Tom Pelphrey Talks About His Time On Outer Range And Ozark — Exclusive Interview

Outside of "Outer Range," your "Ozark" character was brought back via flashback in Season 4. What was it like returning for that show?

It was like getting to go home after you've been away for a while. It was difficult, actually, because of the juxtaposition of what I was feeling as a human being versus what I had to do in the scenes as the character. It was so hard, because getting to go back to Atlanta and being on that set and seeing Jason, Laura, and all the crew, I was so happy.

That job was, and probably always will be in some way, the most special time for me and I'm so grateful for it. I can talk about it forever. Getting to go back and see those actors and that crew, it filled me with such joy, and then, such terror because I was like, "Oh my God, how am I going to get in the car now and do the scene?" There's no part of me that's feeling particularly emo right now. I was smiling and laughing like a goofball.

It's special. I'm sure you've heard all the actors say it, but the whole culture on "Ozark," the atmosphere on set, the way everything was handled was very special.

Any memorable on-set moments from Season 3 you can share? Anything in particular stand out?

Oh god, there's so many. Okay, I got one. When we first started, it's like you're going to meet Jason Bateman and Laura Linney ... so I meet Laura and she's so lovely and kind to me. She immediately made me feel like I've been there from Season 1, and so you're like, "Wow, Laura Linney is everything you'd hoped Laura Linney would be."

Then it's Jason, and Jason was also so lovely and so cool and so chill, but the moment that I knew that Jason was exactly what I wanted him to be was when we were about to film some scene on a dock with Jason and Julia [Garner] and me and Skylar [Gaertner], who plays Jonah. We're all coming in from different directions, so we're all spread out and I'm off to the side of some dock, and it's a really hot day in Atlanta. It's like 105 degrees and the sun is so strong and I'm so pale, and the makeup people didn't want me to burn so they put on some sunscreen. [I was] going to be out there for a few hours, so they were like, "Can you please hold an umbrella over yourself and stay in the shade?" Okay.

I'm standing there waiting to start the scene, holding my umbrella over myself, standing in the shade, and up on the dock, probably 50 feet away or so, is Jason. He's looking around and then he turns and sees me with the umbrella over my head, and that smirk comes across his face, where his eyes start to twinkle, and he cocks his head at me. He's like, "How do you feel about yourself?" You know, taking in the umbrella, and I was like, "Not great." He smirks and goes, "Yeah. Yeah, you shouldn't." I was so mortified and so thrilled simultaneously. I was like, "Jason Bateman is exactly what I would want Jason Bateman to be." I've never been so happy to get speared by someone.

All eight episodes of "Outer Range" are now available on Prime Video.