Ozark’s Laura Linney lifts lid on Netflix episode that left cast and crew ‘crying, upset and p***ed off’

OZARK'S third season was filled with more brutality, heartbreak and double-crossing than ever before.

The Netflix thriller is known for putting audiences through its paces, keeping them second-guessing its duplicitious characters and often driving them to tears.

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However, according to Laura Linney, who plays Wendy Byrde, and Tom Pelphrey, who plays her brother Ben, the show is just as taxing on the cast and crew.

The pair revealed that the ninth episode of the drama sent shockwaves through the set, specifically Wendy's decision to murder her brother so as to protect the family's money laundering operation.

In a chat with Entertainment Weekly, Pelphrey admitted he broke down in tears upon reading the script for the first time.

"For me, the first time I read nine I was reading it like an audience member and I was just crying," he confessed.

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"Towards the end of the script I was having a hard time seeing the words."

Linney chipped in: "The crew was very p***edoff and upset when they read nine."

Pelphrey claimed his emotional reaction was mainly down to the sense of inevitability that lead up to the betrayal.

"I wasn’t even crying in the sense of Tom the actor, it was just like, 'Oh my God, of course this is how this would end,' and yet, 'Oh Jesus, don’t let it end this way,'" he continued.

"Which is such a compliment to the writing, where it’s this horribly impossible situation and it kind of plays out the only way that it can. It’s just great tragedy."

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Linney noted that the horrific moment will likely have ramifications for the Byrdes in season 4, which has been confirmed as the show's last.

She warned: "I also just think about the damage that has been done and the haunting that is now going to happen. You just think, “How in the world do they survive this?”

Pelphrey seconded the idea that the entire family would be shaken by the death and stressed that there was no going back from the heinous act.

"I cannot wait to see where season 4 goes, because of what this has done to Wendy, what this has done to the whole family. What does it look like to cross that line?" he concluded.

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Netflix announced that Ozark would "go out with a bang" when season 4 dropped next year.

The streamer wrote on Twitter: "They're going to go out with a bang. Ozark will be back with an expanded 14-episode final season."

In a post on its official UK Twitter account, the company added: "NEWS: Ozark will return for a fourth and final season, split across two parts – each of 7 episodes."

Ozarks seasons 1-3 are available to stream on Netflix now.