The brand new season of the hit Netflix series “Ozark” has been extremely well-received and fans are eating it up.
“Ozark” is a thrill-a-minute roller coaster ride that blasts off and never comes back down to earth. The first part of the fourth season has introduced us to several brand new characters with their own story arcs. One such character is Nathan Davis, Wendy Byrde’s estranged father. We don’t know a ton about Nathan other than he lives in Boone, North Carolina and is supposedly a religious man. He and Wendy do not speak often although Nathan does ask about his grandkids, Jonah and Charlotte, from time. He seems to be living the life of a shut-in when we are introduced to him in the “Ozark” fourth season. The actor portraying Nathan Davis should look very familiar to several readers — Richard Thomas.
Thomas is best known for his award-winning performances on “The Waltons” many years ago. On the show, Thomas played young and aspiring writer John Boy Walton. One of the most popular television shows of all time, “The Waltons” ran for nine seasons and 221 episodes between 1972 and 1981. He won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama for the series. Some of Thomas’ other notable works are “The Americans, “The Blacklist” and Stephen King’s “It.”
Though we don’t see a whole lot of him on “Ozark,” Thomas is excellent as Nathan Davis and brings experience to an outstanding cast. We first see Davis in his North Carolina home speaking with a private detective trying to figure out what happened to Helen Pierce.
Davis believes his mentally unstable son, Ben, is still alive though Wendy had him killed in season three. He has an intense discussion with his daughter later in the ‘Ozark’ season.
‘Ozark’ Showrunner Talks About the Show’s Tremendous Cast
Richard Thomas is an excellent addition to the already stellar “Ozark” cast for the first part of season four. The cast’s heavy hitter includes the likes of Jason Bateman, Laura Linney and Julia Garner. “Ozark” Showrunner Chris Mundy says he’s thrilled to have such a talented cast to work with. He also notes that the Byrde family will be under great scrutiny this season.
“One more task and they’re really, truly out,” Mundy says. “The Byrdes are suddenly serving two masters: Navarro and the FBI. Both are ruthless in their own way.”
Most “Ozark” fans have already binged the first half of the fourth and are ready for the second half. Mundy is not sure when that will be but it is coming.
“There hasn’t been a decision made as to how far apart the two half-seasons will be,” he says. “It’s tricky, as writers, because we have to think of it as one final act and, yet, we also realize that people are going to experience it as two different viewing experiences. So, there has to be a satisfying end to the first half and the feeling of beginning in the second — and yet it all needs to be rolling downhill toward our conclusion. We’ve talked endlessly about how to pull off both of those things because, on paper, they don’t easily coexist.”
