Netflix's Breaking Bad Replacement Was Even Darker Than The OG Show

Published Sep 13, 2026, 2:30 PM EDT Ben Sherlock is a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the massively underrated YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema. Before working at Screen Rant, Ben wrote for Game Rant, Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop. He's also an indie filmmaker, a standup comedian, and an alumnus of the School of Rock. In the wake of Breaking Bad’s success, we started seeing lots of TV dramas about an ordinary family man getting drawn into a life of crime. FX had its own answer to Breaking Bad with Fargo’s homespun murder story. Apple TV has its own version of Breaking Bad with Your Friends and Neighbors, in which Jon Hamm schmoozes with his rich friends by day and burgles their mansions by night. Netflix had one of the most successful Breaking Bad knockoffs with Ozark. Where Breaking Bad put a scientific genius on the production side of the illegal drug trade, Ozark put a financial wiz on the marketing side. Jason Bateman plays Marty Byrde, a Chicago investment advisor who secretly launders money for a Mexican cartel. When Marty’s business partner is caught skimming millions off the top, the cartel has him killed and forces Marty to pay off his debts. So, Marty moves his family to the Ozarks to set up a much more elaborate money-laundering scheme to make up the difference. There, he runs afoul of local criminals and law enforcement as he slowly chips away at his debt. When it first premiered, Ozark seemed like yet another Breaking Bad ripoff, borrowing the premise of a mild-mannered husband and father being thrust into a high-stakes criminal conspiracy and the conceit of casting a traditionally comedic actor to play this dramatic role. In its first season, Ozark did feel a lot like Breaking Bad, but as the series went on, it became its own thing. If anything, Ozark ultimately became much darker and grimmer than Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad didn’t shy away from brutality — it wasn’t afraid to kill off a kid — but Ozark was even grislier, gloomier, and more graphically violent. It made Breaking Bad look like a walk in the park. Ozark Ended Up Being Very Different From Breaking Bad Ultimately, Ozark ended up being a very different show than Breaking Bad. The initial premise was similar, but the execution was wildly different. Visually, the cold, rainy locales of rural Missouri couldn’t be a more different setting than the sun-soaked deserts of Albuquerque. The financial side of the business put Marty in a completely different part of the industry than Walt and Jesse; where Walt and Jesse were producing and selling the drugs, Marty cleans the money afterward. In the early days of Breaking Bad, Walt kept his meth venture a secret from his wife and kids, but Marty didn’t keep his crimes from his family; he involved them from the jump. Marty’s wife Wendy, played brilliantly by Laura Linney, was the opposite of Skyler White. In Breaking Bad, Skyler is another one of Walt’s victims, caught between a rock and a hard place, but in Ozark, the wife was more evil than the husband. Marty wasn’t a particularly good dude, but he wasn’t a monster like Walt; Wendy, on the other hand, was. Even when Skyler got involved in Walt’s business, they kept Walt, Jr. and Holly in the dark about it. But in Ozark, the kids were accomplices. Marty and Wendy’s son and daughter both have important roles in their money-laundering enterprise. Ruth Langmore — the closest thing Ozark had to a Jesse Pinkman figure — completely stole the show. Julia Garner gave a star-making turn as Ruth, playing her with a poignant mix of fierce badassness and relatable vulnerability. Ruth is tough as nails, but she’s still a human being. While it might’ve been dismissed as a Breaking Bad clone at first, Ozark quickly made a name for itself. Now, it’s remembered alongside Breaking Bad as one of the best crime dramas of the 21st century (despite a shaky ending). Ozark Release Date 2017 - 2022 Network Netflix Cast Jason Bateman Marty Byrde