him, lacking remorse, and showing disregard for people's boundaries.
The Starscream: Navarro claims he wants to take over the cartel by killing him and his closest associates, which includes the Byrdes, if he senses any weakness.

Camila

Camila Navarro Elizondro

Portrayed By: Verónica Falcón

Navarro's sister and Javi's mother.

The Bad Guy Wins: As the last bad guy standing, Camila ends the show owning the largest drug cartel in the world, with the acquiescence of the FBI, and having enacted her revenge on the person who murdered her son.
The Stoic: Rarely ever loses her composure, even when she's killing Ruth
The Dog Was the Mastermind: Downplayed, she's certainly not an innocent bystander, considering her brother and son are complete amoral childish psychopaths. But Marty realizes that she was the mastermind of Navarro's assassination attempt and that he inadvertently told her how she can strike at Navarro.
Final Boss: The last threat the Byrdes and Ruth have to deal with.
Hero Killer: She kills Ruth, one of the main characters of the show in the final episode of the series.
Mama Bear: A dark version, as she wants to exact retribution on the person who killed her son Javi and eventually does so when she kills Ruth
The Queenpin: She fills for her brother as head of the cartel after her son dies and Navarro is still in prison. Then, more permanently, when she makes a deal with the FBI and Navarro is killed.
The Sociopath: Aside from her love for her son. She cares not an iota for human life and will do anything, no matter how heinous, in order to achieve her goals.
The Unfettered: She proves to be a complete monster, and someone who will do anything, including attempting to kill her brother, and eventually succeeding in doing so in order to gain power for herself.

Del Rio

Camino Del Rio

Portrayed By: Esai Morales

A lieutenant for Mexico's Navarro drug cartel.

Affably Evil: Not during the majority of the season (where the polite death threats and open menace make him Faux Affably Evil) but when he first hired Marty and during the finale when Marty's managed to keep his word and come up with the casino plan, his friendliness is much more sincere.
Bait-and-Switch Boss: The early episodes of the series suggest that he will be the Big Bad of the series, as he appears to be the core antagonist Marty will go up against as he tries to extricate his family from the Ozark operation. He then becomes the Disc-One Final Boss, as he gets unceremoniously shot in the head by Darlene after insulting her and Jacob in a moment of triumph.
Big Bad: Of Season one. He is the one who got Marty and Bruce to launder money for The Cartel in the first place, and after finding out Bruce had embezzled some of the drug money, Del kills Bruce and his entire staff but spares Marty and forces him to move to the Ozarks to continue the money laundering for the cartel. And here we are!
Boom, Headshot!: Darlene shoots him in the head with a shotgun.
Cruel Mercy: He tells Hanson Sr., when the latter is pleading for his son's life, that a father shouldn't have to see his child die, and kills him first, then his son.
Didn't Think This Through: After sparing Marty he orders him to cash out all of his money, and then launder it in the Ozarks to prove that he can. The only problem is, Marty suddenly cashing out such a huge amount of money causes the bank to call the FBI on the assumption that Marty's being threatened, prompting them to make Marty a priority and making it much more difficult for Marty to launder for Del in the Ozarks (not to mention completely neutralising one of the big advantages the Ozarks had over Chicago; the relative lack of investigators)
Disc-One Final Boss: Of the series — he's set up to be the Big Bad, but in the grand scheme of things, he's just a subordinate to Omar Navarro.
Dragon-in-Chief: In Season one only. He is merely one of the many lieutenants for Omar Navarro, but is the one who got Marty to launder money in the first place, and coerced him to move to the Ozarks to set up business for the money laundering scheme.
Establishing Character Moment: His questioning of the characters who may have defrauded him in the pilot, and his subsequent leniency towards Marty, establishes that he's extremely good with figuring out whether a character has a "tell", and that he will reward loyalty and honesty — but only if they decide not to try and screw with him.
Fatal Flaw: Arrogance. He thought he was untouchable since he was a well connected member of The Cartel, but then he was foolish enough to insult Darlene to her face and got his head blown off as a result. Even Helene can't help but admit that she wasn't surprised by how he went out, as it was perfectly in character for him to do what he did.
Faux Affably Evil: Seems like a nice guy, but underneath it he's a cold, calculating sociopath who will steamroll anyone who threatens his interests or profits.
Go-Karting with Bowser: He played golf with Marty and Bruce during their vacation and seemed to enjoy it quite a lot.
The Heavy: He would be the Big Bad for Season 1 since he's the danger that pushes Marty into the Ozarks in the first place, but in the grand scheme of things he's merely a lieutenant for Navarro.
Meaningful Name: His full name is Camino Del Rio, which in Spanish translates as "River Road". This foreshadows the fact that the stream in the Snells' land is a road leading to the Missouri River, making them eligible to build a floating casino on it.
Only Sane Man: Downplayed, as he's also a ruthless murderer and criminal. But compared to childish psychopaths like Navarro and Javi, he seems like a well adjusted member of society.
Secret Test of Character: Suspecting that Marty's co-workers have been stealing from him, he tells them a story about how one of his father's employees was caught stealing from his father and asks them what his father should do. Noticing that all of the men are sympathizing with the employee, but Marty merely responds that he knows Del only tries to intimidate them, Del draws the conclusion that all of them, except Marty, were guilty of stealing from him.
The Sociopath: Del Rio is cold-blooded to the very core, and thinks nothing of murdering anyone — enemy, ally or innocent bystander — if it benefits him.
Soft-Spoken Sadist: What partially makes him so intimidating is that he never raises his voice, so you never know if he is gonna spare or kill you.
Spotting the Thread: A key part of his temperament is that he picks up on things very few (if any) would know about, which has benefited his operations:
- In the pilot, he more-or-less figures out that Marty had nothing to do with the theft of the $5 million, both because Marty was completely calm during the situation and made the only correct choice during the Secret Test of Character (firing the woman who stole the money).
- In a flashback, he picks Marty to get more involved with his operation after the latter becomes the only accountant he spoke to that was able to pick out operational deficiencies in the financial workbook he provided (which also went to several other brokers).
- During the finale, he also realises that when Marty greeted him by saying he'd solved their problem and didn't go Motor Mouth giving details the way he did in the first episode when he was frantically making up the Ozark opportunities on the spot, it means Marty really does have something pretty spectacular to propose. Shame he realised this after ripping out several of Marty's toenails.
Tempting Fate: He makes the mistake of referring to Jacob and Darlene with a backhanded insult right at his moment of triumph, just as he's congratulating Marty for getting the Ozark operation up and running. When they're clearly insulted by his remark, Del Rio chooses to double down and repeat it and is unceremoniously shot in the head by Darlene before he can even finish his sentence. Helen immediately believes Marty when he relays the story to her, admitting that it was perfectly in character for him to do so.
The Stoic: He generally keeps his emotion in check, which is what makes him so frightening. You don't know if he's planning to kill you or not.
Villain Respect: Throughout the early episodes, it becomes abundantly clear why he trusts Marty so much — the latter man is able to come through and keep his word, even in situations where it seems his success is improbable. One interpretation of the climactic scene in the pilot is that Del was always going to spare Marty (based on their own mutual history and the latter passing the Secret Test of Character) and goes along with his plan to set-up shop in the Ozarks. In the first-season finale, he's practically giddy with happiness towards Marty.
Villains Out Shopping: He makes it clear during a golf match that it is the one time he does not want to be talking about business.
Your Head Asplode: Courtesy of Darlene, via a shotgun blast to the head at near-point blank range.

Helen

Helen Pierce

Portrayed By: Janet McTeer

A Chicago-based attorney who represents the cartel.

Amoral Attorney: A cartel lawyer with no real scruples about what her employers do as long as she and hers can benefit.
Big Bad Wannabe: Plots to take over the Byrde's operation in the Ozarks, mining their alliances and forging evidence to get Navarro to dispose of them. Then Navarro disposes of her. Turns out Marty and Wendy are more valuable to his business than her.
Boom, Headshot!: How Navarro has her killed.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She's very protective of her kids, and is pissed after Ben tells Erin the truth.
Foreshadowing: Midway through the second season, she tells Nelson (her bodyguard/hitman) that in the event that the cartel deems that she has outlived her usefulness, for him to warn her beforehand. When they arrive in Mexico, Nelson is the one to nonchalantly put a bullet in her, making it clear how far down her position had degraded in the Cartel (in favor of Marty and Wendy).
Hidden Depths: She reveals in her conversation with Jonah that she has a lot of things she's sorry about, including getting herself and her family involved in the whirlwind that is The Cartel.
Mama Bear: Does whatever she can to keep Erin in the dark about her double life.
Manipulative Bitch: Even more so than Wendy.
Not So Stoic: She's genuinely scared for her life when Jonah pulls a gun on her and threatens to kill her for her role in Ben's death.
Pet the Dog: In the season 2 finale when Wendy comes to her to have Cade killed Helen warns her that once she goes through with it she'll never be the same again. She seems to not want Wendy to have to deal with the guilt of killing a man. Even though it was a liability to the business it's clear Helen would have let it drop had Wendy decided not to go through with it.
The Stoic: She's a Consummate Professional who rarely ever loses composure or raises her tone. It's what makes her all the more intimidating.
Tempting Fate: She is keenly aware of how tenuous her position is representing the Cartel, and asks Nelson to warn her if he gets the call to have her executed. Nelson doesn't warn her, and instead delivers a Boom, Headshot! the moment she meets Navarro in Mexico.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Is executed by Nelson, on Navarro's orders, the moment she reaches Mexico, due to Navarro realizing that Marty and Wendy are more useful to his operation than her.

Nelson

Portrayed By: Nelson Bonilla

An assassin employed by the Navarro Cartel, who assists Helen Pierce as her driver and confidante.

Affably Evil: Despite his cold-blooded nature and line of work, he is shown to have something approaching a camaraderie with Helen, and tells a therapist that he did own a pet (a husky dog) in the past that he cared about.
Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: The reason for his presence — he handles multiple assassinations on behalf of Helen (and, by extension, the Navarro Cartel), up to and including thefts and ambushing his targets before they can spoil the Ozark operation.
Blatant Lies: He reassures Helen that if he "ever gets the call about me" from Navarro to have her taken out, he will give her the heads-up so she can flee the country first. At the end of Season 3, he nonchalantly has Helen executed the moment she steps up to Navarro after getting out of the plane.
Only One Name: He is only ever referred to as "Nelson", which may or may not be an alias.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He is dispatched by Helen to murder the Byrde's family therapist, Sue — but winds up going through a therapy session first, where he admits that he's concerned with letting anyone get too close to him because of the nature of his job. To note: this is the only time he lets his guard down for anyone in multiple seasons of the show. Doubles as Hidden Depths.
Professional Killer: His primary job is to murder people for his employer.
The Sociopath: He'll kill people in the blink of an eye without a shred of remorse or shame in doing so.
The Stoic: So much so that Ruth often derisively refers to him as a robot.

Other Characters

Rachel

Rachel Garrison

Portrayed By: Jordana Spiro

The owner of the Blue Cat hotel and bar and Marty's reluctant business partner.

Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When Agent Petty drags her into the woods and threatens to shoot her, she drops her cocky demeanor and begs for her life.
Broken Pedestal: Her fondness and respect for Marty quickly dissipates when she learns that he neglected to rehire their old mentally disabled employee Tuck after starting the casino and left him unemployed.
Positive Friend Influence: A much-needed one to Ruth late in season 4. Rachel is ultimately the one who helps her to clean her name, abandon her life of crime and put herself together after everything she's been through.
Troll: When Petty forces a wire on her, she deliberately irritates him by forcing him to listen to her fuck some guy (who she insists on calling Marty) and striking two horseshoes together to hurt his ears.

Sam

Samuel Eugene Dermody

Portrayed By: Kevin Jackson

A real estate agent and clueless associate of Marty and Wendy.

Butt-Monkey: Gets little respect from his associates and is mostly exploited for his naive nature. He is even briefly arrested at the end of Season 3.
Earn Your Happy Ending: A measure of happy, at least. At the end of the fourth season, he's become a born-again Christian and joined Nathan's church group.
My Beloved Smother: His mother is an overbearing harridan who even manages to bully her son from beyond the grave, demanding an exorbitant funeral in her will and explicitly stating that she wants her remains crushed into a diamond that he can propose with to his future wife, who in the event is somewhat unnerved by his proposal.
Nice Guy: Is one of the very few bonafide good guys in the whole series. Unfortunately, his kind and trusting nature often gets him taken advantage of (usually by someone of the opposite sex).

Mason

Mason Young

Portrayed By: Michael Mosley

Driven to Madness: After learning of the Snell's dealings with his church, he loses faith in God and becomes more unstable.
Evil Stole My Faith: After learning what the Snells were really up to, and the disappearance/death of his beloved wife Grace, he eventually succumbs to madness and despair, losing his faith in God.
Good Shepherd: Starts this way, but slowly loses his mind and faith after finding out the Snells are moving their heroin during his sermons, he tries to stop it from happening, and his wife Grace is killed.
Good Is Dumb: Mason is this before he becomes a villain, which is largely why Marty and Wendy's attempts to protect him fail miserably.
This Is Unforgivable!: He views Marty as "The Devil" after Grace's death, and their fallout over the deal with the Snells.
Tragic Villain: Was a genuinely good man before he was Driven to Villainy by his wife's death. Even in the scene he's killed, he seems to genuinely want to protect Wendy from Marty.
Unwitting Pawn: By the start of the series he is already this to the Snells. When the Byrdes try to make him their pawn instead, there is a conflict of interest, and Mason is caught in the crossfire. Tragedy ensues.

Zeke

Ezekiel "Zeke"

Portrayed By:

Mason's son and then Darlene's adopted son.

What Happened to the Mouse?: Is last seen when Ruth turns him over to social services, warning them not to give him over to Wendy.

Buddy

James "Buddy" Small

Portrayed By: Harris Yulin

An elderly man living with the Byrdes.

Ambiguously Evil: Alongside his claim of killing Jimmy Hoffa, he is good friends with Frank Cosgrove and did work with the Teamsters.
Cool Old Guy: A sympathetic ear and a reliable if not too versatile ally.
Handicapped Badass: May be terminally ill, but he is still a dangerous man. Just ask Garcia.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Crass and blunt to every member of the Byrde family, he's also why any of them are still alive.
Politically Incorrect Hero: Calls Obama a Muslim (presumably jokingly) and when holding Garcia at gunpoint, tells him to shut his "tamale hole". Still one of the more upstanding characters on the show.
Retired Badass: The Jimmy Hoffa claim aside, he was one of the best helicopter pilots in Vietnam, according to one of the messages read out by Jonah at his funeral.
Skinny Dipping: He likes to do this in the lake. The Byrdes may not approve, but they do not stop him.

Sue

Portrayed By: Marylouise Burke

Marty and Wendy's therapist.

Dr. Jerk: Downplayed. She is not above accepting bribes from Marty and Wendy to take their sides and later blackmails them for her silence on their crimes. Despite this, Sue has shown genuine concern for their well-being and marriage and even provides unwanted counseling to Marty as he confronts her on her new car.
The Shrink: Is Marty and Wendy's therapist, but she accepts bribes from both if them to give biased counselling, which of course doesn't repair the marriage. She does seem to become genuinely concerned with their marriage, but even then her professionalism can be heavily questioned, not to mention how greedy she becomes.
Too Dumb to Live: After Marty had no choice but to pay her off following a few inadvertent disclosures during a session, she uses the (considerable amount of) money to buy a very conspicuous sports car, and then asks for more money when confronted by Helen. This gets her a visit from Nelson, who chooses to listen to her for a bit before executing her.

Mel

Mel Sattem

Portrayed By: Adam Rothenberg

A private investigator looking into Helen's disappearance, and later Ben's.

Hero Antagonist: His search for Helen leads him to stumble on the dangerous operations of the Cartel run by the Byrdes, which he then proceeds to uncover.
Idiot Ball: Sure, Mel, after retrieving conclusive evidence against the cartel employees, stay around to gloat a little. Even if Jonah had not appeared with a shotgun, the chances of the Byrdes letting him get away with Ben's ashes are less than zero.
Recovered Addict: He is a former cop who was expelled from the force for using drugs from the evidence room. He seems to be recovering since.

Clare

Clare Shaw

Portrayed By: Katrina Lenk

The CEO of a pharmaceutical company who makes business with the Byrdes.

Break Them by Talking: Is on the receiving end of this by Camila who makes it clear to Clare that if she doesn't tell her who murdered her son a horrible death would happen to her. It works. She tells Camila that Ruth did the murder setting in motion Ruth's demise.
Dirty Coward: Downplayed. She rats on Ruth being Javi's killer to Camila, but only in the face of Camila's extremely graphic threat and at least omits Marty and Wendy's complicity.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: Her family's notoriety is reminiscent of the Sacklers and their responsibility for fueling the contemporary opioid epidemic.
Trapped in Villainy: After making a deal with a drug cartel once, you don't get to go back, really.
White Sheep: Deconstructed and subverted. She believes herself to be the most moral of her family by owning the responsibility of their company in the raise of opioid addiction, but when she begins to consort with literal drug dealers, her moral standing starts to crumble step by step.

Jim

James Rattelsdorf

Portrayed By: Damian Young

Charlie Wilkes' assistant, later working for Wendy.

Affably Evil: Granted, "evil" is a bit of a stretch, but he is an Amoral Attorney helping the Byrdes with political influence for their Cartel-related activities. That said, Jim is also a friendly and likable man.
Amoral Attorney: While not entirely without ethics, he still helps The Byrde's with their Cartel-related operations.
Everyone Has Standards: He is disgusted by Schafer's scheme to manufacture rigged voting machines, stating that even he drew the line at massive electoral fraud.
Gay Conservative: Works for a prominent Republican donor and is happily married to a man named David. Subverted later when he works for Wendy.
Hypercompetent Sidekick: First to Charles Wilkes, later for Wendy.
Straight Gay: Shows no camp traits despite his sexuality.

Nix

Sheriff Nix

Portrayed By: Robert C. Treveiler

The Sheriff.

Affably Evil: He's a crooked cop, but he's nice and reasonable enough if you don't get in his way.
Dirty Cop: Sheriff Nix is in the Snells' pocket due to some unspecified debt he owes them. In season three, he agrees to help push opium for Darlene, though he eventually manages to get himself out of it.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: On Mel's request, Nix for once decides to do the right thing and go investigate the disappearance of Helen. His visit to her house gets him killed.
Reasonable Authority Figure: While he's a shamelessly crooked cop. He's generally patient and sensible with most of the people he comes across.

Characters / Ozark

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Main Characters

The Byrde-Davis Family

Martin "Marty" Byrde

Wendy Byrde

Charlotte Byrde

Jonah Byrde

Ben Davis

Nathan Davis

The Langmore Family

Ruth Langmore

Wyatt Langmore

Three Langmore

Russ Langmore

Boyd Langmore

Cade Langmore

The Snell Family

Jacob Snell

Darlene Snell

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Agent Roy Petty

Maya Miller

Navarro Drug Cartel

Omar Navarro

Javier 'Javi' Elizondro

Camila Navarro Elizondro

Camino Del Rio

Helen Pierce

Nelson

Other Characters

Rachel Garrison

Samuel Eugene Dermody

Mason Young

Ezekiel "Zeke"

James "Buddy" Small

Sue

Mel Sattem

Clare Shaw

James Rattelsdorf

Sheriff Nix

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