What if you hear that the actor who played your favorite character in a series didn’t want to play that character? You would get a shock, right? An Ozark star said something like this. It is surprising to know that the show has remarkable characters, and one of them didn’t like their character! Well, Laura Linney revealed how she wasn’t fond of Wendy Byrde at first.

Laura Linney didn’t like Wendy?

It is a little surprising to know that Laura Linney, who played the character extraordinarily, said that she didn’t want to be Wendy at first. The Emmy-winning crime drama ended earlier this year. Laura plays Wendy Byrde in the show; an ordinary wife and a mother. When her husband Marty Byrde shifts the family from Chicago to Missouri, Laura’s life turns upside down. Marty (Jason Bateman) admits that he’s stuck in illegal money laundering and now must take risks to get his family out of the situation.

Throughout the series, we can see that Laura’s character developed from a major transformation. She was just a housewife, who becomes a criminal. When she doesn’t have any choice left, Wendy exposes her dark and mysterious side as she’s in a life of secrecy and crime. Although Wendy gives up on her brother Ben in season 3 to protect her family, she has to face the consequences of this cold act in the following season. Wendy is the anti-hero of the show, yet she gained love from the viewers simply because of how Linney portrayed the character.

In an interview, however, Laura admits originally she wasn’t up for Wendy. She talks about when she first saw the script, she didn’t like Wendy from there and then. She says that the character was very different in the pilot itself. And yet, she chose to trsut Jason Bateman and Chris Mundy but still doesn’t know why she did.

“I remember saying to them, ‘I hope that if I sign onto this, you’ll use me. Otherwise, don’t cast me. Take someone else,” said Linney.

We are glad that Jason and Chris cast her and developed her character the way they did. “When people don’t want what you have to offer, it’s just womp-womp-womp,” because there is nothing worse than that, says Laura.

Fans also might have felt the same as Laura initially did. However, the story moved forward and the situations rapidly changed. And we could see wendy stepping out of her husband’s shadow and taking charge of the narrative. Clearly, Laura started to love the character as she continued with the show and even said goodbye to the character in her way. She even directed an episode, however, under pressure. Laura got praises for her directional debut as well. And she got nominated for two Emmys for her role in the thriller show Ozark.

What is your view of Wendy? Do you think the character would have been the same without Linney?