Jason Bateman Shares Details About His Thrilling New Netflix Series, ‘Ozark’

Netflix shocked TV audiences last month, when the streaming service released the first teaser trailer for Jason Bateman’s new original series, Ozark.

The trailer looked like a thrill-ride, combining some of the best elements of Breaking Bad and Bloodline, but there was no real information about Ozark‘s story.

Well, until now.

While speaking with EW, Bateman shared some details about Ozark, as well as what the future could hold for the series.

Ozark tells the tale of Marty Byrde (Bateman), a Chicago business man who gets himself in a bind. Marty has been laundering money for a drug lord named Del (Esai Morales), and Del believes that Marty and his business partner Bruce (Josh Randall) have been stealing from him. Marty lies, saying that he can turn the missing money into hundreds of millions of dollars, and he flees to the Lake of the Ozarks with his wife (Laura Linney) and their kids (Sofia Hublitz, Skylar Gaertner). An FBI agent (Jason Butler Harner) is hot on their trail.

It’s a catastrophic mess, and Bateman had a few choice words to describe his character’s situation.

“[Marty must] wash $8 million or his whole family will be killed,” sums up Bateman. “And as that clock continues to tick, there are things he’s forced to do that double down on the jeopardy…. He’s finding that pragmatism, survival, and an animal instinct to provide are taking over and driving all of his decisions, and if people don’t like it — family included — f— them.”

“Things go sideways when he tries to ‘big-city’ some of these local religious zealots or meth-heads or biker gangs,” hinted the actor. “Marty might underestimate the intelligence or savviness of what he perceives to be a simpler, less complicated breed of person. There’s a physical danger, emotional danger, financial danger. That learning curve is steep for him—and it costs some people some lives.”

Bateman then compared Marty to his other roles – which are often comedic – saying that this character is right in the middle. He also spoke a bit about directing the show, a role he takes on for 10 episodes of the series.

More TV: Fox Unveils Fall Premiere Schedule

“By design, I play characters that live close to the middle as far as dramatic/comedic, ethical/unethical, smart/dumb,” he said. “That allows me more flexibility and latitude to pull and push the audience into ‘I’m for him.’ ‘I’m against him.’ Marty Byrde is right on the bullseye.

“The acting was something that I was completely comfortable and excited to do. But what drew me to it was the opportunity to direct something like this.”

Finally, Jason Bateman revealed that, while they hope for a second season, Ozark won’t hold anything back. The show will lay everything on the line this summer.

“We were very, very conscious not to do the beautiful work that Breaking Bad did,” he said. “That’s not the direction that he goes. But there’s an education and an emancipation that happens.

“We finish the movie. We’re not saving some for next year.”

All episodes of Ozark will debut on Netflix on July 21.

Up Next: Everything Coming To Netflix In July