Ozark’s Buddy Dieker was a season one and two fan-favourite character who had a military background as shown in the details of his basement on the series.
Ozark is counting down the weeks until its release of season four, part two which is set to mark the end of the hit Netflix original series. As the show counts down to the seven-episode series finale, fans are revisiting past seasons to catch up.
Season one and two fan-favourite character, Buddy Dieker, lived with the Byrdes when they first moved to the Ozarks. The U.S Navy veteran’s death in season two occurred as part of a story device to advance the story.
What is Ozark?
Ozark first premiered on Netflix in 2017 as part of the platform’s original content after the end of its preceding original crime drama series, Narcos.
The dark and twisted crime drama series was created by Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams and has won three Primetime Emmy awards.
The premise of Ozark is, “A financial advisor drags his family from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks, where he must launder money to appease a drug boss.”
The series, set to conclude in April 2022, is fronted by married couple, Martin “Marty” and Wendy Byrde, played by the acclaimed actors Jason Bateman and Laura Linney, respectively.
Is Buddy from Ozark ex-military?
The first season of Ozark introduced the Byrde family who had just come up with the plan to launder the Navarro cartel’s money in order to survive.
When the family moved to the Ozarks, they bought a house from Buddy Dieker, a terminally ill elderly man who agreed for the family to move into the house on the condition he could continue to stay in the basement.
The family agreed, and after moving in, Buddy began to form a close relationship with the family. In particular, Buddy became close with Jonah and Wendy.
While many details about Buddy were unknown by the time he died on the show, we did learn that before moving to Missouri, he had worked as Teamsters Union Leader in his hometown; Michigan, Detroit.
Moreover, before that, he was in the military with the U.S Navy Seals. Buddy was a helicopter veteran, as was evident in the details found in the basement like the U.S Navy Seals sticker.
Why did Harris Yulin leave Ozark?
Harris Yulin portrayed the character of Buddy Dieker for two seasons on Ozark. The beloved character died in season two after helping Wendy with their plan to get land to build their casino on.
Seemingly, his death was only a story device to advance the story, as showrunner Chris Mundy asserted:
“As we were plotting the season out, and as we laid out what we wanted to do to Netflix at the beginning of the year, everybody knew which characters were going to go, but it’s still hard because those are friends you’re not going to be working with next year.”
Will Harris Yulin return to Ozark?
Seeing the impact of Harris Yulin’s character during his two-season stint as Buddy Dieker, before season three and season four, part one commenced, fans had hoped that he might return in cameo appearances on the series.
But as the show continued, it seems unlikely that the character will return in any form to the series. This is unlike how Ozark has somewhat teased the possibility of the return of season three-introduced fan-favourite character, Ben Davis.
Played by Tom Pelphrey, Ben was believed to have been killed offscreen after season three’s finale. In the latest season, the series has played on whether Wendy’s brother is actually dead or not.
When is Ozark season 4, part 2 set for release?
When Netflix availed Ozark season four, part one’s seven episodes in January 2022, it was believed that the paid subscription video-on-demand platform would only avail part two in the second half of the year.
However, in March 2022, Netflix surprised fans by releasing the official release date of season four, part two which is Friday, 29 April 2022.
Moreover, the platform has already released the official trailer of the series’ seven-episode part two finale, which teased how the series would end.
Final thoughts
Ozark fans are counting down the weeks until Netflix releases the much-anticipated season four, part two series finale. As such, many fans are using the time before the release on Friday, 29 April 2022 to refresh their memory on earlier seasons of the series.
One of the characters who was lost early in the show was ex-military, terminally ill, elderly Buddy Dieker.
To date, Buddy stands as one of the few really likeable characters and was one of the only true friends that the Byrde family had following their move to the Ozarks, before dying in season two due to his heart failure condition.