Fans are still reeling from the latest episodes of “Ozark” Season 4 Part 1, which dropped this past Friday, Jan. 21.
Now that the episodes are out, we can dig in with the creators of “Ozark” about the decision they made for this last season. So far, critics and audiences alike have praised the first seven episodes. And at some point in 2022, the last seven episodes should drop on Netflix as well.
Chris Mundy, the “Ozark” showrunner, spoke with The Hollywood Reporter earlier this week about several aspects of Season 4 Part 1. At one point, the interviewer asked Mundy about Charlotte, the daughter of Marty and Wendy Byrde. By Season 4, she’s 18 or 19 years old and has started to take after her mother, Wendy.
“That was very deliberate on our part,” Mundy said of the similarities between mother and daughter. “In the first couple seasons, just by nature of her character’s age on the show, she was going to be more rebellious. She had more of a life in Chicago that got ripped away from her.”
Mundy continued, “As they settled in and [the money laundering] really has become this family enterprise, for better or worse, we wanted to have her grow up and mature and mirror her mom’s behavior. Charlotte is now mirroring Wendy in a big way — physically, emotionally, intellectually.”
Charlotte started laundering for the money as early as Season 3. But the more we dove into Season 4, the more she dove into the family business as well.
‘Ozark’ Stars Talk About Byrde Children in Season 4
“Ozark” stars Sofia Hublitz and Skylar Gaertner sat down with ET Online earlier this year to talk about their characters in Season 4 Part 1. Hublitz plays Charlotte while Gaertner plays Jonah, her younger brother.
Hublitz mimicked what Mundy said about Charlotte really following in her mother’s footsteps this season. Although her character started out rebellious and determined to do her own thing, Charlotte eventually bowed to her family’s will.
“If anything, I think she’s been kind of super amenable to her parents’ wishes and is sort of falling in line with the family business,” Hublitz told the outlet. “I think you’re seeing Charlotte sort of being conditioned to become the successor to Byrde Enterprises and become kind of a little, mini Wendy. I’ve been wearing a lot of business outfits this year, a lot of sweaters, a lot of blazers. I’m in business mode a lot.”
But the person who did a ton of business this season on “Ozark” was Jonah. Gaertner mentioned how he’s the one rebelling against the family now after finding out that his mom ordered a hit on her own brother.
“Up until that point, he’s been kinda inseparable from his family, ’cause they’re kinda all he has,” Gaertner shared. “He doesn’t have a whole lot of friends or anything. But after he threatens Helen’s life with a shotgun and he finds out that it was his mom that killed his best friend… Obviously, that’ll change the way he thinks about his family, so we’ll see how that plays out.”
Stay tuned for more “Ozark” info to come.
