'Ozark' fan theory suggests that Jacob Snell is not dead, so will Peter Mullan return to the Netflix show in Season 3?
'Ozark' might only return to Netflix in 2020 but there are many unanswered questions to decode. Perhaps, it is that curiosity that probed a viewer to relook at one of the biggest plot twists in season two. According to a fan theory posted on Reddit, Jacob Snell (Peter Mullan) is not dead.
Let us go back to that gruesome incident in episode nine in the second season to refresh our memories. The Snell couple was driven apart after the collapse of their autonomy, the loss of their land and their constant nitpicking at each other after Darlene (Lisa Emery) killed the Mexicans' negotiator.
Towards the end of the episode, the two decided to go for one last walk where Jacob chalked out a plan to stab his beloved wife to death.
However, things didn't turn out according to the plan and Darlene beat him to death instead after contaminating his coffee with cyanide. She cradled him to death and even in the final moments, added a pinch of humor. "I never could keep up with you, Darlene," Jacob mumbled at his death bed.
But one viewer thinks Jacob might not be dead as his body was not shown at the funeral. The fan wrote, "I predict that Jacob Snell is not dead. They did not show his body at the funeral home and he did not die a violent and excruciating death as cyanide poisoning would surely indicate."
"I think Darlene may have him 'sequestered' somewhere, but he will make his appearance in episode one or two. At least I hope so," the fan speculated.
Jacob's death was a big turning point to show power play between the pair and to give Darnelle an upper hand. Shedding light to a flashback scene between the couple, writer Chris Mundy told Thrillist: "For us, we were really interested in the parallels between the Snells and the Byrdes as couples during this season."
"There's no compromise in Darlene. In having the flashback to them as a younger couple, we see they were together for a long time since they were really young. And she was sort of all-in the second they were together. And Jacob knew it."
However, the decision to axe Mullan's role might not have been an easy one. Mundy told Herald Scotland: "He blew my mind when I saw him in Jane Campion’s 'Top of the Lake'. We had him in mind from the very beginning, to play our main threat, locally, and went after him, in a really aggressive way."
"I was a little starstruck. We wanted him so bad – we didn't even have a script for him when we offered it to him. Thankfully, he said yes."
Considering the desperation of the writers to bring him on board, they might have let his death be an open-ended plot twist and could bring him back in season three. However, it could also be a false alarm but we will only know when the new season of the crime-thriller rolls out on Netflix next year.
