‘Ozark’ Renewed for Season 3 on Netflix

Netflix has officially renewed Ozark for a third season, bringing Jason Bateman and Laura Linney back to the frightening world of money laundering.

Ozark‘s second season hit Netflix at the end of August. It has gotten mixed reviews critically, but apparently it captured the audience enough for Netflix to keep the story going. TV Line is reporting that another 10-episode season is on the way, and is expected to premiere sometime in 2019.

Ozark is often compared to Breaking Bad, as a show where seemingly normal characters get sucked into a world of crime and, arguably, evil. It follows the Byrde family through a money laundering scheme that now even their children are in on. This season, Linney’s character, Wendy Byrde, found a lot more to do as she took on a more and more integral role in her husband’s criminal machinations.

Critics have not always been kind to Ozark, though award shows have. In its first season, the show picked up a staggering nine Emmy nominations, including one for Bateman as Outstanding Lead Actor. He got the same nomination at the Golden Globes that year, and both he and Linney got nominations for Lead Actor and Actress at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well.

This could be a leading factor behind the renewal. Netflix has plenty of original content in their catalogue these days, and racking up award nominations on those programs builds a foundation of legitimacy that can go a long way in an industry where the company is still a relative newcomer — albeit one with a lot of money.

On top of that, however, is Netflix’s meticulous tracking of user data. The streaming giant has a depth of knowledge on their audience’s habits that network TV can only dream of, and while networks’ ratings are something of an open book with the Nielsen system, Netflix plays it closer to the chest. Their metrics are, presumably, much more detailed than the systems that network TV uses as well, giving them data on how certain programs seem to drive subscriptions, how they lead audiences to other shows and, ultimately, what makes a show like Ozark profitable.

Bateman reacted to the renewal news almost immediately on Wednesday morning, sharing a simple new logo for the season.

“I’m happy for me, but concerned for Marty,” he wrote. “It’s official OZARK 3 is on its way.”

Bateman has run a poll on Twitter the day before, asking fans if they thought he should start working on a new season of Ozark. The actor offered them the answers, “Yes, absolutely,” and “Is this even a question?”

Ozark season 3 is scheduled to hit Netflix sometime in 2019.