Netflix’s thrilling cartel series came to a jaw-dropping conclusion last month when the final seven episodes of Ozark were unleashed to streamers. Before Wendy (played by Laura Linney) and Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman) made their final attempt to escape the clutches of the cartel, however, their former partner Darlene Snell (Lisa Emery) met a brutal demise in the midseason finale.
Lisa and her Ozark co-star Charlie Tahan have opened up on two of the most shocking deaths in the show’s history.
At the end of the first half of season four, both Darlene and Charlie’s character Wyatt Langmore are callously taken out by the Navarro cartel’s second in command, Javi Elizondro (Alfonso Herrera).
Ruth Langmore (Julia Garner) manages to get her revenge for her cousin’s death but, sadly, this was the last we saw of the pair before the gripping final chapter.
Series regular Lisa revealed in the new documentary, A Farewell to Ozark, she suspected Darlene’s death was in the pipeline, though this by no means made it any easier to say goodbye.
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“It was crushing to learn that I was going to be killed and yet, I could smell it coming,” she said.
“I mean, you can’t keep someone like Darlene kicking around forever. She’s gotta get her comeuppance.”
Darlene and her late husband Jacob Snell (Peter Mullan) caused both the Byrdes and the cartel plenty of trouble throughout the first four seasons of Ozark.
After the death of her husband, Darlene began an unexpected relationship with Wyatt, which ultimately led him into the cartel’s crosshairs.
Lisa said: “When I first learned that Wyatt and I were going to become an item… I thought it was very daring, a daring thing for them to do.”
And showrunner Chris recalled: “I called Charlie and Charlie laughed for a solid two minutes before he said anything. He just laughed his a** off.”
Charlie remembered the very same call and also confirmed laughing with Chris down the line before getting down to the details.
“Chris Mundy called me and told me, a couple months before we started shooting, and we were just cracking up,” he said.
“I think he mentioned it started as kind of an inside joke in the writers’ room, and they were like, ‘What if Darlene and Wyatt went together?’”
Fans grew surprisingly fond of their seemingly out of nowhere romance, and were naturally devastated when they were both killed off in one fell swoop.
Ruth’s revenge against Javi may not have made up for the loss of two of the viewers’ most beloved characters, though they were still glad to see the cartel boss get his comeuppance.
Ozark seasons 1-4 are available to stream on Netflix.