‘Ozark’ Season 4 Adds Bruce Davidson as Recurring Character for Netflix Series’ Final Season

Ozark is getting one last hurrah before coming to an end with Season 4, and now the show has added actor Bruce Davidson (X-Men, Longtime Companion) as a new recurring character for the Netflix series’ final season. According to Deadline, Davidson will play a powerful retired Illinois U.S. Senator named Randall Schafer. The former lawmaker is said to be “accustomed to doing things his way,” and “is not always easy to win over.” However, for the right price,” Schafer may be a fierce ally for Jason Bateman’s Marty Byrde to have. Though, this means he could be a feared enemy as well.

Ozark stars Bateman and Laura Linney as husband and wife who had to move their family from Chicago to Osage Beach, Missouri, after Marty got on the bad side of a Mexican drug cartel. However, the Byrdes don’t stay out of trouble for long, as they wind up entangled with local criminals in their new community. Season 3 of Ozark debuted in March 2020, with Season 4 being announced in June. In addition to Bateman and Linney, Ozark also stars Sofia Hublitz, Skylar Gaertner, Julia Garner, Lisa Emery, Jessica Frances Dukes, Felix Solis, Adam Rothenberg, Alfonso Herrera, Joseph Sikora, and Tom Pelphrey.

PopCulture previously spoke with Pelphrey about his role on the show, playing Linney’s character’s brother who suffers from bipolar disorder, and he shared his thoughts on the importance of his portrayal of a man with a diagnosed mental health issue. “I think there’s a lot of ways in which the audience could watch what Ben is doing and understand it and support him and also feel outraged about what he’s outraged by and also feel like somebody should say the truth to what he says,” Pelphrey said. “On the other hand, because we know the show and we know the Byrdes, and we know what’s at stake, there’s a part of the audience that, I’m sure, is looking at what Ben is doing and say, ‘Don’t do that! That’s so bad! You’re going to cause so many problems. You’re going to get people killed!’”

He added, “So I just think that that was excellent writing in the sense that sort of great, you know, quote-unquote tragedy is like, yes, we fully understand why this is happening and makes perfect sense — and yet it’s going to end terribly.” The first four seasons of Ozark are currently streaming on Netflix. There is currently no announced premiere date for Season 4.