‘Ozark’: Julia Garner Talks About Ruth’s ‘Curiosity’ and How It Gets Her Ahead in the Series

Julia Garner has become a household name as the street-smart Ruth Langmore on Ozark. She’s come a long way from cleaning dingy motels and stealing on the side. She’s managed to make herself indispensable and in season 3, she has more responsibility than ever before.

Ruth Langmore isn’t like the other Langmores

Ruth isn’t like her father, Cade (Trevor Long), who is well known as a petty criminal that’s always looking to take advantage of someone. Although Ruth does have the drive to commit these crimes as well, she eventually opts to working with Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman) and learning the business. She does it initially to steal from him, but she makes herself indispensable to both Marty and the Navarro cartel along the way.

She may have never finished high school, but Ruth hasn’t let that stop her. She has a willingness to do better and be more than her father ever was. She might even change the way people see the Langmores with her hard work and determination.

Julia Garner talks about Ruth’s ‘curiosity’

Julia Garner spoke with Gold Derby last year before the premiere of the new season where she talked about her character in more detail. Ruth wants to leave the life of crime that her family has become accustomed to, but it’s difficult because of her father. Despite all that, Ruth’s “curiosity” helps her to be more “hopeful” about a different future.

“Which she’s trying to get away from,” Garner said about the life Ruth finds herself in when we are first introduced to her. “She wants to move up. I think that was another thing that I was so attracted to this character when I got the script. I just love how curious Ruth is and because of that curiosity, there’s a sense of hopefulness, in a way. There’s something very pure about being hopeful and endearing. That’s why Ruth had her moments where she can be really liked, with a heavy show.”

Ruth is ‘hopeful’, which makes her a hard worker

Ruth’s hopefulness can be seen in everything she does, which moves her further ahead in life. She gets up and goes to work and she doesn’t slack off. She works hard and makes herself a valued worker to Marty, who begins to really trust her. She gains more responsibility and she realizes she has a bright future ahead of her. The sky’s the limit for Ruth Langmore.

“There’s a hopeful quality about her, even though it doesn’t seem like it,” Garner continued. “If you really watch it carefully, she always has a reason to get up in the morning, to go to work and work really hard. She’s hopeful that something’s gonna come out of it. Even in Season 1, in the bathroom stall scene, now I just remember all of the sudden she always kept on saying that word, “When you got opportunity,” she’s very hopeful. I was very attracted to that because that’s an attractive quality, to have curiosity and to be hopeful but not delusional. She’s not delusional. There’s a difference.”

Ruth Langmore is an essential part of Ozark. Keep checking back for all the latest on the hit series.